[A-PAL] A-PAL Newsletter, No. 003

[kosova at jps.net]

Welcome to Albanian Prisoner Advocacy List -- Prisoner Pals Newsletter,
No.003, December 27, 1999


This report highlights the developments on the prisoner issue for the week
of December 19, 1999.

==========================================
A-PAL STATEMENT:
==========================================
	The international community should press harder for the release of Albanian
prisoners still detained in Serbia and the arrest of all indicted war
criminals throughout the former Yugoslavia. Western governments should also
urge members of the Serbian opposition in the FRY, in the interests of
peace, justice, and a clean slate for a new, untainted government, to commit
to, and even to advocate openly for, the prisoners’ release and the arrest
of all indictees. The release of all Albanian political prisoners should be
among the criteria that must be met before any elections in Serbia or the
FRY can be deemed “free and fair.” "  [ICG Balkan Report, No. 83]

==========================================
THIS WEEKS TOPICS:
==========================================
* Independent Digital (UK) Ltd.: Belgrade's jailing of activist sparks
international protest
* ICG: Starting from Scratch in Kosovo
* Group 484: Serbia, public platform for Brovina's amnesty in Belgrade
* KosovaPress: The advocate Teki Bokshi has been released for 100. 000 DM
* Reuters: Bitic Says 15 Taken From Homes, Refugee Columns
* Reuters: Kosovo Albanians' trial in Serbia a “farce” -lawyer
* HLC: Charges Against Ethnic Albanians Students Not Substantiated By
Witness Testimony
* The Balkan Action Council: Week in Review
* Belgrade Centre For Human Rights: The Association Of Judges Of Serbia
* Belgrade Centre For Human Rights: Dismissal of Three Eminent Judges in
Serbia
* KosovaPress: Four Albanian prisoners were released by serb jails
* Gordana Mihajlovic, Judge of the Second Municipal Court in Belgrade: An
open letter to Mr. Balsa Govedarica, president of the Supreme Court of
Serbia
* Associated Press: Kosovo Missing Mire Hopes of Peace
* Amnesty International: Six months on, Climate of Violence and Fear flies
in the face of UN Mission
* Petition by a Belgrade-based NGO: "Going Home – Idemo Kuci"

==========================================
QUOTES OF THE WEEK:
==========================================
	Natasha Kandic, head of the Humanitarian Law Centre, said: "The sentence
against Flora Brovina is a political measure against her [and] clearly has
nothing to do with the alleged crime Brovina has committed."
	Gradimir Nalic, of the Yugoslav Committee of Lawyers for Human Rights, said
Dr Brovina was "a scapegoat". "The whole process against her," he added,
"showed the arrogance of the regime. There was also a message in that for
the first time it was not an anonymous, simple ethnic Albanian on trial, but
an intellectual, a physician, a human rights activist."
	Baton Haxhiu, editor of Koha Ditore, said, "Milosevic can say: 'This is how
we deal with separatists and terrorists on our soil.' It is also useful in
his dealings with the international community - Flora and the rest of the
Albanians held in Serbia can be used as bargaining chips as he tries to
escape isolation."
	Nikola Barovic, a Belgrade lawyer, put it: "In Stalin's time one got 10
years for nothing. Here one gets 12."
	Gordana Mihajlovic, Judge of the Second Municipal Court in Belgrade, said,
“You have put our profession, once respected and admired, in service of
daily politics, and deprived it of independence, which it was granted by
Constitution and Law.”

==========================================
WEEK’S REQUESTED ACTION:
==========================================
	Voice your concern to the United States Secretary of State, Mrs. Albright
at: secretary at state.gov to bring resolution to this intolerable issue of the
illegally detained Kosovar Political Prisoners.  Attach a copy of the ICG
Recommendation with any correspondence.

