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CNN Live At Daybreak

Attorneys for Milosevic Fight Extradition

Aired June 25, 2001 - 08:22   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LINDA STOUFFER, CNN ANCHOR: Attorneys for former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic say he is not budging. They are fighting efforts to have Milosevic extradited, to face charges of war crimes.

CNN's Alessio Vinci joins us by phone now, with the very latest on what's becoming a lengthy legal battle.

Alessio, good morning.

ALESSIO VINCI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Linda.

Milosevic's lawyers, this morning, filed a request with the constitutional court here to analyze the decree, which was adopted over the weekend by the Yugoslav government, which paves the way for the eventual extradition of war crimes suspects, such as Mr. Milosevic. They want the constitutional courts to rule whether this decree is constitutional or not.

But Yugoslav officials remain under pressure from the international community to begin handing over war crimes suspects, such as Mr. Milosevic, by the end of this week. That's when a donors conference for Yugoslav is expected to take place in Brussels. Officials here hope to raise up to $1 billion in financial assistance for reconstruction and developing projects. But the United States and other countries will boycott that conference unless Belgrade begins extraditing war crimes suspects -- not necessarily Mr. Milosevic, they say, but any of the other 15 alleged war criminals sought by The Hague Tribunal.

At a news conference this morning, the Yugoslav Deputy Prime Minister Miroljub Labus, who will lead the delegation to the conference in Brussels, refused to comment on what would happen if the United States will not participate. He said he did not feel the United States was blackmailing Yugoslavia, but he stressed that Yugoslavia was on the right path of reform, and that his government was doing all it could to improve peace and stability in this region.

Back to you -- Linda.

STOUFFER: Alessio, what are people there saying about all of this? Is this very important to them, that he be brought to The Hague for these alleged crimes?

VINCI: I think it is. Certainly, the support for Mr. Milosevic's extradition is growing. In the days following Mr. Milosevic's demise, there were just a fraction of the population here who were in favor of his extradition. A lot of people here believe and were following the government mantra that The Hague-based tribunal is biased against the Serbs. It is something also that a new Yugoslav leadership, including Mr. Kostunica, have repeated over and over and over again.

However, recently, Mr. Milosevic has been in jail now for two months. He has not been officially charged with any serious crime. He is still a suspect in investigation of abusive power and corruption, and therefore, many citizens here believe that perhaps the Yugoslav judiciary is not ready to really move against Mr. Milosevic, and they would rather, perhaps, the judges in The Hague to do that. Therefore, now I would say the people are split in half between those who favor and those who are against an extradition.

STOUFFER: Important to point that out, Alessio Vinci. I know you'll keep us up to date. Thank you very much.

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