Serbian Justice Minister on Arrests; Surrenders: 'Things are working out just fine'

Report on Provisional Release Hearing of Milutinovic, Sainovic and Ojdanic
10 March 2005 Trial Chamber III - Judges Robinson, Kwon, Bonomy

The Serbian Justice Minister Zoran Stojkovic testified today at a
hearing concerning the provisional release of three top Serbian
indictees, former Serbian President Milan Milutinovic, former Federal
Republic of Yugoslavia Deputy Prime Minister Nikola Sainovic and
Former Chief of Staff of the Yugoslav Army, Dragolub Ojdanic.  The
three, indicted for crimes against humanity allegedly committed in
Kosovo have each been in pre-trial detention for approximately three
years.  No trial date has been set.

Serbian Government Promises To Regularly Monitor Those Provisionally
Released and Guarantees Their Return to Trial

Minister Stojkovic testified under oath that the Serbian Government
would guarantee that the accused, if released, would be monitored on a
daily basis and returned to The Hague for trial.  He affirmed that
decisions made by the previous government to cooperate with the
Tribunal would be respected and that constitutional mechanisms were in
place that would facilitate this cooperation.

The Justice Minister indicated various steps for monitoring including,
in the case of Mr. Miltunovic, providing a bodyguard for both his own
protection and to keep tabs on his whereabouts and activities (Mr.
Milutinovic, as a former President of Serbia is entitled to have a
personal body guard provided by the State under law). The Justice
Minister himself would be appraised of the monitoring on a regular
basis.

Serbian Justice Minister Unable to Cite Concrete Measures To Effect
Arrest of At-Large War Crimes Suspects

However, when dealing with those indictees who remain at large,
Minister Stojilkovic was unable to give concrete details as to how
Serbia would enforce its obligations to hand over fugitive war crimes
suspects.

Instead, he repeatedly echoed his government's generalized promise to
'fulfill its obligations' to the Tribunal.  As evidence he noted that
in the past few weeks, several high-ranking generals have voluntarily
appeared before the ICTY, 'practically once a week' he noted.

While the recent spike in voluntary hand-overs is certainly
encouraging, Minister Stojkovic talked around the problem of what
concrete efforts would be made to track down and arrest those suspects
who refused to voluntarily surrender to the Tribunal.  The Justice
Minister remained vague as to how long it would take before the
Serbian government stopped negotiating the voluntary surrender of an
indictee and instead effected his arrest.  When asked if there were
any firm guidelines or time limits for discussing voluntary surrender
before an arrest would be made, Minister Stojkovic simply replied 'a
relatively short period of time' without specifying whether that would
be weeks, months or years.

Serbian Justice Minister Struggles With Explaining Judicial Procedure

The Justice Minister was also unclear in his explanation concerning the
level of Serbian judicial involvement necessary to compel a suspect to
appear.  He cited two ways in which an indictee could appear: One was
by voluntary surrender and the other was through a court-ordered
process.  This answer confused Judge Bonomy who inquired as to whether
an entire separate judicial process was required in order to issue an
arrest warrant in Serbia.  The Justice Minister responded that a
summons is issued and the person is brought to surrender.  Defense
counsel for Sainovic, Toma Fila interjected to clarify Minister
Stojikovic's remarks - he assured Judge Bonomy that once the ICTY has
promulgated an arrest warrant, a Serbian court simply has to issue a
summons as an administrative matter (and that the police would then go
after the suspect), but that Serbian courts would not question or
adjudicate the legitimacy of the ICTY order.

Judge Bonomy expressed great concern that defense counsel could
explain to the court the mechanisms for compliance with Tribunal
orders by Serbian judicial bodies better than the Serbian Justice
Minister.

Voluntary Surrender Clearly Favored Over Arrest; Pavkovic's Liberty
Frustrates Prosecution

The Government of Serbia clearly favors the process of voluntary
surrender over arrest, although no written policy as such exists.
Minister Stojkovic noted that 'we are asking every one to surrender
voluntarily, and if not, then the Government will fulfill its
obligation.'

The issue of General Nebojsa Pavkovic's refusal to appear before the
Tribunal was a particularly contentious point, with Minsiter
Stojkovic stating that the police have not been able to find him and
that the police are currently searching for a number of indictees.
The prosecution was incredulous of this statement as they noted
that General Pavkovic has made many comments to the media about his
unwillingness to go to the ICTY suggesting: 1) that he should have
been arrested because it was clear he would not voluntarily surrender;
and 2) that he was not deep in hiding since he was openly talking to
the press.

Minister Stojkovic continued to defend the voluntary surrender method
(as opposed to effecting arrests), saying 'For the time being things
are working out just fine; I expect another man to come within the
next few days.'