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Milosevic Extradition Decree Suspended - International Justice - Global Policy Forum Milosevic Extradition Decree Suspended
Associated Press
June 28, 2001Yugoslavia's Constitutional Court froze efforts to extradite Slobodan Milosevic to the U.N. war crimes tribunal on Thursday, ruling that it needed more time to consider a government decree enabling the handover. The court -- comprised of a panel of judges appointed during Milosevic's reign -- had been expected to rule Thursday on whether the recent government measure violated the constitution, which bans the surrender of Yugoslav citizens to foreign courts. It was unclear how long the court would deliberate.
``This is the victory of law over politics,'' said Toma Fila, the head of Milosevic's defense team.
Yugoslavia's pro-democracy government wants to meet international demands on bringing Milosevic to justice ahead of an international conference Friday in Brussels, Belgium, meant to drum up financial aid for the country. Government efforts to extradite Milosevic were welcomed by Washington, and after weeks of waiting, the United States announced Wednesday it would be attending the donors' conference. Yugoslavia needs billions of dollars in foreign aid after 13 years of rule by Milosevic, who was ousted in October after riots forced him to concede that he had lost an election.
The court decision to suspend the extradition process came on a 4-0 vote and followed a decision by the presiding judge, Milan Srdic, 65, to resign. He said he was at retirement age and didn't wish to jeopardize the court's ruling should anyone challenge his presence on the panel. Any decision made by the Constitutional Court can be considered by Yugoslavia's highest court, the Supreme Court. The Constitutional Court rules primarily on issues pertaining to the constitution.
The appeal was a maneuver for time by Milosevic's defense attorneys, who are seeking to delay the former president's extradition. Pro-democracy leaders have pledged to hand him over to the U.N. court in The Hague, Netherlands, and angrily denounced the Constitutional Court's decision.
``This measure was brought by judges appointed by Milosevic, and they acted in this way to protect him,'' said the country's interior minister, Zoran Zivkovic.
Some senior leaders, like Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic, say Milosevic will be delivered to the U.N. tribunal no matter how courts rule.
Milosevic's lawyers had been fighting Milosevic's extradition on at least two levels -- the federal courts in Yugoslavia and the courts in Serbia, Yugoslavia's largest republic. Earlier, his lawyers lost a battle in the republic's courts, when judges rejected attempts by Milosevic's lawyers to dismiss three court officials involved in his extradition case. The decision removed one of the obstacles for his surrender to the Netherlands-based tribunal.
Milosevic's attorneys want to slow efforts to extradite the former president, who was indicted for alleged atrocities committed in Kosovo during the crackdown he ordered two years ago on the province's ethnic Albanian population. The crackdown ended after NATO's 78-day bombing campaign. Milosevic has been in prison since April 1 while allegations of abuse of power and corruption are investigated. If extradited, he would be the first former head of state to face a war crimes trial in front of the U.N. tribunal, which was established in 1992.
Branimir Gugl, another Milosevic attorney, said that if the pro-democracy authorities sent Milosevic to The Hague, it would amount to a ``outright kidnapping, an act of legal terrorism.''
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