NETHERLANDS/ VARIOUS: UNITED NATIONS WAR CRIMES TRIBUNAL COMPLAIN THAT COOPERATION WITH SERBIA-MONTENEGRO OVER WANTED WAR CRIMINALS IS "NEARLY NON EXISTANT"
Record ID:
208479
NETHERLANDS/ VARIOUS: UNITED NATIONS WAR CRIMES TRIBUNAL COMPLAIN THAT COOPERATION WITH SERBIA-MONTENEGRO OVER WANTED WAR CRIMINALS IS "NEARLY NON EXISTANT"
- Title: NETHERLANDS/ VARIOUS: UNITED NATIONS WAR CRIMES TRIBUNAL COMPLAIN THAT COOPERATION WITH SERBIA-MONTENEGRO OVER WANTED WAR CRIMINALS IS "NEARLY NON EXISTANT"
- Date: 5th May 2004
- Summary: THE HAGUE, NETHERLANDS (MAY 5, 2004) (REUTERS) 1. WIDE OF EXTERIOR OF ICTY BUILDING 0.05 2. SLV JIM LANDSDALE, SPOKESMAN FOR ICTY WALKING OUT OF BUILDING 0.15 3. SCU (SOUNDBITE) (English) JIM LANDALE, SPOKESMAN FOR ICTY SAYING "This letter from the President recognises the consistent failure of Serbia Montenegro to cooperate with the Tribunal and indeed since the elections last year the co-operation has stalled to nothing at all. He views this as an extremely dangerous situation . Indeed he indicated a few weeks that he was looking carefully at the situation with regards to the co-operation of Serbia Montenegro with the Tribunal and it has resulted now with his report to the security council on the non-cooperation" 0.52 4. CLOSE OF UN FLAG 1.00 5. SCU (SOUNDBITE) (English) JIM LANDALE, SPOKESMAN FOR ICTY SAYING: "Well quite clearly there are people that have been indicted by the Tribunal who are living quite openly in Serbia. That situation is unacceptable. Serbia Montenegro have an obligation to apprehend and transfer those individuals, and as long as they dont do that, they are in violation of international law" 1.21 UROSEVAC, KOSOVO (FILE, FEBRUARY 1999) (REUTERS) 6. SLV, THEN COMMANDER OF THE THIRD ARMY, COLONEL GENERAL NEBOJSA PAVKOVIC VISITING YUGOSLAV ARMY TROOPS IN BARRACKS AND IN POSITIONS 1/34 PIROT, SERBIA AND MONTENEGRO (FILE, SEPTEMBER 2000) (REUTERS) 7. S;V THEN CHIEF OF STAFF OF THE YUGOSLAV ARMY NEBOJSA PAVKOVIC SALUTING YUGOSLAV ARMY SPECIAL UNIT DURING AN EXERCISE ORGANISED TO SHOW UNITS READINESS TO EVENTUALLY RETURN TO KOSOVO 1.45 8. SLV YUGOSLAV ARMY SOLDIERS MARCHING DURING THE EXERCISE 1.55 BELGRADE, SERBIA AND MONTENEGRO (RECENT) (REUTERS) 9. SCU SOUNDBITE (Serbian) NEBOJSA PAVKOVIC SPEAKING SAYING: "The proposals made to me by the former and present foreign ministers and other people are proposals of people who do not really care about the interests of this country, because if they did they would know that its not only individuals who are on trial in The Hague but the entire state, and thats why they insist on giving up our heads for cheap political points" 2.28 10. CLOSE OF INDICTMENT PAPER WITH CHARGES 2.40 11. SCU SOUNDBITE (Serbian) NEBOJSA PAVKOVIC SPEAKING SAYING: "I would change nothing, except perhaps do more to protect the personnel and the equipment but I would change nothing in my decision to defend the country no matter the consequences. If I knew that all that I am facing now was lying in store for me, I would never accept any command post in the Yugoslav Army or anywhere else, I would simply defend my country as an ordinary soldier." 3.07 NEAR PRESEVO, SERBIA AND MONTENEGRO (FILE, MAY 2001) (REUTERS) 12. VARIOUS OF YUGOSLAV ARMY SOLDIERS IN THE FIELD 3.18 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 20th May 2004 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: THE HAGUE, NETHERLANDS/BELGRADE, SERBIA AND MONTENEGRO
- City:
- Country: Yugoslavia
- Reuters ID: LVA42B7FKBANY0CN6V54MHOXKZP1
- Story Text: The UN War Crimes Tribunal complains to the Security
Council that Serbia Montenegro's cooperation is "nearly
nonexistent" as wanted former military officers live openly
in Belgrade.
