Belgrade stands by war crimes law

Former Serbian interior minister Stojiljkovic remains in a critical condition

BELGRADE, Yugoslavia -- The attempted suicide of a former Serbian government minister is unlikely to derail a law introduced to send him and other war crimes suspects to a U.N. court.

As ex-Interior Minister Vlajko Stojiljkovic remained in a critical condition on Friday, after shooting himself in the head, Yugoslav Foreign Minister Goran Svilanovic said the government's decision to hand suspects to an international tribunal would stand.

"It was a very tragic incident," Svilanovic said.

"It might have a political impact on the process of implementation but not to the level that would postpone the implementation of this law."

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He added: "It really was a decision that I think was wrong for this man, and therefore I am sorry.

"But this is the responsibility of all of us in the country to confront the past, to deal with this and to go for a moral reconciliation," he said.

The U.N. tribunal in The Hague indicted Stojiljkovic along with former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic for atrocities committed by Serb forces in Kosovo in 1999.

Stojiljkovic shot himself in the head outside the Yugoslav parliament on Thursday, hours after the Yugoslav parliament adopted a law that allows war crimes suspects to be arrested and extradited to the U.N. War Crimes Tribunal.

In a suicide note, Stojiljkovic accused reformists who steered the bill through parliament of selling him and other indictees to the Hague in return for Western aid.

Parliament passed the extradition legislation under pressure from the United States, which froze financial aid to Yugoslavia at the start of the month and has demanded the handover of suspects as the price for allowing aid to flow again.

CNN's Alessio Vinci said the decision to co-operate with The Hague tribunal had created political in-fighting between the new democratic forces instead of opening a legal debate over the guilt or innocence of the indictees.

He said the extreme action taken by Stojiljkovic to avoid being sent to The Hague could happen again.

"A lot of indicted war crimes suspects are known to have told supporters and friends that if they are ever in a situation where they are close to arrest they would kill themselves," he said.

"What you have to appreciate is that many of the indictees are seen by many here as heroes and the tribunal in The Hague as unlawful."

The tribunal is seeking 33 fugitives, including wartime leaders Radovan Karadzic and ex-Gen. Ratko Mladic -- both charged with genocide.

Vinci added: "Politically, I'm sure that many in the current government would regard it as a devastating political impact if, for example, Mladic killed himself during an attempt to arrest him and send him to The Hague."