Serbia Want Ex - Guerrilla Leaders

[Ivo Skoric]

Agreed. Serbian government realized UNMIK's frustration with ex-
KLA leaders, and they wanted to cash in their newly established 
'good guys' role, after giving up those 100 lbs of uranium, to get 
stronger position in the upcoming elections. This is very clear. 
They are aware they won't get those 3, and they don't really want 
them either, because then they would have to do something with 
them, and their shabby judiciary system would get exposed to 
international criticism, which would again deposit them in the 'bad 
guys' bin.

Date sent:      	Sun, 25 Aug 2002 10:42:25 +0200
From:           	Frank Tiggelaar <frankti at xs4all.nl>
Send reply to:  	webmaster at domovina.net
Organization:   	Domovina Net
To:             	ivo at balkansnet.org
Subject:        	Re: Serbia Want Ex - Guerrilla Leaders

Ivo Skoric wrote:
 
[..]
 
I don't think the 3 are going to be extradited - after all US is a
hyperpower, and Serbia is just a small player, and it is true that they
are under the jurisdiction of ICTY anyway, so if they are to be
prosecuted it will happen in The Hague, not in Belgrade 

[..]

Not necessarily. If the ICTY has no case against these suspects it can
allow a local court, or even a court in a third country, to try them.

This happened, for instance, in the cases of general Norac and Fikret
Abdic. Also, several Bosnian-Serb suspects were tried for war crimes in
Germany with the ICTY's blessing. 

Other than that, there is an internationally-supervised criminal court
in Kosova (where Michael Hartmann is a prosecutor), so chances that the
suspects will be extradited to Belgrade are slim. I guess this
sabre-rattling in Serbia has more to do with the upcoming elections than
with a genuine desire to have a trial in court. 

Best,
Frank