[ALBSA-Info] Serbian Minister Pledges Justice

[Gazhebo at aol.com]

Serbian Minister Pledges Justice

By JOVANA GEC
  
BELGRADE, Yugoslavia (AP) - Investigators have so far uncovered the bodies of 
150 ethnic Albanians killed in Kosovo and buried in mass graves outside the 
province and are searching for hundreds more, Serbia's interior minister 
said. 

Dusan Mihajlovic, the minister in charge of police in Serbia, vowed to find 
the ``full truth'' about ethnic Albanians killed in former President Slobodan 
Milosevic's 1999 crackdown in Kosovo and punish those responsible. 

``Justice is slow but attainable,'' Mihajlovic told the VIN independent 
television network in comments aired Saturday. ``We must find out the full 
truth, where all the mass graves are, how many there are and who are the 
people in them.'' 

He said around 800 Kosovo Albanian victims are thought to have been buried 
outside the province in other parts of Serbia, part of a campaign he says 
Milosevic ordered to cover up all evidence of war crimes in Kosovo. 

The government of Serbia - the larger, dominant republic in Yugoslavia - 
handed Milosevic over the U.N. war crimes tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands, 
on June 28 to face trial for atrocities committed by Serb troops in Kosovo 
before and during NATO bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999. 

Mihajlovic, who came to office after Milosevic's ouster last year, first made 
public the existence of mass graves in Serbia weeks ago, paving the way for 
Milosevic's extradition. 

In the comments aired Saturday, Mihajlovic said that so far about 150 bodies 
have been exhumed from mass graves near Belgrade and in eastern Serbia, all 
believed to be ethnic Albanians. 

``In those mass graves, we found bodies with their identity cards. We must 
bury them properly and inform their families,'' Mihajlovic said. 

In other recent comments, Mihajlovic has said that among the bodies were 
those of male rebel fighters, civilians, women, children and even an 
eight-month fetus. 

Mihajlovic said that his police will try to differentiate among the bodies 
found, to see which were ``victims of war crimes, accidental victims during 
the fighting or victims of NATO bombing.'' 

``There are indications many of them are victims of war crimes,'' he said. 
``We must find those who did it and bring them to justice. We must not carry 
war crimes on our conscience.'' 

Investigators from The Hague tribunal have taken part in the exhumations of 
mass graves in Serbia, together with the local forensic experts. The latest 
findings are likely to be used as additional evidence against Milosevic at a 
trial expected to start next year. 

Four top Milosevic aides also are sought by The Hague tribunal, but - with 
some international pressure easing due to Milosevic's June 28 extradition 
Serbian officials are also suggesting they might now put some war crimes 
suspects on trial in their republic. 

``We must show the world that we are capable of trying them,'' said 
Mihajlovic. ``If we pretend it never happened, we, as a nation, will never 
have peace and will act as accomplices.''