Subject: Kostunica agrees to meet UN war crimes prosecutor
Date: Thu, 18 Jan 2001 8:30:14 PST
From: C-afp@... (AFP)
Organization: Copyright 2001 by Agence France-Presse (via ClariNet)
Newsgroups:
clari.world.europe.balkans,clari.world.organizations.un,clari.news.crime.war,cla\
ri.world.europe,biz.clarinet.sample,clari.world.organizations,clari.news.conflic\
t
Followup-To: biz.clarinet.sample


BELGRADE, Jan 18 (AFP) - President Vojislav Kostunica agreed
Thursday to meet UN war crimes prosecutor Carla del Ponte next week
after she offered to reveal the names of war crimes suspects under
secret indictments.
Kostunica told reporters that he had initially decided against a
meeting because of his full schedule but later changed his mind
after Del Ponte offered to reveal the names of Serbian officials
under secret indictment for war crimes.
"Sealed indictments are a shame," Kostunica said. "I will
receive them and put them at the disposal of those they address and
the parliament," he said.
Del Ponte, the chief prosecutor at the Hague-based International
Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), will hold talks
in Belgrade from January 23 to 25.
Del Ponte told the Belgian daily Le Soir in an interview Tuesday
that she intended to give Kostunica secret indictments against
certain accused people believed to be in Serbia.
Kostunica also said he would urge the prosecutor to investigate
NATO's responsibility for using depleted uranium munitions during
the 1999 bombing campaign against Yugoslavia.
He added that another reason for meeting Del Ponte was to
discuss the so-called "Racak affair" in which more than 40 ethnic
Albanians were massacred in a Kosovo village.
The massacre galvanised the international community into action
and set the stage for the NATO air war against Yugoslavia.
"Cooperation with the tribunal is necessary, but must be
limited," Kostunica asserted, reiterating his view that the tribunal
was biased and that the issue of war crimes was a "delicate" matter
internally.
"We cannot get into something which would destabilise the
country," he warned.
Former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic and four of his top
allies have been indicted by the ICTY for war crimes committed in
Kosovo, while the Hague-based officials believe that another 10
suspects have been living in Serbia.
Despite Del Ponte's efforts to persuade Belgrade to hand over
Milosevic, Kostunica has stated that the constitution bars the
extradition of Yugoslav nationals to the ICTY.
Meanwhile, the Yugoslav government said in a statement that the
opening of the ICTY office in Belgrade showed that Yugoslavia was
willing to cooperate with the UN court, the state agency Tanjug
reported.
"But this does not mean an automatic acceptance of the
tribunal's requests," it added.
The government said it was ready to exchange evidence on war
crimes committed on the territory of the former Yugoslavia.