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Kostunica And U.N. War Crimes Prosecutor Hold Heated Meeting
BELGRADE, Jan 23 (News Agencies) - Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica and chief U.N. war crimes prosecutor Carla Del Ponte met here Tuesday, in what appeared to be a heated stand-off over demands that Belgrade hand over indicted suspects.
After a one-hour meeting with the Yugoslav president, Del Ponte evaded the questions of over 200 waiting journalists, while Kostunica issued a statement questioning the motives of the court.
When asked to describe the atmosphere of the talks, Del Ponte's spokeswoman Florence Hartmann said only: "The heat was very warm."
Del Ponte began her delicate three-day mission to Belgrade on Tuesday, hoping to boost cooperation between the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and Yugoslavia, which has so far refused to hand over former president Slobodan Milosevic to The Hague-based court.
Milosevic and four of his one-time top allies - former Yugoslav army chief of staff Dragoljub Ojdanic, ex-deputy prime minister Nikola Sainovic, Serbian President Milan Milutinovic and Interior Minister Vlajko Stojiljkovic - have been indicted by the ICTY for war crimes allegedly committed in Kosovo.
ICTY officials believe 10 more suspects wanted by the court are living in Serbia, including former Bosnian Serb army commander Ratko Mladic.
Most of Kostunica's supporters back the idea that Milosevic should be tried for corruption, embezzlement and abuse of power - and even on war crimes charges - but insist that the trial should be held in Serbia.
The state news agency Tanjug said "different views of cooperation" between the two sides emerged during their "long and open" meeting.
Citing a statement from Kostunica's office, the agency said the president had raised legal problems that would block any extradition, even though Del Ponte insists the court is "not a state", and a handover of suspects would thus be a "transfer" and not an "extradition".
The statement from Kostunica also questioned the character of the ICTY, noting the "political character of the tribunal's work [and] the danger of selective justice."
He also asserted that the "indictments of Serbian political and military leaders could be understood as attributing collective guilt to one nation."
Kostunica had initially wavered, even publicly, about meeting Del Ponte, saying his agenda was too full.
Although Kostunica changed his mind about the meeting, his remarks hinted that he had not softened his previous refusals to cooperate with the ICTY.
His comments were echoed by Milosevic's Socialist party (SPS), which issued a statement calling on "all citizens and patriots" in Yugoslavia to "raise their voice against the so-called Hague tribunal and all its admirers in the country."
Describing the ICTY as a "political and anti-Serb institution formed to charge the Serbian people collectively for alleged war crimes," the party said the tribunal "aims to condemn the people of Yugoslavia for defending their country from NATO aggressors."
Kostunica insisted he would press ICTY officials over their refusal to push ahead with investigations into the 1999 NATO air war with Yugoslavia and the use of depleted uranium munitions in the bombing campaign.
Del Ponte met with lawyer Slobodan Sisic and Zanka Stojanovic, mother of one of 16 victims killed when NATO bombed Serbian state television headquarters in 1999.
"She told us the issue of NATO responsibility for the bombings is not a finished issue, that it could still be discussed," Sisic said.
On Wednesday, Del Ponte will meet Yugoslav Foreign Minister Goran Svilanovic, Interior Minister Zoran Zivkovic, as well as central bank chief Mladjan Dinkic, Serbia's prime minister-designate Zoran Djindjic and future Justice Minister Vladan Batic.
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