Macedonian Authorities To Inform Criminal Tribunal In Hague About Mass Grave Near Neprosteno Village

Carla del Ponte, the Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in the Hague, demanded that Macedonian authorities submit the details concerning the existence of a common grave near Tetovo, in written. Carla del Ponte stated in her address to Macedonian President Boris Trajkovski that this information will be used as a basis for deciding whether there is enough evidence to launch the investigation. The Chief Prosecutor added that the Hague Tribunal was collecting information about war crimes committed in Macedonia by both Albanian terrorists and governmental units. The Macedonian leader has recently called on the ICTY to participate in the investigation into the supposed common grave. The Macedonian mass media report that Albanian terrorists have killed 12 Macedonians and buried them near the Neprosteno village located north-west of Tetovo. The probable location of the grave is currently not guarded by the Macedonian Security Force. Stavre Dzikov, the Macedonian Prosecutor General, stated that Carla del Ponte would arrive in Skopje on November 21 to discuss the issues concerning the aforementioned burial site, as well as the trials, which the Hague Tribunal should launch against members of the so-called National Liberation Army (NLA) who had committed war crimes. NLA members who were not involved in these crimes, will be amnestied under the presidential decree.