Socialists insist on end to extraditions B92 Radio

Socialists insist on end to extraditions
B92 Radio - March 1, 2004

BELGRADE -- Monday – The Socialist Party of Serbia, which is expected to support a minority Serbian government, has said it will move to bring down the government if there are any more extraditions to the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague.

“We will immediately move to topple the government if this is attempted,” Milorad Vucelic said on Television B92 last night.

Serbia’s prime minister-designate, Vojislav Kostunica, has already said that cooperation with the court will not be one of the government’s priorities.

But Vucelic last night added a new condition for his party’s support, warning that the government will have bring to justice those responsible for the extradition of Slobodan Milosevic, who remains leader of the Socialist Party from behind bars in The Hague.

“Someone will answer for the kidnapping of Milosevic. That will be our condition,” he told Impression of the Week. “Those who illegally kidnapped Milosevic and who illegally extradited him will, logically, be taken to court.”

Kostunica, then president of Yugoslavia, has always contended that the transfer of Milosevic was unconstitutional.