==========================================
FULL REPORTS AND ARTICLES BEGIN HERE:
==========================================

INDEPENDENT DIGITAL (UK) LTD.
Belgrade's jailing of activist sparks international protest
By Vesna Peric Zimonjic In Belgrade And Raymond Whitaker In Pristina

December 19, 1999

	The jailing in Serbia of Flora Brovina, an Albanian paediatrician, writer
and women's activist, has attracted international protest and highlighted
one of the unresolved issues of the Kosovo war – the estimated 1,500
Albanian political prisoners still held by the Belgrade regime.
Dr Brovina, 50, was arrested in Pristina in April and has now been sentenced
to 12 years by a court in the Serbian city of Nis for "conspiring to commit
hostile acts" and "terrorism" aimed at promoting the independence of Kosovo.
The evidence against her included possession of wool donated by Oxfam, which
she distributed to displaced Albanian women to knit sweaters. The
British-based aid organisation also has projects in Serbia, but as Nikola
Barovic, a Belgrade lawyer, put it: "In Stalin's time one got 10 years for
nothing. Here one gets 12."
	Another Serbian legal figure, Natasha Kandic, head of the Humanitarian Law
Centre, said: "The sentence against Flora Brovina is a political measure
against her [and] clearly has nothing to do with the alleged crime Brovina
has committed."
	Other Serbian opposition groups described her imprisonment as "ethnic
revenge", especially after it emerged that both the judge in Dr Brovina's
trial, Marina Milanovic, and the prosecutor, Miodrag Surla,come from Kosovo.
Both worked in the district court of Pristina, which hurriedly moved to Nis
when the Serbian administration withdrew from the province in June. Serbian
judges are named by parliament and are considered part of the regime.
	Although she suffers from health problems - she has high blood pressure and
slight paralysis on her left side - Dr Brovina is reported to have refused
to lodge an appeal against her sentence. Married to Ajri Begu, who is now an
economic adviser to the United Nations administration in Kosovo, she
supported herself during her medical studies by writing for magazines, and
has published several books of poetry. She is unusual in her generation of
Albanian women for her involvement in public affairs - in 1992 she founded
the League of Albanian Women in Kosovo to protest against Serbian rule and
to provide humanitarian assistance to Albanian women and children.
	Although she insisted the organisation was non-political, she organised
numerous protests. When Serbian forces staged bloody reprisals in the
Drenica region early in 1998, she led 20,000 women in a march through
Pristina.
	The Serbian authorities had probably marked Dr Brovina out as an opponent
much earlier, however. Her PhD thesis was on a spate of mysterious
poisonings in Kosovo in 1990, when thousands of Albanian schoolchildren were
sent to hospital with head and stomach pains and vomiting. Some experts
blamed mass hysteria, but a UN toxicologist who analysed the victims' blood
and urine samples found signs of sarin poisoning. Several years later it
emerged that the Yugoslav army had produced the deadly nerve gas.
	Gradimir Nalic, of the Yugoslav Committee of Lawyers for Human Rights, said
Dr Brovina was "a scapegoat". "The whole process against her," he added,
"showed the arrogance of the regime. There was also a message in that for
the first time it was not an anonymous, simple ethnic Albanian on trial, but
an intellectual, a physician, a human rights activist."
Baton Haxhiu, editor of Koha Ditore, Kosovo's most prominent
Albanian-language newspaper, described Dr Brovina as a "hostage" of Serbia's
President Slobodan Milosevic. "Her imprisonment, with the Serbian elections
coming up, helps him to show his people that Kosovo is not lost," he said.
"Milosevic can say: 'This is how we deal with separatists and terrorists on
our soil.' It is also useful in his dealings with the international
community - Flora and the rest of the Albanians held in Serbia can be used
as bargaining chips as he tries to escape isolation."

© 1999 Independent Digital (UK) Ltd.


==========================================

ICG
Balkans Report N° 83: Starting from Scratch in Kosovo

December 13, 1999 (Page 10)

	"Nearly two thousand Albanians are known to be in Serbian prisons,  while
thousands more have been reported missing;40"
	"39 As of 15 November 1999, after the release of 343 prisoners, 1,760
Albanian prisoners listed by the Serbian ministries of justice and interior
remained in Serbian prisons, according to International Committee for the
Red Cross officials in Prishtinë/Priština."
	"40 Estimates of the numbers of missing range from 2,000 (Humanitarian Law
Center) to 5,000 (Association of Political Prisoners, Prishtinë; UN High
Commissioner for Human Rights, Geneva). The Humanitarian Law Center, ICRC
officials, and many Albanians believe that most of these people are likely
to be dead, rather than in Serbian prisons."

