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09. December 2002 - Monday |
No more extraditions: Kostunica
LONDON - Belgrade will no longer hand over alleged war criminals to a United Nations tribunal because the court has reneged on guarantees for those who surrendered voluntarily, the Yugoslav President, Vojislav Kostunica, told The Times yesterday.
He said that they would now be tried only in local courts and not at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, which sits at The Hague.
"I think that the Hague tribunal is one-sided. Some people who have been indicted have been given guarantees. That is something that has not been respected and, after that, I say that no one is going to appear before the Hague tribunal voluntarily," he said.
Kostunica also criticized Carla del Ponte, the tribunal’s chief prosecutor. "The general attorney is bringing a sort of instability in the country," he said.
On Iraq, Kostunica strongly denied that he knew of illegal deals with Baghdad.
He said that he was pleased that the US State Department had denied allegations by the International Crisis Group.
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