Serbian government reaction to Babic's suicide скачать в хорошем качестве

Serbian government reaction to Babic's suicide

(6 Mar 2006) SHOTLIST 1. Wide shot of Serbia-Montenegro Parliament 2. Streets scene 3. SOUNDBITE (Serbian) Vox pop: "If he (Babic) thought that he should do it, well he did it." 4. SOUNDBITE (Serbian) Vox pop: "I am sorry, I can't do anything for him, that is all." 5. SOUNDBITE (Serbian) Vox pop: "He was an honest man, he did a lot for the Serbs, he could not do more because of other thieves, like Milan Martic and Slobodan Milosevic, they were putting him down all the time.'' 6. People removing snow from the pavement 7. Street scene 8. SOUNDBITE (Serbian) Rasim Ljajic, chief of Serbia-Montenegro's government agency for cooperation with The Hague tribunal: "No doubt that this will not help to regain the faith of our people towards the tribunal, it is not good for any prison facility if any of the inmates decides to commit suicide, or if every precaution has not been taken in order to avoid incidents like this one, so, without any doubt at all this is a bad news and it will enhance negative opinion regarding the Hague war crimes tribunal.'' 9. Mid of Ljajic STORYLINE The Serbian government says the death of Milan Babic, the Serb leader of a rebel republic in Croatia and one of the key figures in the Balkan wars of the 1990s, would likely deepen the distrust most Serbs have for the U.N. war crimes tribunal. Milan Babic committed suicide in prison, the U.N. war crimes tribunal said on Monday. "Without any doubt at all this is a bad news and it will enhance negative opinion regarding the Hague war crimes tribunal,'' said Rasim Ljajic, chief of Serbia-Montenegro's government agency for cooperation with The Hague tribunal. There was some sympathy for Babic on the streets of Belgrade. "He was an honest man, he did a lot for the Serbs, he could not do more because of other thieves, like Milan Martic and Slobodan Milosevic, they were putting him down all the time,'' said one local. Babic, who was sentenced to 13 years in prison for crimes against humanity, was found dead on Sunday evening in his cell at the U.N. detention centre in Scheveningen, a suburb of The Hague, according to the tribunal. "The tribunal detention unit had no indication of his intentions," Alexandra Milenov, a spokeswoman for the ICTY (International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia) said. Babic was a ranking Croatian Serb leader when the Serb minority revolted after Croatia broke away from Yugoslavia in 1991, setting off a war that lasted until 1995. He later was a pivotal witness at former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic's war crimes trial, which is continuing in The Hague. Babic's family was informed on Sunday after the medical officer of the centre confirmed the cause of death was suicide. The spokeswoman for the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia said, that Dutch authorities were notified and a tribunal judge immediately ordered an inquiry. The tribunal did not say how Babic killed himself. Babic, 50, pleaded guilty in 2004 to a single charge of inflaming an ethnic cleansing campaign that killed hundreds of Croats and expelled tens of thousands in the self-proclaimed Republic of Serbian Krajina. The plea was part of a deal in which prosecutors dropped four other charges of murder, cruelty and the wanton destruction of villages during the war in Croatia. He returned to The Hague last month to testify against Milan Martic, who became the leader in Krajina after Babic broke with Milosevic, his former mentor. Babic's three-week-long testimony in 2002 against Milosevic provided a dramatic highlight to a trial that has gone on for more than four years. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...