VARIOUS: BRITISH FOREIGN SECRETARY ARRIVES IN BELGRADE FOR TALKS WITH PRESIDENT KOSTUNICA AND WELCOMES ARREST OF SLOBODAN MILOSEVIC
Record ID:
223024
VARIOUS: BRITISH FOREIGN SECRETARY ARRIVES IN BELGRADE FOR TALKS WITH PRESIDENT KOSTUNICA AND WELCOMES ARREST OF SLOBODAN MILOSEVIC
- Title: VARIOUS: BRITISH FOREIGN SECRETARY ARRIVES IN BELGRADE FOR TALKS WITH PRESIDENT KOSTUNICA AND WELCOMES ARREST OF SLOBODAN MILOSEVIC
- Date: 4th April 2001
- Summary: (U4) BELGRADE, YUGOSLAVIA (APRIL 4, 2001) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. VARIOUS, BRITISH FOREIGN SECRETARY ROBIN COOK LEAVING BELGRADE AIRPORT, WALKING TO WAITING PRESS 0.13 2. SMV, COOK TALKING TO MEDIA 0.18 3. SCU (SOUNDBITE)(English) BRITISH FOREIGN SECRETARY ROBIN COOK SAYING: "I will be telling President Kostunica that I warmly welcome his statement that the arrest of ex-president Milosevic proves that no one is above the law. I believe the people of Serbia are entitled to hear the full truth of his crimes against the Serb people in court. Mr Milosevic is not above international law either and the end of that legal process will not be complete until he is handed over to the Hague tribunal for the crimes he has committed against the other people of the Balkans." 0.54 4. SMV COOK SURROUNDED BY JOURNALISTS 0.58 5. SCU (SOUNDBITE)(English) COOK SAYING: "I do not come here to pressure or to threaten. I come here as a partner. The international community wants to help Serbia but Serbia in turn must help the international community. This has got to be a two-way partnership." 1.26 6. INTERIOR, WIDE OF PRESS WAITING FOR COOK 1.31 7. SMV, COOK ENTERING MEETING ROOM 1.32 8. VARIOUS, COOK AND YUGOSLAV PRESIDENT VOJISLAV KOSTUNICA GREETING EACH OTHER AND SHAKING HANDS (4 SHOTS) 1.52 THE HAGUE, NETHERLANDS (APRIL 4, 2001) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 9. VARIOUS, OF EXTERIOR OF INTERNATIONAL WAR CRIMES TRIBUNAL (2 SHOTS) 2.00 10. WIDE OF INTERIOR PRESS ROOM 2.05 11. CUTAWAY JOURNALIST HOLDING NEWSPAPER ARTICLE 2.09 12. SCU (SOUNDBITE) (English) POLITICAL ADVISER TO THE CHIEF PROSECUTOR, JEAN-JACQUES JORIS: "The emphasis of the prosecutor is, as we have always said, on the transfer of Milosevic. His arrest makes that transfer possible, the transfer is the result of an international obligation that Yugoslavia has to comply with. This obligation is not negotiable, it is not negotiable, not in the case of Mr. Milosevic, nor in any other case, regardless of rank or citizenship. This position for us is not affected by any ongoing national proceeding. That being said, that being said, the prosecutor has no objection to those local charges being raised against Mr. Milosevic, and it is our understanding, and our full agreement that when Mr. Milosevic is transferred to the Hague and is brought into custody, it will be possible for the Serbian judicial investigative authorities to continue their investigations and interview Mr. Milosevic." 3.30 13. SMV PEOPLE LISTENING TO PRESS CONFERENCE 3.36 14. VARIOUS OF NEWS CONFERENCE BREAKING UP 3.42 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 19th April 2001 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: BELGRADE, YUGOSLAVIA/ THE HAGUE, NETHERLANDS
- City:
- Country: Yugoslavia Yugoslavia Yugoslavia Yugoslavia Yugoslavia Yugoslavia Netherlands
- Reuters ID: LVA7KBWF8D71AJV1VHPKN4Y0IE2B
- Story Text: British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook has arrived in
Belgrade on his first visit since NATO's 78-day bombing
campaign of targets in Kosovo and Yugoslavia in 1999. He
welcomed the arrest of ex-President Slobodan Milosevic.
At the international War Crimes tribunal in the Hague,
prosecutors said there was no reason why Milosevic could not
be transferred immediately to face trial.
British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook said on Wednesday
(April 4) that fallen Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic
should face the U.N. war crimes tribunal after being tried at
home for crimes against his own people.
"I believe the people of Serbia are entitled to hear the
full truth of Milosevic's crimes against the Serb people in (a
local) court," Cook told reporters after arriving in Belgrade
for a day of talks.
Cook said he had not come to press for Milosevic's
handover to the Hague tribunal, but underlined that Belgrade's
expectation of major Western aid was a two-way street.
"I do not come here to pressure or to threaten. I come
here as a partner," Cook said before going into talks with
Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica.
"The international community wants to help Serbia but
Serbia in turn must help the international community. This has
got to be a two-way partnership."
"(But) Mr Milosevic is not above international law either,
and the end of that legal process will not be complete until
he is handed over to the Hague tribunal for the crimes he has
committed against the other people of the Balkans," Cook
added.
Milosevic was arrested last weekend for abuses of office
including embezzlement, which allegedly took place before he
was toppled in a popular uprising last October.
The ex-president faces charges of corruption and criminal
conspiracy, which carry potential jail terms of up to 15
years.
Kostunica, a democratic reformer but also a moderate Serb
nationalist, has said yielding Milosevic to the tribunal would
be an affront to "national and state dignity".
But on Wednesday, the U.N. war crimes court and its
prosecutors insisted that Yugoslavia must transfer former
president Slobodan Milosevic to the tribunal immediately,
dropping their patient tone of recent days.
"The emphasis of the prosecutor is, as we have always
said, on the transfer of Milosevic. His arrest makes that
transfer possible, the transfer is the result of an
international obligation that Yugoslavia has to comply with.
This obligation is not negotiable, it is not negotiable, not
in the case of Mr. Milosevic, nor in any other case,
regardless of rank or citizenship. This position for us is not
affected by any ongoing national proceeding," Jean-Jacques
Joris, political adviser to the chief prosecutor, told
reporters at the Hague tribunal.
On Tuesday, Joris told Reuters that prosecutors were
prepared to wait a few months for Milosevic's arrival,
provided that Yugoslavia committed itself to handing over its
former president and stepped up its arrests of other suspects.
However, on Wednesday he said the situation in Yugoslavia
was calm, and that statements from Belgrade suggested a body
of support for Milosevic's transfer.
Stephane Bourgon of the tribunal president's office said
the fact that Milosevic faced charges in Belgrade gave a
special character to his case, but that did not prevent him
being handed over immediately. Joris agreed.
"It is our understanding, and our full agreement that when
Mr. Milosevic is transferred to the Hague and is brought into
custody, it will be possible for the Serbian judicial
investigative authorities to continue their investigations and
interview Mr. Milosevic," he said.
Later on Wednesday, the tribunal's registrar, Hans
Holthuis, was due to fly to Belgrade for a three-day visit
during which he will deliver the tribunal's arrest warrant for
Milosevic, and would set out to the Belgrade authorities the
practical steps they have to take in their process of
cooperation. He was also aiming to learn more about the local
charges Milosevic faces.
The U.N. accuses Milosevic of responsibility for the mass
killings and expulsions of ethnic Albanians from Kosovo
province in 1999 by Serbian forces under his command. Together
with three other leading politicians and his former chief of
staff, he faces charges including crimes against humanity.
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