--
ICG Balkans Report N° 83, (Page 13/14 /16)

	"The same issue appears to have dampened the will for ardent international
advocacy on another justice matter, that is, the thousands of Albanian
prisoners who remain in detention in Serbia proper. In fact the
international community has very little leverage over Belgrade on this
issue, as it was left out of the 9 June military-technical agreement that
ended NATO's air campaign. Nevertheless, it is not surprising that, with
almost every Kosovar somehow personally connected to someone who is missing
or known to be in prison, many insist that until the prisoners are freed and
the missing accounted for, they will not be able to move on, either to
develop civil society structures, hold “free and fair elections,” or work
toward any sort of reconciliation.53 However, to hold the re-establishment
of Kosovo’s civil society hostage to Belgrade’s release of the prisoners
would be a mistake that would in fact return to Miloševi some of the control
over Kosovo’s future which he lost in the war."
	"53 ICG interviews with ex-prisoners, families of prisoners, officials at
the Association of Political Prisoners, human rights attorneys, Council for
Defence of Human Rights and Freedoms director Pajazit Nushi, and officials
from the International Committee for the Red Cross, late October-early
November 1999. The missing persons/prisoner issue and the international
community's handling of it will be the subject of a forthcoming ICG paper."

"VIII. RECOMMENDATIONS

(...)

	The international community should press harder for the release of Albanian
prisoners still detained in Serbia and the arrest of all indicted war
criminals throughout the former Yugoslavia. Western governments should also
urge members of the Serbian opposition in the FRY, in the interests of
peace, justice, and a clean slate for a new, untainted government, to commit
to, and even to advocate openly for, the prisoners’ release and the arrest
of all indictees. The release of all Albanian political prisoners should be
among the criteria that must be met before any elections in Serbia or the
FRY can be deemed “free and fair.” "

http://www.crisisweb.org/projects/sbalkans/reports/kos31main.htm
http://www.crisisweb.org/projects/sbalkans/reports/83_31Starting.pdf
http://www.lchr.org/media/kosovo1099.htm

==========================================

GROUP 484
Serbia, public platform for Brovina's amnesty in Belgrade

December 20, 1999

Dear friends,

	A public platform against the verdict to dr Flora Brovina was held in
Belgrade, in Center for Cultural Decontamination, on Saturday, December
18th. The speakers were: Ajri Begu, Brovina's husband, Husnija
Bitici,Brovina's attorney, Barbara Davis, UN High Commissioner for Human
Rights, Natasa Kandic, Humanitarian Law Center, Radmila Lazic, PEN
Yugoslavia, Gradimir Nalic, Yugoslav Committee for Human Rights, Stanislava
Zajovic, Woman in Black, and Jelena Santic, Group 484.
	All participants of the platform explained who Flora Brovina is, what was
she doing in Kosovo as director of League of Albanian women,  what was her
"crime", how this shameful trial looked like. Barbara Davis brought from
Kosovo "an evidence" of her terrorism - little pullover for babies, knitted
by activists of League. Ajri Begu said that there were 2 announcements from
the government of Republic of Kosovo, which said that Brovina was never a
Minister for health in their government, Radmila Lazic read one of Brovina's
poems, Stanislava Zajovic spoke about how she met Brovina, as a leader of
women's liberation, Jelena Santic said that a true humanist was sent to
prison only because of her nationality and that she is a true symbol of the
fight for freedom, Gradimir Nalic announced that there is going to be an
article in daily newspaper Danas about her trial named "Flora and Fauna",
explaining that the people who sent her to jail were animals.
	After the public platform all participants and audience signed the petition
for her amnesty, which was first addressed to President of FRY Slobodan
Milosevic, but Natasa Kandic stated that he is not the right addressee
because he is on trial in Hague for war crimes, and that it should be
addressed to Justice department of FRY and to all courts.

