Macedonian Interior Minister Not Afraid Of The Hague Tribunal

Macedonian Interior Minister Ljube Boskovski remained defiant in the face of what he called "betrayers of Macedonia" demanding he be sent to the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague. Speaking to a conference entitled "Don't Give an Inch of Macedonian Land", Boskovski said he did not have to fear The Hague tribunal inasmuch as everything he did as a minister was done to defend the national interests, RIA Novosti reported. The Interior Minister belongs to the ruling Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization - VMRO-DPMNE. He enjoys a wide-ranging popular support and has often spoken at various public gatherings in the country lately. Some political observers have linked his political activity with the party's election campaign. But sources in international organizations operating in Skopje would not rule out the war crimes tribunal could indict Boskovski. They charge him with "forming illegal police units along party lines and mobilizing convicted criminals into the police reserve." During a visit to the Macedonian capital recently, The Hague tribunal's chief prosecutor Carla del Ponte called for an investigation into some of the Macedonian police's actions allegedly targeting ethnic Albanian civilians.