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Kostunica Defends Stance On War Crimes
DAVOS, Switzerland, Jan 29 (News Agencies) - Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica on Monday defended his decision to not hand over Slobodan Milosevic to the U.N. war crimes tribunal even if the move may deprive his country of badly needed aid.
"For various reasons it's always better that national leaders face their responsibilities before their own people," Kostunica told a news conference at the World Economic Forum here.
He acknowledged that refusing demands from the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) to hand over Milosevic for trial could spell disaster as NATO countries could stop the flows of desperately needed financial aid.
Cooperation with the U.N. tribunal is "a matter of life and death" for Yugoslavia, he said.
But "there are serious reasons to be critical about The Hague tribunal," he said, adding, "it's not the Holy Bible, it's an institution conducted by rules which are very strange."
Kostunica warned that extraditing Milosevic risked turning him into a martyr and a hero back home, and insisted that any trial should take place on Yugoslav territory.
Milosevic and four of his one-time top allies have been indicted by the ICTY for war crimes allegedly committed during a terror campaign in 1999 against ethnic Albanians in Kosovo.
The former president stepped down in October following a popular revolt sparked by Milosevic's refusal to admit defeat in elections.
During her visit to Belgrade earlier this month, ICTY chief prosecutor Carla Del Ponte failed to win any promise from Kostunica to turn Milosevic over to The Hague court.
When pressed Monday over whether he would try to persuade Milosevic to surrender himself, Kostunica skirted the question, saying: "not only should Milosevic surrender, there are people from all sides who'd have to surrender, from Bosnia, from Croatia and why not from Brussels and Washington."
Kostunica was referring to NATO's 78-day bombing campaign in 1999 to force Yugoslav troops to end terror campaign in the mainly ethnic-Albanian province of Kosovo.
He also sidestepped suggestions about the arrest of former Bosnian Serb war commander Ratko Mladic and war-time leader Radovan Karadzic, the two most wanted men from the 1992-1995 Bosnian war, saying it was unclear whether Bosnian nationals could be tried in Yugoslavia.
The Yugoslav president emphasized that holding a meeting with Del Ponte was already a sign that Belgrade was open to cooperation with the tribunal.
In Belgrade meanwhile, Serbian Justice Minister Vladen Batic said a law would be adopted on the trial of war crimes suspects and cooperation with the international tribunal.
Such a law would "eliminate all confusion and dilemmas" whether or not those indicted by the ICTY should be handed over to The Hague, Batic said.
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