Best wishes,
for Jelena Santic
Dragana Gavrilovic

==========================================


KOSOVAPRESS
The advocate Teki Bokshi has been released for 100. 000 DM

December 20, 1999

Gjakovë, December 20 (Kosovapress):   The Albanian advocate Teki Bokshi from
Gjakova has been kidnapped by the Serb Security forces near Belgrade city,
on December 3, 1999.  He has been released on December 18, when Teki's
family has delivered 100.000 DM as exchange.  Mr. Teki Bokshi claims that
the kidnapers at the beginning have required from his family 500.000 DM for
his release.  He claims that he has stayed 12 days in a dark bathroom with
the irons in his hands.  All the time he does not know where he was.  During
all this time, he has been maltreated physically and psychologically.  In
the Moment of his arrest the advocate Teki Bokshi has been on his trip to
visit the Albanian prisoners who are still kept in the Serb Jails.

http://www.kosovapress.com/english/dhjetor/20_12_99_1.htm

==========================================

REUTERS
Bitic Says 15 Taken From Homes, Refugee Columns

December 21, 1999

	The Nis indictment says the 15 participated ``in creation of terrorist
gangs in their villages in late 1998 and early 1999 and, after that, as
ordered by their headquarters, observed and reported the movements of the
(Serbian) police force'' in Kosovo.
Some are charged with shooting at police and others with digging trenches
for the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) guerrillas.
	If found guilty, the accused face from two to 20 years in jail, the maximum
sentence under the Yugoslav Penal code, depending on whether they committed
the alleged crimes before or during a state of war.
	Yugoslavia declared the state of war on March 24 when NATO begun 11 weeks
of air strikes against the country to stop its repression of the ethnic
Albanian majority in the southern province of Kosovo.
	Yugoslav armed forces and the KLA had fought each other for more than a
year before an agreement between the Yugoslav army and NATO cleared the way
for the Alliance-led peacekeepers to enter Kosovo after Yugoslav forces had
withdrawn.

Copyright 1999 Reuters Limited

==========================================

REUTERS
Kosovo Albanians' trial in Serbia a “farce” -lawyer
By Dragan Stankovic

December 21, 1999

NIS, Serbia, Dec 21 (Reuters) - A defence lawyer for 15 Kosovo Albanians
charged with terrorism said on Tuesday the opening of their trial in Nis,
south-eastern Serbia, was ``not a trial but a court farce.''
	Husnija Bitic told Reuters that at Monday's opening of the trial in the Nis
District Court ``the court interviewed only four out of the 15 accused, and
that lasted only an hour and a half.''
	All four pleaded not guilty to all charges, denying they had ever belonged
to ethnic Albanian guerrilla groups in Kosovo. Some said the guerrillas had
not been even present in their or surrounding villages.
	The next hearing for the remaining 11 defendants is set for January 17.
	“The prosecutor did not give any evidence on any of the charges...The only
thing he submitted as evidence was that these people were sitting and
waiting for police,'' Bitic said, adding the case was ``unique in my
practice.”
	“These people are absolutely innocent, they have been taken from their
homes or (refugee) columns. I fear such trials,” Bitic said.
	Slavko Stevanovic, the district prosecutor, told Reuters:  “According to
the evidence, we have gathered sufficient ground to press charges.”
	The Nis trial followed a number of similar ones in nearby Leskovac and in
the capital Belgrade, all of which have been based on more or less the same
charges.
On November 22, a trial of six ethnic Albanians opened in the Belgrade
District Court. The latest hearings were held last week and the trial is
expected to resume soon.
	In Leskovac, on December 10, 11 Kosovo Albanians were sentenced up to a
maximum of 3-1/2 years in jail and two from the same group were released.
Another group of 14 ethnic Albanians are waiting for their trial to resume
in Leskovac.

http://infoseek.go.com/Content?arn=a1224LBY463reulb-19991221&qt=Kosovo&sv=IS
&lk=noframes&col=NX&kt=A&ak=news1486

==========================================

HUMANITARIAN LAW CENTER COMMUNIQUE
Charges Against Ethnic Albanians Students Not Substantiated By Witness
Testimony

