"Most of the killings are done by the KLA and by NATO aggression," Matic said
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June 24, 1999
Web posted at: 5:35 p.m. EDT (2135 GMT)

BELGRADE, Yugoslavia (CNN) -- The Yugoslav parliament voted Thursday to lift a state of war imposed since the NATO airstrikes began March 24.

Under the state of war, Yugoslav leaders had imposed strict controls on personal freedoms of Yugoslav citizens.

Still up for discussion were restrictions placed on prices and on freedom of the media.

During the parliamentary debate, Yugoslav Prime Minister Momir Bulatovic called for an end to sanctions against Yugoslavia, and demanded compensation for the damage caused by the 78-day bombing campaign.

Before the vote, federal government officials told the lawmakers they had lifted 31 decrees imposed during the state of war, the official news agency Tanjug reported.

Yugoslav blames KLA, NATO for killings

Also Thursday, a top Yugoslav official blamed most of the killing during the war on NATO troops and Kosovo Liberation Army rebels, and he rejected charges of war crimes as "propaganda."

In an interview with CNN, Goran Matic, Yugoslav Federal Minister, said, "Most of the killings are done by KLA and by NATO aggression.

"Investigation is necessary, but not by The Hague tribunal, which is a political tribunal. It is a political arm of the United States' administration, to prosecute the people it doesn't like."

In May, the tribunal indicted Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic and four Yugoslav or Serb officials for crimes against humanity for what Western nations have described as a brutal campaign to force ethnic Albanians from Kosovo.

The KLA has been fighting for independence or autonomy for Kosovo, a Serb province whose population has been mostly ethnic Albanian.

Matic said the tribunal's representatives had taken hundreds of journalists into Kosovo.

"Their main goal was to discover mass graves," he said. "The majority of things it reports are propaganda."

Asked about reconstruction aid for wartime destruction, Matic said Yugoslavia expects no help from the United States, but believes other countries will help it rebuild. Western nations have said they won't provide anything other than humanitarian aid unless Milosevic leaves office.

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