Serb presidents talks about indictment

• published: 21 Jul 2015
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1. Journalist and Milutinovic in TV studio 2. Interviewer Dragan Bujosevic 3. SOUNDBITE (Serbo-Croat) Milan Milutinovic, Serbian President: (Q: I suppose one of the hardest moments during the war for you was the 27th March when you found out you were indicted by the The Hague tribunal?) "No, that happened a little later, but, yes. Really, I think there were very few arguments for it, they were unfounded, but what can you do?" (Q: Two wars were taking place in Kosovo at the time, one was the war between Yugoslavia and NATO, the other one was a civil war between Albanians and Serbs. For which one you have been indicted?) "That is hard to say - in the indictment there is a list of villages and I don't even know where they are and a list of names, so it is hard to answer your question. In fact, what was happening in that moment was that I absolutely was not involved in it as I was busy with other things. One had to organise the country for the civilian defence, we had to organise the supplies, water, electricity and all the rest. The government was in charge for that with my help and support. So, those were the problems I was concerning myself with." (Q: Are you now afraid of being extradited to The Hague as these days we keep on talking about the new decree (in the country) regarding the The Hague tribunal?) "Oh well, we shall see what will happen with the decree, we'll see what will happen generally. I don't have fear personally, because I don't feel guilty and I think it's a mistake. But well, what's there, it's there, man cannot jump out of his skin. If someone else were a candidate for President of Serbia and if someone else won the elections, probably that person would be on the list as well, formally speaking. What can one do?) (Q: Well, Biljana Plavsic also thought she was innocent and went to The Hague to testify and they have kept her there?) "Well, Biljana Plavsic is another story and you as a prominent journalist know about her stands and statements during the Bosnian war. Regarding that, you can judge for yourself the difference in our cases." (Q: Let's go back to the internal political scene. You were offered to run for the Serbian presidency twice and you refused and then, you accepted in 1997. Why?) "How can I tell you. Someone had to run for it and according to the circumstances at that time, the party as big and as powerful as Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS) could not just leave the battle, somebody had to jump in and fight the counter-candidates." STORYLINE: There are conflicting reports from Belgrade on the political future of Serbian President Milan Milutinovic, who was indicted along with Slobodan Milosevic. A government official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told The Associated Press on Friday that Milutinovic was considering giving himself up to the international war crimes tribunal. The official Tanjug news agency was quick to distribute a statement by Milutinovic refuting the claim. However, it appeared some figures in the pro-democracy government were anxious to get rid of Milutinovic now that Milosevic is in The Hague. In a recent interview with the local BK television station, Milutinovic spoke about the indictment, saying he wasn't afraid because he was innocent. Both Milutinovic and Milosevic face charges in connection with alleged atrocities committed by Serb troops in Kosovo against ethnic Albanians during the 1998-99 war in the Yugoslav province. Three other top officials were also indicted for the Kosovo atrocities, including Nikola Sainovic, a former Yugoslav deputy prime minister; Vlajko Stojiljkovic, a former interior minister; and Gen. Dragoljub Ojdanic, former head of the Yugoslav army. You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/da1234f45854c06f342634a2b77dac0f Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork