Now president of Serbia will not be extradited to Hague Tribunal for the time being

Incumbent president of Serbia Milan Milutinovic will not be extradited to the Hague Tribunal until the expiry of his presidential mandate, Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic told journalists after the opening of the tourist Exchange at a health-building centre of Serbia. After the end of the president's mandate we will discuss with the corresponding bodies of the Hague Tribunal what is to be done with the charge against Milutinovic, Djindjic noted. The representatives of the Tribunal more than once stated that the Serbian president's immunity does not matter, pointing to the advantage of international law over national law. The Hague Tribunal accuses Milutinovic of committing war crimes in Kosovo from January 1st to June 20th, 1999 according to the principle of the so-called collective responsibility. Ex-president of Yugoslavia Slobodan Milosevic, former Vice-Premier of the federal government Nikola Sainovic, former chief of the General Staff Dragoljub Ojdanic and former Interior Minister Vlajko Stojiljkovic are accused in the same case. The trial of Milosevic has already been going on for several months, Sainovic and Ojdanic voluntarily went to the Hague some time ago, and Stojiljkovic committed suicide. The Prime Minister of Serbia stressed the paramount importance of the country's cooperation with the International Tribunal on War Crimes for the former Yugoslavia. This obligation cannot be avoided, Zoran Djindjic stated. At the same time he denied that extradition of former commander of the troops of Republika Srpska Ratko Mladic is in the competence of Serbia and Yugoslavia. The Hague Tribunal "can keep pressurizing us but we cannot do this because, to the best of our knowledge, Mladic is not staying on the territory of Serbia," Djindjic said.