U.N. says Milosevic must face tribunal

Slobodan Milosevic: Nothing to fear from Serb courts

THE HAGUE, Netherlands -- The U.N. chief prosecutor has said the new Belgrade government has no choice but to arrest former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic to answer war crimes charges.

Carla del Ponte said she will visit Belgrade next month when she hopes to persuade Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica to drop his opposition to surrendering Milosevic.

"The co-operation with the tribunal must begin next year," she said at the International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia in The Hague on Wednesday.

Milosevic, overthrown in October but still free in Serbia, was indicted last year by the tribunal for crimes against humanity for the persecution and deportation of ethnic Albanians in the province of Kosovo.

The alleged atrocities committed by his forces prompted NATO to launch 11 weeks of air strikes in 1999.

Former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic and his military commander Ratko Mladic have been indicted but also remain at large.

Del Ponte's demand came a day after Kostunica repeated his opposition to sending Milosevic abroad for trial.

In an interview with the French newspaper Le Figaro, Kostunica said the Truth and Reconciliation Commission on apartheid-era crimes in South Africa and Chile's recent judicial process against former dictator Augusto Pinochet could serve as models for his country.

Del Ponte said Kostunica would only be right if the world were a perfect place.

"In a perfect world, it wouldn't have taken 10 years for democratic Chile to start prosecuting Pinochet.

"In a perfect world, we could also ask the Republic Srpska (Bosnian Serb) authorities to judge Karadzic and Mladic -- why should they be denied that 'right' if Belgrade is allowed to have Milosevic and others tried at home?" Del Ponte said.

Del Ponte said discussion in Belgrade appeared to ignore non-Serb victims and expressed her doubts about those in charge.

"What we see for the time being is that key individuals of the Milosevic regime continue to count on the new Yugoslav president's trust," she said.

Earlier this month, Milosevic said his "conscience is completely clear" over the years of conflict that coincided with his rule.

He said he could "sleep peacefully" and denounced the U.N. war crimes tribunal as part of a system used to commit genocide against Serbs. He added that he had nothing to fear from the courts in Serbia.

He added that he did not even recognise the war crimes tribunal.

"That institution is a political institution which is one of the means for carrying out genocide against the Serb people -- a people which dared to defend its country and to defend its national interests," he said.

Kostunica said he doubted the court's impartiality when prosecutors refused to launch an investigation into NATO's bombing of Yugoslavia.

The tribunal has dismissed the idea of indicting NATO members, but Del Ponte said her team would be able to investigate more crimes in which Serbs were victims if Belgrade opened its doors.

She said she was "very concerned" at the lack of arrests made by NATO over the past six months and would be urging member states to step up their efforts in the new year.

Reuters contributed to this report.

Milosevic conscience 'clear' over Balkans
December 13, 2000
Milosevic's wife reappears in public
November 28, 2000
Defiant Milosevic re-elected party leader
November 25, 2000
'Yugoslavia is in danger,' claims Milosevic
November 25, 2000
Milosevic vows to stay at party's helm
November 23, 2000
Milosevic broadcast scorned by rivals
November 21, 2000
Milosevic back on Yugoslav television
November 21, 2000
Milosevic security chief 'faces charges'
November 8, 2000
Tracing Milosevic: Fact and fiction
October 19, 2000

International Criminal Tribunal, Yugoslavia
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
U.N.
Democratic Party (Yugoslavia)
NATO
Indictment of Slobodan Milosevic

Note: Pages will open in a new browser window

External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.