December 21, 1999

	The trial of a group of ethnic Albanian students of Belgrade University
resumed on 16-17 December 1999.  The Court heard the testimonies of three
witnesses and denied a motion by the prosecution to have read out the
statements made by defendant Petrit Berisha and witnesses to State Security
inspectors in the pre-trial proceedings. The trial is scheduled to continue
on 25 January next year.
	The testimony given by the witnesses did not substantiate the prosecution's
charges that the defendants were planning to carry out acts of terrorism in
Belgrade. Valentina Petrovic and her aunt, Dragoslava Aleksic, in whose
apartment the police allegedly found hand grenades, stated that during the
search of the apartment one of the police officers entered Valentina
Petrovic's room alone and came out carrying two grenades. Another two
grenades were found in the living room by officers who went directly to a
cabinet containing toys and a vase, and extracted the grenades from the
vase. The rest of the room was not searched.  Witness Salko Vujic told the
Court he had no knowledge of the students' meeting in order to organize
collection of funds for the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA).
	In denying the prosecutor's motion for reading out of the statements made
by Petrit Berisha and witnesses to the police, the Court acted in accordance
with Article 83 of the Criminal Procedure Code under which such statements
must be removed from the trial record.
	The indictment against Petrit and Driton Berisha, Driton Mega, Shkodran
Derguti and Abdulah Isam, all students, and Zef Paljuca, a jeweler who is
being tried in absentia, contains two counts: conspiracy for the purpose of
subversive activity and conspiracy to perpetrate terrorist actions, for
which the law prescribes up to twenty years in prison.  The students told
the Court they were questioned for three weeks and constantly beaten,
tortured and threatened with death by State Security inspectors unless they
confessed to the charges against them.  Petrit Berisha said that on one
occasion the inspectors took him to a riverbank where there was a large hole
in the ground with a coffin and spades beside it.  The inspectors threatened
to kill him and his brother Driton, he said, and showed the Court the marks
of cigarettes burns on his arms.
	Under Article 84 of the Criminal Procedure Code, the Court may again
consider use of the police reports.  If it finds that the evidence presented
during trial is insufficient for a decision, the Court can admit as new
evidence the self-incriminating statement made by Petrit Berisha to the
police which, he alleges, was extracted from him by physical abuse and
threats against his life and the life of his brother.  The article envisages
use of police reports only in exceptional circumstances, when required to
clarify issues essential to the trial in cases where criminal offenses
carrying 20 years imprisonment are involved.
	The defense may appeal to a superior court against such a ruling. In
connection with trials of Kosovo Albanians, Natasa Kandic, Executive
Director of the Humanitarian Law Center, points to the practice of courts in
Serbia when faced with insufficient evidence to admit confessions made by
defendants to the police and to base their decisions on them.  With regard
to the proceedings initiated against 155 Albanians from the Kosovo town of
Djakovica who were arrested as civilians during the NATO military
intervention, Natasa Kandic expects the charges against them to be dropped.
When questioned for the first time after seven months in custody, the
defendants stated that they were arrested on the way from their homes to the
town center, where they were ordered to go by the Yugoslav Army.  The police
separated men, in particular younger ones, from their families.


==========================================

BALKAN WATCH – WEEK IN REVIEW
The Balkan Action Council
December 22, 1999

(...)

HUMAN RIGHTS.

	Husnija Bitic, defense counsel for 15 Kosovo Albanians being tried on
charges of terrorism in Nis, called the proceedings "not a trial but a court
farce." Bitic said those accused are "absolutely innocent, they have been
taken from their homes or from [refugee columns]." Five Kosovo Albanian
students held by Serbian authorities are being tried for "conspiracy to
commit terrorist acts and sabotage during a state of war." All five deny the
charges and claim that prior confessions were forced. One other student is
being tried in absentia. Flora Brovina, the prominent Kosovo Albanian human
rights activist and physician sentenced to 12 years imprisonment for
"terrorism," has refused to appeal her sentence. According to Radio B2-92,
Kosovo Albanian lawyer Teki Bokshi has been released by kidnappers,
reportedly after a ransom of 100,000 German marks was paid. Natasa Kandic,
head of the Humanitarian Law Center in Belgrade, said Bokshi's abductors
"included Bosnian Serbs and a professional policeman."

