U.N. War Crimes Tribunal Experts To Make First Belgrade Visit
BELGRADE, Feb 10 (News Agencies) - Investigators from the U.N. war crimes tribunal based in The Hague are expected to make their first visit here Sunday to hear eyewitness testimony, Serbian state television RTS reported.
It is the first time that experts from the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) have been authorized to travel to Belgrade and interview witnesses since the court's creation in 1993.
Belgrade has been under fire to hand over suspects indicted by the tribunal on war crimes charges, including former Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic, but has repeatedly said suspects should be tried on Yugoslav soil.
ICTY experts will gather testimony from witnesses to crimes committed against Serbs by the Croatian army between 1993 and 1995, RTS said Saturday, quoting Savo Strbac, director of a Belgrade war crimes information center.
The crimes allegedly occurred during the Croatian army's drive to recapture the self-proclaimed Serb republic of Krajina, fighting which prompted more than 200,000 Serbs to flee the region.
The ICTY investigators were to work behind closed doors, Strbac said, who did not specify the number of experts in the delegation.
During his time in office, Milosevic had repeatedly refused visas to ICTY investigators, slowing its inquiries both into crimes committed by the Croatian army and crimes committed in Kosovo.
Their arrival comes two weeks after a tense visit to the Yugoslav capital by top ICTY prosecutor Carla del Ponte, who again saw her demands for the extradition of war crimes suspects refused by Belgrade authorities.
Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica, who took office in October, has said on several occasions that war crimes suspects should be tried in Yugoslavia, rather than in The Hague. Yugoslav law bans the extradition of its nationals.
The U.N. tribunal is to set up a liaison office in Belgrade in early March, according to Yugoslav Foreign Minister Goran Svilanovic.