The U.N. war crimes tribunal in The Hague has
complained to the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday (May 4, 2004),
about Serbia and Montenegro's lack of co-operation with its
investigation of crimes committed in the 1990s Balkan wars.
The tribunal has no powers to sanction any country that
does not co-operate with it, but writing to the Security
Council is among the most serious steps the court can take.
Tribunal President Judge Theodor Meron wrote to the
Security Council to highlight a report by its chief
prosecutor,
Carla del Ponte, that described Serbia and Montenegro's
cooperation as "nearly non-existent"
"This letter from the President recognises the
consistent failure of Serbia Montenegro to cooperate with
the Tribunal and indeed since the elections last year the
cooperation has stalled to nothing at all. He views this as
an extremely dangerous situation . Indeed he indicated a
few weeks that he was looking carefully at the situation
with regards to the cooperation of Serbia Montenegro with
the Tribunal and it has resulted now with his report to the
security council on the non-cooperation", said tribunal
spokesman Jim Landale said.
Serbia's chances of joining the European Union and
NATO as well as its access to aid and debt relief hinge on
its cooperation with the tribunal, but relations have cooled
alongside popular discontent with pro-Western reformers.
In Belgrade wanted former military men like General
Nebojsa Pavkovic, who was chief of staff of the Yugoslav
Army under former President Slobodan Milosevic openly defy
demands by the ICTY to surrender.
A September 2003 indictment of Pavkovic and three other
generals contains nine paragraphs of charges of a
deliberate and widespread or systematic campaign of terror
and violence directed at Kosovo Albanian civilians in the
spring of 1999.
Pavkovic, 58, lives openly in Belgrade and says he will
not surrender to The Hague, despite calls on him to do so
from his countries Foreign Minister and Defence Minister.
"The proposals made to me by the former and present
Foreign Ministers and other people are proposals of people
who do not
really care about the interests of this country, because if
they did they would know that not only individuals who are
on trial
in the Hague but the entire state, and thats why they
insist on giving up our heads for cheap political points",
Pavkovic said in a recent interview.
He has no regrets about his handling of conflict with
rebel Kosovars, and denies charges in the indictment that
his forces waged a campaign of massive deportations during
the 18 day NATO bombing of Belgrade.
"I would change nothing, except perhaps do more to
protect the personnel and the equipment, but I would change
nothing in my decision to defend the country no matter the
consequences. If I knew that all that I am facing now was
lying in
store for me, I would never accept any command post in the
Yugoslav Army or anywhere else, I would simply defend my
country as an ordinary soldier", Pavkovic added.
The Security Council established the International
Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in a resolution
passed in 1993. The tribunal is due to complete indictments
this year and wind up its trials by 2008 and its appeals by
2010.
The Tribunal has repeatedly asserted that top Bosnian Serb
army commander General Ratko Mladic, wanted on genocide
charges, is also hiding in Serbia.
But Serbia denies any knowledge of his whereabouts or
that of Bosnian Serb wartime leader Radovan Karadzic,
accused of the slaughtering civilians in the siege of
Sarajevo and the Srebrenica massacre of thousands of
Muslims.
Former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, whose
trial on charges of genocide, crimes against humanity and
war crimes has already taken two years and has been
repeatedly delayed due to his ill health, is due to open
his defence on June 8.
The United States suspended $26 million in aid to
Serbia in March, citing its inadequate cooperation with the
U.N. tribunal, but it did not block a recent International
Monetary Fund deal to restart lending and release debt relief to
Serbia
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