Full review may be found at: http://www.balkanaction.org/bw/bw2-50.html

==========================================

BELGRADE CENTRE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS
The Association Of Judges Of Serbia

	The Association of Judges of Serbia was established as a reaction to the
manipulations performed by the Serbian courts after the local elections in
November 1996. It is estimated that nowadays almost a quarter of the total
number of judges in Serbia belongs to this association. However, most of its
members are reluctant to admit their membership for the fear of possible
consequences from the authorities personified in presidents of courts,
appointed by the government and persons of significant powers.
	Although the Association is of a professional kind, comprised of judges
committed to the promotion of the rule of law, it has been exposed to
incessant attacks by the authorities ever since it had been founded. The
latest one presents the denial by the administration of its registration as
a legal entity, a dubious decision according to the very constitutions of
the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the Republic of Serbia, which
guarantee the freedom of political, trade union and other kind of
association without preliminary permission, by simple registration with the
competent authority. Regrettably, instead of ordering the Ministry of
Interior to register the Association, the Supreme Court of Serbia upheld
this unconstitutional administrative decision.
	The Association of Judges at present functions as part of the Association
of Jurists of Serbia, an organization which enjoys the status of a
registered legal entity and hosts sixteen different societies, also not
registered as separate legal entities. Apparently, this situation does not
satisfy the president of the Supreme Court of Serbia, Mr. Balsa Govedarica,
who recently openly threatened the members of the Association of Judges with
removal from their functions as judges only if their membership in this
association would be detected. It is not known what legal grounds could the
Serbian Parliament find dismiss the judges, since this is the body with the
authority in law to initiate the procedure for a judge's removal. The only
personal restriction of the freedom of association applicable to judges,
according to the Serbian Courts Act, relates to their exercise of political
functions, as well as the commission of deeds incompatible with their role
of judges.
	As the Association of Judges is by no means a political party, it remains
yet to be seen how the authorities would interpret the membership in a
non-governmental organization promoting the rule of law as being unbecoming
of a judge. Unfortunately, the Serbian Parliament is a rubber stamp body
originating in the 1997 elections, boycotted by most parties of the
democratic opposition.
	Following the orders of Mr. Govedarica, the presidents of courts have
recently started to summon judges to a peculiar inquisition-kind-of-meetings
in order to investigate their membership in the Association of Judges.
Judges were ordered to admit to their membership and were openly threatened
with removal from their office if the suspicion was to be proved. The
Belgrade Centre for Human Rights issued a protest reminding those
responsible that such activities amounted to serious violations of the right
to freedom of association and the right to privacy according inter alia to
the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which FR
Yugoslavia is a party.

BELGRADE CENTRE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS
Mlatisumina 26/I, 11000 Belgrade
tel./fax. 011- 432 572, 344 1203
E-mail: bgcentar at EUnet.yu
www.bgcentar.org.yu


==========================================

BELGRADE CENTRE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS
Dismissal of Three Eminent Judges in Serbia

