Subject: Yugoslav justice minister refuses to pardon Kosovo Albanian
Date: Thu, 26 Oct 2000 8:20:16 PDT
From: C-afp@... (AFP)
Organization: Copyright 2000 by Agence France-Presse (via ClariNet)
Newsgroups: clari.world.europe.balkans,clari.world.europe,biz.clarinet.sample
Followup-To: biz.clarinet.sample


BELGRADE, Oct 26 (AFP) - Yugoslavia's Justice Minister Petar
Jojic has rejected a move by reformist President Vojislav Kostunica
to pardon jailed Kosovo Albanian activist Flora Brovina.
"I rejected the Yugoslav President's initiative since she
(Brovina) is accused of very serious criminal deed and I received no
valid explanation for such a move," Jojic, a member of the
ultranationalist Serbian Radical party, told reporters Thursday.
Kostunica called last Saturday for human rights activist Brovina
to be pardoned, urging the justice ministry to "start the process"
that would lead to her release, and citing "justified reasons."
Brovina was sentenced to 12 years' imprisonment in December 1999
for "terrorist activities" in Kosovo allegedly connected to last
year's NATO air strikes against Yugoslavia.
"I personally think that her release would be a big mistake, and
I do not want to accept such a mistake on my back," Jojic said,
adding that Brovina might, if released, abscond from Yugoslavia
before new evidence of "other criminal deeds" came to light.
She was accused of collaborating with the now disbanded ethnic
Albanian Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), considered a terrorist
organisation by the regime of former Yugoslav president Slobodan
Milosevic.
But her conviction was overturned in June by Serbia's Supreme
Court because of technical errors during the first trial. The
retrial, already twice postponed, is due to open on November 16.
Jojic vowed that only a court could "establish" whether Brovina
was guilty or not, adding there was "no justified reason to start a
procedure of pardoning when the Supreme court has scheduled a
retrial."
However, since the Yugoslav government in which Jojic was a
member has already resigned, and he is only acting justice minister
until a replacement is sworn in, Kostunica's appeal could be
re-examined after the new cabinet is formed next week.
Kostunica was swept to Yugoslav presidency earlier this month
when a popular uprising forced Milosevic to concede defeat in the
September 24 elections.