From: Downwithcapitalism <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Associated Press. 26 June 2001. Milosevic's Lawyers Meet With Court. BELGRADE -- Yugoslavia's president singled out U.S. pressure Tuesday as a main reason for his country's change of heart on extraditing Slobodan Milosevic to the U.N. war crimes tribunal. While President Vojislav Kostunica, a staunch critic of the court, sought to distance himself from the impending extradition, Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic of Serbia, the main Yugoslav republic, said the handover was a virtual certainty. Milosevic's lawyers are appealing a government decree making the extradition of Yugoslav citizens possible. But Djindjic said not even a ruling by the highest court, the Constitutional Court, would overrule the tribunal's claim on Milosevic. [N.B.] Tribunal statutes will be "directly applied, (even) if the Constitutional Court rules that the decree is unconstitutional,'' he told reporters. Milosevic lawyer Veselin Cerovic depicted the former president as "proud but resigned," saying his imprisoned client refused to speak to Investigative Judge Goran Cavlina when Cavlina asked Milosevic for a statement on the extradition procedure. Instead, Milosevic demanded to see his lawyers, Cerovic said. "Milosevic feels that he is NATO's prisoner," said Cerovic. "He believes that this is a gravest violation of his civil rights." One of the attorneys, Branimir Gugl, said Milosevic now has 24 hours to choose a defense lawyer in the extradition case, after which he will be questioned and will also have a three-day appeal period if the court decides that he should be handed over. "The earliest possible time when the appeal process will be over is midnight on Monday," Gugl said. But he suggested that the authorities could try to speed up the process. "Someone is in a great hurry here," he said. .............................. Barry Stoller _________________________________________________ KOMINFORM P.O. Box 66 00841 Helsinki Phone +358-40-7177941 Fax +358-9-7591081 http://www.kominf.pp.fi General class struggle news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe mails to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Geopolitical news: [EMAIL PROTECTED] subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] __________________________________________________
