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Parliamentary, local elections to be held in Kosovo-Metohija
Belgrade,
29 March 2008
Serbian Minister for Kosovo-Metohija Slobodan Samardzic stated last night that apart from parliamentary, local elections will also be held on May 11 in Kosovo-Metohija, in which Kosovo Serbs will participate, as well as persons displaced in central Serbia and Montenegro.
Samardzic told the television Studio B that parliamentary and local elections in Serbia will also be organised in Kosovo-Metohija, according to the decision of Serbian parliament speaker Oliver Dulic and the stance that Kosovo-Metohija is a part of Serbia.
In order to hold local elections in Kosovo-Metohija, Samardzic said that the government should adopt a conclusion in which it would specify the election technique, because a large portion of the Serbian electoral body from the province is now in Serbia and Montenegro.
He also said that Serbia should file charges against countries that recognised the unilateral independence of Kosovo.
There is not a fail-proof means to achieve anything. But by filing charges you show firm determination to defend yourself at international tribunals. And thus you show the whole world that you are employing all means for the defence of your national interests and you also have chances of winning the case, said the Minister.
He noted that the government’s legal team was abroad for several months visiting a number of centres for international law and that it drafted a report with several proposals on how Serbia should react to such illegal acts of some countries.
Samardzic specified that the first option is to file charges against those countries at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the Hague on account of the breach of international law. The other is to sue these countries to the International Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg on account of breaching the International Convention for the Peaceful Settlement of Disputes. This second option refers to the countries which are signatories of this convention, he added.
According to Samardzic, the third option is to ask for the opinion of the ICJ in the Hague, which should determine whether the countries that recognised Kosovo’s independence have violated UN Security Council Resolution 1244.
Samardzic added that it is on the Serbian government to choose one or all three options.
In order to hold local elections in Kosovo-Metohija, Samardzic said that the government should adopt a conclusion in which it would specify the election technique, because a large portion of the Serbian electoral body from the province is now in Serbia and Montenegro.
He also said that Serbia should file charges against countries that recognised the unilateral independence of Kosovo.
There is not a fail-proof means to achieve anything. But by filing charges you show firm determination to defend yourself at international tribunals. And thus you show the whole world that you are employing all means for the defence of your national interests and you also have chances of winning the case, said the Minister.
He noted that the government’s legal team was abroad for several months visiting a number of centres for international law and that it drafted a report with several proposals on how Serbia should react to such illegal acts of some countries.
Samardzic specified that the first option is to file charges against those countries at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the Hague on account of the breach of international law. The other is to sue these countries to the International Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg on account of breaching the International Convention for the Peaceful Settlement of Disputes. This second option refers to the countries which are signatories of this convention, he added.
According to Samardzic, the third option is to ask for the opinion of the ICJ in the Hague, which should determine whether the countries that recognised Kosovo’s independence have violated UN Security Council Resolution 1244.
Samardzic added that it is on the Serbian government to choose one or all three options.
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