World

Where To Try Milosevic?

January 5, 2001 / 9:59 AM EST / AP

The chief U.N. prosecutor might allow Slobodan Milosevic to face some war crimes hearings in Serbia, her spokeswoman said Friday, but she insisted that the former Yugoslav leader must be tried by the international tribunal in The Hague.

The statement reflected a shift by Chief Prosecutor Carla Del Ponte, who wants to move some trials closer to the sites of the crimes to confront Yugoslavs with atrocities committed in the name of Serb nationalism.

"She's not opposed to this idea because she's aware of the impact on local public opinion," said Florence Hartmann, the prosecutor's spokeswoman.

However, Hartmann insisted Milosevic must be extradited to the U.N. court, which has been prosecuting suspected war criminals from the former Yugoslavia since 1995.

"It's not negotiable," she said, noting that in Milosevic's indictment "it's clearly written that he's expected in The Hague."

Albright OK With
Belgrade Trial

Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said Friday that she would not object if Slobodan Milosevic were tried for war crimes in Belgrade, under the jurisdiction of The Hague court. But she said it was a matter for Belgrade and the tribunal's chief prosecutor. The U.S. position had previously been that Milosevic belonged out of office and in The Hague. But Friday, a day after a historic meeting with Yugoslav Foreign Minister Goran Svilanovic, Albright made clear the U.S. would not object to a trial on Yugoslav territory provided the court approved. Said Albright, "I think that what's important here...is there has to be a linkage with The Hague because he committed international crimes and there has to be international justice."
(Reuters)

"Yugoslavia as a member of the United Nations has to comply with its international obligations," Hartmann added. "They have to cooperate with us. We don't have to cooperate with them."

The spokeswoman was reacting to statements by Foreign Minister Goran Svilanovic who said after a meeting Thursday with U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright in Washington that his government may be willing to allow the tribunal to try Milosevic on Yugoslav territory.

Hartmann said Yugoslav-based proceedings would only involve a few hearings not requiring the appearance of witnesses from outside Serbia, who might be intimidated by the prospect of setting fot on Serb soil.

Hartmann noted that Del Ponte plans to begin conducting some hearings on the 1994 Rwanda genocide in Rwanda this spring. All proceedings are currently held at a U.N. tribunal based in neighboring Tanzania, mostly for safety reasons.

Milosevic was indicted in May 1999 for war crimes and crimes against humanity in planning and executing atrocities against Kosovo Albanians. The indictment was handed down just days before the NATO air war against Yugoslavia ended.

President Vojislav Kostunica, who took office last October after Milosevic was driven from power, has refused to surrender indicted suspects, calling the war crimes tribunal a tool of American foreign policy. However, he has since agreed to cooperate and allow prosecutors to open an office in Belgrade.

The tribunal has sentenced 14 Bosnian Serbs, Muslims and Croats to up to 45 years for war crimes and crimes against humanity. It has also indicted several key figures from Milosevic's administration as well as former Bosnian Serb leaders Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic.

The spokeswoman refused to comment on reports that Karadzic's successor, Biljana Plavsic, a virulent Serb nationalist who turned pro-Western after the war, has been summoned to appear in The Hague by Jan. 10.

She said the pretrial questioning of witnesses is "an operational matter" which prosecutors do not discuss.

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