'Food before justice' - Kostunica

BERLIN, Germany -- Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica has said tackling food shortages is more important than the prosecution of Slobodan Milosevic.

He also said improving relations with Montenegro was a far more pressing task than dealing with his predecessor, an indicted war criminal.

Kostunica, a reformist who beat Milosevic in a presidential election in September, told German Radio that the legal and institutional framework was not yet in place for the former leader and his coterie to be tried on corruption charges.

Kostunica was propelled to power in early October after a mass uprising forced Milosevic to concede defeat.

His comments come just as other leaders in Serbia's disparate pro-democracy movement, who triumphed in a parliamentary election at the weekend, have been talking increasingly of Milosevic going on trial soon.

Kostunica said judges and prosecutors would have to be replaced before any criminal proceedings could be opened, and laws dating back to the Tito era would have to be overhauled.

"We need to create the institutional conditions to put questions of responsibility on a legal basis, rather than using revolutionary justice," Kostunica told German Radio in Belgrade in remarks which were translated into German.

Kostunica added that the state, justice system and media were not ready to deal with a possible prosecution of Milosevic, who is still believed to be living in a heavily guarded residence in a Belgrade suburb.

"The people are hungrier for food than they are hungry for revenge or justice," Kostunica added.

Reformers have been talking of trying Milosevic for corruption. Western governments want him prosecuted in a U.N. tribunal for war crimes committed in Kosovo.

Kostunica said one of Belgrade's more pressing tasks was to stabilise relations with Montenegro, Serbia's estranged, smaller partner in what remains of the Yugoslav federation.

Relations between Montenegrin President Milo Djukanovic's government and Serbia were strained to breaking point under Milosevic.

Despite Milosevic's departure, the republic's government has kept up its drive to distance itself from Belgrade.

Kostunica said this reflected an obsession with power on the part of the Montenegrin regime.

"We have to resolve this problem in a democratic way," he said, calling for orderly changes to the constitution which reflected the will of citizens.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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Government of Montenegro
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia

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