YUGOSLAVIA: LAWYERS FOR FORMER YUGOSLAV PRESIDENT SLOBODAN MILOSEVIC LODGE APPEAL AGAINST DECREE PAVING WAY FOR HIS TRANSFER TO U.N. WAR CRIMES TRIBUNAL
Record ID:
442963
YUGOSLAVIA: LAWYERS FOR FORMER YUGOSLAV PRESIDENT SLOBODAN MILOSEVIC LODGE APPEAL AGAINST DECREE PAVING WAY FOR HIS TRANSFER TO U.N. WAR CRIMES TRIBUNAL
- Title: YUGOSLAVIA: LAWYERS FOR FORMER YUGOSLAV PRESIDENT SLOBODAN MILOSEVIC LODGE APPEAL AGAINST DECREE PAVING WAY FOR HIS TRANSFER TO U.N. WAR CRIMES TRIBUNAL
- Date: 25th June 2001
- Summary: (U5) BELGRADE, YUGOSLAVIA (JUNE 25, 2001) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. WS: CENTRAL PRISON 0.05 2. CLOSE UP ON THE WINDOWS OF THE CENTRAL PRISON 0.11 3. SCU: PAINT SPRAYED GRAFFITI ON THE PRISON WALL READING IN SERBIAN SLOBODAN 0.16 4. PULL OUT: NEWS CONFERENCE HELD BY THE LAWYERS OF THE FORMER YUGOSLAV PRESIDENT SLOBODAN MILOSEVIC 0.26 5. SV: SOUNDBITE (Serbian) TOMA FILA, A LAWYER OF THE FORMER PRESIDENT SLOBODAN MILOSEVIC SPEAKING SAYING: "The whole thing regarding the Hague Tribunal and this decree is the same (as for Milosevic's arrest). Again, there is a donors' conference, there is the Paris Club. We once more face with the question if we are selling Milosevic while CNN reports on how much money we would get if we send him (Milosevic) to the Hague by June 29. But let us be clear if the decree is the document on cooperation or a trade contract. Let us stop and ask if we managed to get the right price, at least. Do not forget that Slobodan Milosevic is not the only one to come under the decree. They (the authorities) never even said if the decree refers to Slobodan Milosevic, having in mind that it is against the constitution in the first place, but knowing what will happen to them if they didn't do what they have promised to." 1.22 6. WIDE OF PRESS CONFERENCE 1.26 7. GV OF BELGRADE STREET SCENE 1.31 8. SCU: SOUNDBITE (Serbian) VOX POPS, A MAN SPEAKING SAYING: "Everyone who has made a mistake in this country should also stand trial in this country." 1.34 9. SOUNDBITE (Serbian) VOX POPS, ANOTHER MAN SPEAKING SAYING: "Yes, he (Slobodan Milosevic) should be extradicted. If we are a legal state we have legal obligations. And not only him (Milosevic) but all the others who committed a crime." /MAN WALKING AWAY 1.55 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 10th July 2001 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: BELGRADE, YUGOSLAVIA
- City:
- Country: Yugoslavia
- Reuters ID: LVA3QTLFFOYAOVCG3GAGJTL3RDNY
- Story Text: Lawyers for former president Slobodan Milosevic have
lodged an appeal with Yugoslavia's Constitutional Court
against a decree paving the way for his transfer to the U.N.
war crimes tribunal.
One of the lawyers, Toma Fila, said at the news
conference on Monday (June 25) they had asked the court's
judges to stop state bodies taking any action under the decree
until they had reached a ruling on whether it violated the
constitution.
Milosevic's lawyers argue that war crimes suspects cannot
be handed over to the tribunal as both the Yugoslav and
Serbian constitutions forbid extradition of their citizens.
Reformist ministers pushed through the decree on Saturday
under heavy Western pressure to show they are cooperating with
the tribunal before an international donors conference at
which they hope to raise a desperately needed 1.3 billion
United States dollars.
If the decree is upheld, it would clear the way for a
high-profile trial at the tribunal in The Hague of the man who
led Serbia and Yugoslavia for more than a decade on charges of
crimes against humanity linked to the Kosovo conflict.
Fila said the decree could apply to anyone, not only
Slobodan Milosevic and that it has been passed in a rush.
Milosevic's lawyers argue the decree violates the
constitution, which forbids the extradition of Yugoslav
citizens.
But reformers say handing a suspect over to the court in
The Hague does not amount to an extradition as the tribunal is
a United Nations institution, not a foreign state.
The decree formalises Belgrade's relations with the
tribunal but allows indictees to appeal against a transfer
decision, raising the prospect of a handover being delayed by
legal rows.
Government officials have estimated it could be several
weeks before Milosevic is transferred.
Reformers in the government, who ousted Milosevic in a
mass uprising last October, initially spoke out against
handing him over to the tribunal, which has long been
considered by many Serbs to be biased against them.
But over the past few weeks, government officials appear
to have been preparing public opinion for a transfer,
revealing news of mass graves found inside Serbia and
offering alleged evidence of a war crimes cover-up ordered
by Milosevic.
Half of Yugoslavs now say they are in favour of Milosevic's
transfer to The Hague, according to an opinion poll conducted
this month and published on Monday.
One man in Belgrade answered a question about whether he
supported Milosevic's trial said he wanted the trial to take
place in Yugoslavia. But another man supported Milosevic's
extradition to The Hague to stand trial there. He said:
"Everyone who has made a mistake in this country should also
stand trial in this country." Another said: "Yes, he (Slobodan
Milosevic) should be extradicted. If we are a legal state we
have legal obligations. And not only him (Milosevic) but all
the others who committed a crime."
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