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AFP. 27 December 2001. Serbian president serene despite war crimes allegations. BELGRADE -- Serbian President Milan Milutinovic, indicted for war crimes committed in Kosovo along with former president Slobodan Milosevic, said in an interview Thursday that his "conscience is clear" about the UN tribunal's allegations. "I could not and I still can not guess why I am on the list" of five Serbian officials, indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) for war crimes committed during the 1998-99 Kosovo war, Milutinovic told Blic News weekly. Milutinovic said his "conscience is clear," adding that he had been put on the ICTY list "probably because of a distorted image of the Serbian president's post." Under the Serbian constitution, changed in 1989 when Milosevic came to power, the president of the dominant Yugoslav republic has wide authority. Milutinovic, a close ally of Milosevic at the time, was elected Serbian president in 1997, after Milosevic ended terms in that office and was legally denied another mandate. Milosevic was handed over to the ICTY on June 28 and is facing genocide charges for his role in Bosnia's war, as well as charges of crimes against humanity allegedly committed in Kosovo and Croatia. During the Kosovo war, Milutinovic said he had been "engaged with all capacities in the process of negotiations with US mediators focused on finding a political solution for the self-rule" of the province. "I had absolutely no authority, either by the constitution, or really, on the army or the police," Milutinovic said, noting that the police were under the responsibility of the Serbian government and interior ministry. Along with Milosevic and Milutinovic, former Serbian interior minister Vlajko Stojiljkovic, former Yugoslav deputy prime minister Nikola Sainovic and former army chief General Dragoljub Ojdanic are also indicted by the ICTY. Milutinovic, the only former member of Milosevic's government still in power in Yugoslavia, said no one from the ICTY had tried to contact him. Last week, Belgrade's daily Nacional reported that war crimes investigators had offered to reduce the charges against Milutinovic if he agreed to testify against Milosevic. "Milutinovic has always said that he had no influence over state policy and that he never took major decisions," the newspaper said. And Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic, when asked what would happen to Milutinovic once his presidential mandate expires in 2002, said he would be "an ordinary citizen indicted by The Hague tribunal." However, he added, there was a possibility that Milutinovic "works out to be withdrawn from the list of indicted if he cooperates with the tribunal." . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Barry Stoller http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ProletarianNews ==^================================================================ This email was sent to: archive@jab.org EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.a9WB2D Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================
