UN Wire

Friday, December 15, 2000

YUGOSLAVIA: UN War Crimes Prosecutor To Seek Milosevic Arrest

Chief UN war crimes prosecutor Carla del Ponte will visit Yugoslavia in January to push for the arrest of former President Slobodan Milosevic and other war crimes suspects, she said Wednesday.

Milosevic has been indicted by the UN tribunal in The Hague for crimes committed last year in Kosovo.

Yugoslavian President Vojislav Kostunica has said the issue of handing over Milosevic to the tribunal is not a priority.

Milosevic said during a two-hour television interview Tuesday that he does not recognize the UN tribunal, calling it "an illegal institution" that is "part of the mechanism of genocide against the Serbian nation".