[ALBSA-Info] Simitis says Milosevic trial up to Belgrade

[Gazhebo at aol.com]

Simitis says Milosevic trial up to Belgrade

Western leaders yesterday hailed as an important step forward the arrest for 
corruption of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, and called for 
his extradition to face charges of "crimes against humanity."

In Greece, the arrest got mixed responses.

Speaking hours before the arrest, Prime Minister Costas Simitis said on 
Saturday that Belgrade had the sole responsibility for deciding on 
Milosevic's future.

"The decision (on whether he should be tried by the United Nations war crimes 
tribunal) belongs to the government of Yugoslavia alone," he told journalists 
during a joint conference in Thessaloniki on Saturday with visiting EU 
Commission President Romano Prodi.

Prodi said he wanted Milosevic to "be tried by the tribunal... But we have to 
do it by having confidence in Serbian democracy."

Following a meeting in the northern town of Kastoria with his visiting 
Albanian counterpart, Defense Minister Akis Tsochadzopoulos called the arrest 
operation a "grave error" committed by "those who have pushed matters along 
in Yugoslavia, who have demanded solutions concerning justice in exchange for 
economic assistance."

The Greek Communist Party denounced the "terrorist act" and demanded 
Milosevic's immediate release. "Slobodan Milosevic would not have been 
arrested had he acceded to demands at the Rambouillet meetings by the US, 
Germany and the other butchers of the Balkans," a statement said yesterday.