Yugoslav Minister Urges Impartiality From UN War Crimes Court

Justice Minister of the Yugoslav Republic Serbia Vladan Batic on Sunday urged the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) to abandon double standards and prove its impartiality.

In a letter to chief prosecutor for the UN war crimes court Carla Del Ponte, Batic said the Serbian people truly desired to cooperate with the ICTY, but not by way of pressuring and threatening.

The minister said that the Serbian people did not want amnesty to their war criminals, but they definitely would not accept the collective responsibility they were being made to carry by the ICTY.

While the extradition of Milosevic to the ICTY was demanded daily, rebel Kosovo Liberation Army political leader Hashim Thaci participated in conferences with NATO and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, Batic said.

The ICTY has charged former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic with war crimes and repeatedly demanded his extradition.

Batic criticized Ponte and the ICTY for adopting double standards, saying they had therefore lost the trust of the Serbian people.






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