Misha Gavrilovic - Sky Interview 28 June 2001 18:02 BST Sky Interviewer (Martin Stanford): Joining us live now from the Serbian Information Office is Misha Gavrilovic Has the Serbian government done the right thing? Misha Gavrilovic: I need to have the news confirmed, especially the wording that has been used. They appear to have given in to what appears to me to be one hundred percent obvious blackmail from the United States and from Nato. Sky: Why do you say blackmail? Misha Gavrilovic: Its fairly obvious. They say if you don�t do this, if you don�t do that. They are not going to participate in a donors� conference. There may be further sanctions and so on. You have on one hand someone who is a hundred times more powerful against someone who is a hundred times weaker and everything else follows. I mean I have followed this for the last ten years after all. Sky: Of course you have. The Serbian political sources speaking to the Reuters Agency says this, and let me quote it to you: In line with the decision of the Serbian government and inline with the constitution we have handed him over. That source is not mentioning blackmail or financial incentives at all. Misha Gavrilovic: No, but I have been following what has been going on for the last ten years, including the Nato bombardment and all statements by the United States on this. Moreover on your statement from your source, I don�t know whether it is a government source, they mention that they are inline with the constitution. The people who determine the constitutional position are the Yugoslav Constitutional Court and this morning they ruled that this extradition (decree) cannot proceed any further, so that Serbian government� s decision cannot be legal under these circumstances. Sky: Well that is a separate issue may be for later on today or another day. But in this immediate last half hour or so of this news coming through, the question would seem to be: the West in the form of the UN war crimes tribunal hopes that Mr Milosevic had some questions that needed answers. Do you not feel that that is also the case and that if he has got answers that will be suitable to prove his innocence then there is nothing to fear going to the court. Is there? Misha Gavrilovic: Well, not just in his case but also in the case of Mr Karadzic and others, I think all these gentlemen would have gone very happily to a United Nations war crimes tribunal if it was a legitimate body. And from their point of view it would be instantly legitimate if the Serbs or may be even Iraqis could judge Americans. I mean here we have people who are never prepared to be judged internationally on what they have done in Kosovo, Bosnia and elsewhere but they always want to judge those whom in this case they have actually bombed. That does not seem to be inline with any normal country�s legal system. Sky: Misha Gavrilovic, will leave it there for the moment, thank you talking to us. STOP NOVOM SVETSKOM PORETKU ==^================================================================ EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?bUrBE8.bVKZIq Or send an email To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] This email was sent to: [email protected] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================
