BELGRADE, Yugoslavia (AP) - The chief U.N. war crimes prosecutor renewed her call Tuesday for the extradition of indicted Serb suspects, but also suggested charges could be filed against rival ethnic Albanians for attacks in Kosovo.
Carla Del Ponte met Tuesday with Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic and other pro-democracy leaders who overthrew former President Slobodan Milosevic last October and later extradited him to the U.N. tribunal based in The Hague, Netherlands. (Read photo caption below)
Eager to restore relations with the international community severed under Milosevic and to receive Western financial assistance, Serbia's new leaders have appeared ready to bargain with Del Ponte over the remaining 15 suspects, some indicted for crimes in earlier wars in Croatia and Bosnia.
``It is our common interest that all crimes committed in former Yugoslavia be investigated and all culprits punished,'' Djindjic said,
Asked if more extraditions were demanded, Del Ponte said: ``Of course. There are a lot of fugitives, not only in Serbia but also in Bosnia and other places.''
Bosnia's two most wanted war crimes suspects are wartime leader Radovan Karadzic and his military commander, Gen. Ratko Mladic.
Del Ponte also said the tribunal's mandate has been extended from June 1999, when the Kosovo war ended, to deal with later atrocities, ``particularly the episode in which Serbs were the victims.''
Victimized by revenge-seeking ethnic Albanians, more than 200,000 Serbs fled Kosovo after the war, when NATO and United Nations took control of the Serbian province. Del Ponte's comments suggested that her court would be looking hard at those hate crimes and those who organized them.
In a statement after meeting Del Ponte, Yugoslav Justice Minister Savo Markovic said it was important to begin investigations against former ethnic Albanian fighters suspected of ``crimes against Serbs and other non-Albanians.''
Among the 15 Serb suspects sought by the tribunal are former army chief Gen. Dragoljub Ojdanic; former Serbian Interior Minister Vlajko Stojiljkovic and Milan Milutinovic, part of Milosevic's government who continues to serve as figurehead president of Serbia.
Djindjic has said that Milutinovic cannot be extradited because he enjoys presidential immunity.
Del Ponte's spokeswoman, Florence Hartmann, disagreed.
``The obligation of the state of Yugoslavia is for Mr. Milutinovic and all indictees living on the territory of Yugoslavia to be transferred to The Hague,'' said Del Ponte's spokeswoman, Florence Hartmann.
In Sarajevo, the outgoing commander of NATO troops in Bosnia urged help in tracking down Karadzic and Mladic.
While not mentioning Yugoslavia by name, U.S. Gen. Michael Dodson said the arrest of the Bosnian Serbs requires a ``regional approach,'' a clear reference to help from Yugoslavia.
Both Karadzic and Mladic have been hiding since 1996 when they were indicted by Del Ponte's tribunal for genocide committed during the 1992-95 Bosnian war. Some official have suggested that they might be hiding in neighboring Yugoslavia.
PHOTO CAPTION:
More than a thousand supporters of the former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic gather in downtown Belgrade, holding a banner declaring "Free Serbia" and chanting slogans against Carla Del Ponte and the U.N. war crimes tribunal, on Monday Sept. 3, 2001. The chief U.N. war crimes prosecutor came to Yugoslavia on Monday to seek more extraditions of high-profile suspects, including Serbia's figurehead President Milan Milutinovic. (AP Photo/Mikica Petrovic)
- Sep 03 4:47 PM ET