Yugoslav President Pissed Off With West

Although innocent, Slobodan Milosevic will never be released

Yugoslavia President Voislav Kostunica said in an interview to the Belgrade newspaper Glas Javnosti that cooperation with the West was supposed to be of a bilateral character. Kostunica said that the West is should show more understanding towards Yugoslavia.

As Kostunica said, Belgrade will not withdraw Yugoslavia’s lawsuit that was brought to the International Criminal Court against certain NATO members. Kostunica claimed that NATO bombers should be held accountable. It is absurd to blame the previous Yugoslav government for the NATO destruction.

Tribunal spokeswoman Florence Hartmann told Tanjug news agency that the Tribunal is investigating crimes against non-Albanian nationals of Kosovo. However, she added that the Tribunal receives no help from Yugoslavia officials. Hartmann did not release the suspects’ names. She pointed out that the probe has continued for two years. Prosecutor General of the Hague Tribunal Carla del Ponte repeatedly said that there will be criminal charges brought against Kosovo Albanians concerning crimes against the non-Albanian population of Kosovo. Radio Jugoslavia reported that charges should have already been filed this year; however, things are right where they started

In the meantime, the trial on the former President of Yugoslavia Slobodan Milosevic continues. News agencies report that Milosevic was indicted by an anonymous witness, a certain S-061. This witness is reportedly one of the leaders of the former republic of Serbian Krajina in Croatia. It is also rumored that this anonymous witness is one of the initiators of Serbian resistance there. This man claims that Milosevic was one of the prime criminals of the war in the Balkan country.

S-061 stated that he had had over 30 meetings with Milosevic. He added that the ex-president would deliberately provoke Serb aggression in Croatia against the government of the republic, and then Milosevic would deploy units of the Yugoslav army in the conflict area. The witness claimed that Milosevic was trying to separate the Serb-populated territories from Croatia and Bosnia and annex them to Greater Serbia.

S-061 stated that Slobodan Milosevic eventually betrayed the Serbian people in the republic: “You used Serbs in Croatia in order to achieve your personal goals, you manipulated public opinion, you provided us with weapons, and then just left us all to the mercy of fate,” said the anonymous witness.

Slobodan Milosevic parried every allegation. Milosevic declared that he always stood for the preservation of Yugoslavia. He stated that the wars in Croatia and Bosnia were caused by the illegal separation of those republics from Yugoslavia. Milosevic added that there wouldn’t have been any war if he had been the commander of the army. This was his comment to the witness’s statement regarding Milosevic’s direct influence on Yugoslav generals.

U.N. tribunal spokesman Jim Landale has recently claimed that Slobodan Milosevic will never be released, despite the ex-president’s poor state of health. Milosevic’s followers and lawyers insisted on his release for the period of one year in order to give Milosevic the possibility to improve his health. However, Hague prosecutors believed that this is not necessary. The results of medical examinations will not affect the Tribunal’s decision. Instead, the former president of Yugoslavia will be provided with medical supervision while in prison. Yet, Slobodan Milosevic has already fainted several times during hearings due to his high blood pressure.

Pyotr Bely PRAVDA.Ru

Translated by Dmitry Sudakov