War crimes tribunal should also try NATO, says Yugoslav leader
BELGRADE, Dec 19 (AFP) -
UN war crimes tribunal prosecutor Carla del Ponte has undermined the court's credibility by refusing to investigate NATO for its air war on Belgrade, Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica said Tuesday.
"A great shadow of doubt has fallen over The Hague court since Carla del Ponte refused to lead an inquiry into possible crimes against humanity committed during NATO's bombing of Yugoslavia," said the reformist president.
Reacting to Kostunica's statement, Del Ponte told a Russian television station that the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) was not competent to judge the actions of NATO during the bombing campaign.
Interviewed on Russia's ORT station, she said the ICTY had received complaints about the NATO action, but was not competent to judge whether it was legitimate or not.
"The tribunal must establish if there is a personal responsibility for the crimes committed," she said.
"The information, the evidence, the elements that we have do not allow us to open an inquiry (against NATO) as the evidence is not sufficient from a legal standpoint," del Ponte added.
The ICTY's top prosecutor also said she hoped to be able to meet Kostunica "as soon as possible, to discuss cooperation" between Yugoslavia and the tribunal.
However, Kostunica reiterated his administration's reluctance to cooperate with the ICTY, which indicted his hardline predecessor Slobodan Milosevic on war crimes charges for the Kosovo conflict.
"The ICTY will remain on our agenda but is not a priority," said Kostunica.
NATO bombed Belgrade for 78 days last year to force Milosevic's regime to halt its onslaught on Kosovo Albanian rebels.
Some 800,000 people were driven from their homes during the conflict.
Del Ponte, who is Swiss, later ruled there was not a case for investigating the Atlantic alliance.
While confirming that the ICTY's offices in Belgrade would be reopened, Kostunica was quick to stress on Tuesday that the court was "too limited to deal with all that happened in the former Yugoslavia and understand the complexity of our relations".
He said that other countries, such as South Africa, had emerged from tough regimes and been left to "determine the truth with their own non-judicial institutions, which are more flexible".
"Numerous voices have spoken out even within the ICTY to make it clear that a single institution cannot tackle all the cases ... and that it cannot interfere in the question of historical truth."
The UN court is tasked with investigating crimes committed in the various conflicts in the former Yugoslavia.
sg.dailynews.yahoo.com |
