Prague, June 28 (RFE/RL) - The President of rump Yugoslavia's constituent republic of Montenegro, Momir Bulatovic, says talks he held in Belgrade with Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic and rump Yugoslav President Zoran Lilic resolved that Yugoslavia can only put political pressure on Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic to leave public office.
Bulatovic, speaking in an interview broadcast last Friday evening by RFE-RL's South Slavic service, says as Yugoslavia has no military or police in Bosnia it can not resort to repression of any kind in dealing with accused war criminal Karadzic. He says Yugoslavia can only use political means while Karadzic can depend on his being the most popular political figure in Republika Srpska. Bulatovic says Karadzic's refusal to leave public life works against the Dayton agreement and peace and stability in the region. Bulatovic says he agreed with Milosevic and Lilic that not a single war criminal will go unpunished. But he says accused war criminals who are citizens of rump Yugoslavia will not be extradited but will be tried by Yugoslav courts. The U.N. war crimes tribunal in the Hague has indicted several Yugoslav military officers and paramilitary chiefs. Bulatovic says the Yugoslav constitution bars the state from handing over its own citizens for trial abroad but binds the authorities to ensure that anyone accused of war crimes or crimes against humanity is tried. He says trying accused war criminals in a Yugoslav court would not be a political farce but rather a public trial open to all arguments and evidence.