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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

Voluntary surrender of Hague indictees is the best option

Novi Sad, 6 September 2004

Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica has called on the indictees by the Hague tribunal to turn themselves in, stating that that is the best option both for them and the state, adding that Croatian example is the best proof of that.

Vojislav Kostunica

A voluntary surrender offers certain benefits to those accused, and is at the same time the best option for the state, Kostunica told Novi Sad daily Dnevnik, adding that such form of cooperation with The Hague is the most favourable for Belgrade.

Asked why he had not called on the indictees to surrender earlier, as Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader did upon stepping into office, Kostunica said that the direct address to those accused would have been just a show, and would not have solved anything.

The Prime Minister said that the international community did not send any harsh criticism to Belgrade in terms of cooperation with the tribunal at The Hague, describing sanction threats as alleged.

He said that except for the case of Ratko Mladic, there is no other criticism in terms of cooperation with The Hague. “The world can see that we are making efforts, the National Council [for cooperation with the Hague tribunal] has been established, the documents are being forwarded, the witnesses are freed from keeping the state secrets, and these facts are respected,” Kostunica said.

Commenting on the interethnic incident whose target were Hungarians in Vojvodina, the Prime Minister said that there are nationalist assaults on other ethnic communities as well, including Serbs.

He said that it is necessary to investigate this incident, to find the culprits and conduct the legal proceedings, adding that “we must act together to prevent such incidents to happen again.”

Kostunica said that the problems, which undoubtedly exist, are stirred up with boosted statements made by local politicians.

"Statements of some foreign officials are even more surprising, and it is utterly unacceptable to compare situations in Kosovo and Vojvodina. Such a comparison is unsustainable and can only fan the flames", said Kostunica.

He said that Serbs in Kosovo-Metohija maintain that there are no conditions for their participation in the upcoming election. Kostunica voiced hope that something can be changed in the short period before the election.

He said that the Serbian government will hold consultations with Kosovo Serbs on the issue and that they will jointly make a decision, taking into account the protection of the country's most important national and state interests.

Pointing out that it is much more important to hear messages of Serbs from Kosovo-Metohija than to send messages to them, the Prime Minister said that Serbs warn that they don't feel safe and therefore need additional safety guarantees. They also need a kind of self-government, whose establishment would not open the issue of the province's final status or lead to its ethnic division.

"The Serbs have had a bad experience with previous participation in the elections, because it turned out that security conditions in the province have not improved in the past several years, but on the contrary, we had March 17", the Prime Minister concluded.