Belgrade to start war crimes trials 'soon'

Serbia will start war crimes trials of its own citizens next week, Justice Minister Mr Vladan Batic was quoted today as saying…

Serbia will start war crimes trials of its own citizens next week, Justice Minister Mr Vladan Batic was quoted today as saying.

Mr Batic, speaking at a meeting of his Serbian Christian Democrats, refused to give any details as to who would go on trial or for what alleged crimes.

"Trials of our citizens for war crimes will start before our courts next week, he said", according to Belgrade independent radio station B-92. Beta news agency carried a similar report.

The minister, part of a reformist administration which came to power after authoritarian leader Mr Slobodan Milosevic was ousted in October, was not immediately available for further comment.

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Last month the government handed Mr Milosevic over to the UN war crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in the Hague, which had indicted him over his conduct of the 1998-9 conflict in Kosovo. Four of his senior aides were indicted with him.

Some members of the administration had opposed the handover, saying the court was biased against Serbs and that Mr Milosevic and all other people suspected of war crimes should be tried at home.

B-92 quoted Mr Batic as saying he would ask the tribunal to allow Yugoslavia to try cases related to Mr Milosevic. But Beta said Mr Batic declined to specify whether next week's trials would involve those indicted by the Hague.

Mr Batic also said tribunal investigators would question 58 Serbs next month about alleged crimes committed by ethnic Albanian Kosovo Liberation Army guerrillas, and he expected indictments would follow.