December 21, 1999

	On 21 December, 1999, the Serbian National Assembly, acting upon an urgent
proposal of its Committee for the Judiciary, dismissed Slobodan Vucetic,
judge of the Constitutional Court of Serbia, Zoran Ivosevic, judge of the
Supreme Court of Serbia and Bozo Prelevic, judge of the Fifth Municipal
Court in Belgrade.
	The procedure and the grounds for the dismissal of the three judges
violated the Constitution of Serbia. As announced by the president of the
Committee for the Judiciary, Goran Percevic, MP (Socialist Party of Serbia),
the Committee found that the positions the judges occupy in the Association
of Judges of Serbia - judge Vucetic is a member of the Board of the
Association of Judges, judge Ivosevic is president of the Board of the
Association and judge Prelevic is the spokesperson for the Association -
disqualified them as judges. In addition, judge Vucetic was denounced for
his membership in a professional group of prominent independent experts,
"G-17 Plus", found, according to Percevic, to be aiming to "topple the legal
authorities". The phrase comes from the letter of the original proposal for
the dismissal of Vucetic, signed by the President of the Constitutional
Court of Serbia, Ratko Butulija, a non-jurist. None of the three judges
belongs to any political party.
	All three judges are prominent legal experts with a longstanding background
both in theory and practice of law. Judge Ivosevic holds a Dr juris degree,
and has published numerous legal studies and other publications, the most
recent one being the book "I Do Not Give In", a compilation of published
articles, mostly on the destruction of the independent judiciary in Serbia.
Judge Vucetic, also Dr juris, has publicly criticized some of the notorious
decisions handed down by the Constitutional Court of Serbia, as well as many
of the acts which were enacted by the Parliament in breach of the
Constitution. He has also published numerous articles and authored three
books, "Democracy Without Proof", "The Privatized State" and "The Fatal
Government", where he critically analyzed the deformities in the
establishment of the constitutional and political system in Serbia and the
FRY. Judge Prelevic is among the most competent criminal judges in Belgrade.
All the three dismissed judges have publicly criticized on numerous
occasions the unconstitutional and illegal performance of the authorities
and stood against the electoral fraud committed by courts and electoral
committees in numerous municipalities and cities in Serbia, following the
1996 municipal elections.
	This latest event stands for yet another offensive in the war launched by
the regime against every spark of opposition and everyone who dares
criticize. It is obvious that the regime now intends to secure a propitious
environment for new manipulation of elections by the elimination of
embarrassing witnesses and frightening all other judges who might not
perform according to instructions from above.
	As the press was told today by judge Ivosevic, a clear reason for avoiding
the constitutional procedure, which entails convoking the general session of
the Supreme Court judges to decide on the validity of grounds for a proposed
dismissal of every judge, was the attitude the Supreme Court judges have
shown while deliberating on the similar proposal, some 20 days ago. On that
occasion, 26 judges of this court voted against the initiative for the
dismissal of a judge, finding it as based on unsubstantiated grounds,
whereas 21 judges voted in favor and 4 abstained. "When it became obvious
that the general session of the Supreme Court may not be abused, it was
decided that it should be avoided altogether", said judge Ivosevic, himself
a (former) judge of the Supreme Court of Serbia.
	Both Serbian and Yugoslav constitutions guarantee the immovability of
judges and, accordingly, prescribe a strict procedure and restricted grounds
for the dismissal of a judge. Whereas the Serbian constitution states that
judges cannot simultaneously perform other public duties (Art. 100), it
clearly stipulates that a judge may be dismissed, contrary to his/her own
will, only if it is established that he/she was sentenced by imprisonment
for a criminal act, or if the judge is found to be permanently incapacitated
to perform his/her function (Art. 101).
	Even if the "other public duties performed by the judge" was to be found as
sufficient ground for dismissal, the general session of the Supreme Court
would have to decide that such particular duties, even membership in a
professional association, are unbecoming of a judge. At the same time, the
identical constitutional prohibition applies to both the ministers and
presidents of Serbia and Yugoslavia, who at the same time hold several other
functions, including the highest positions in the ruling political parties.
No initiative regarding the latter has been recorded.

PERSECUTION CONTINUES:

	Judicial committees held in courts throughout Serbia examining membership
in the proscribed Association of Judges.
	Judge Sasa Obradovic of the Valjevo Municipal Court requested to be
relieved due to the shameful treatment of the judicial profession by the
authorities.
	Grave breach of the constitution by the Serbian parliament: dismissal of
judges Marjanovic, Baltic and Cucic.
	The first judges to feel the purge were the municipal and district courts
judges of Novi Pazar. After some thirty judges of these courts openly
announced their membership in the Association of Judges, the presidents of
courts answered by a clear warning that such membership would be interpreted
as a ground for their dismissal from office. Following the warning, on a
joint session of the judicial committee of these two courts, one judge had,
nevertheless, stood up expressing his pride with his membership in the
organization.
	In the South Serbian city of Nis, judges of the municipal court have on
constitutional grounds jointly protested against such an enquiry. Although
under constant threats of dismissal and material penalties those judges on
the outset rejected to answer the question, which they found to be violating
their constitutional right to privacy.
	Several judges in various courts throughout Serbia stood up and admitted to
their membership in the Association in an atmosphere of extreme tension. It
came as quite a surprise that some of the Supreme Court of Serbia judges
whose membership in the Association had not previously been known reacted in
the same way at the general session of this Court's civil chamber. The
Belgrade Centre decided not to divulge the names of all those brave people
out of concern that someone might be omitted.
	Judge Sasa Obradovic of the Valjevo municipal court has addressed an open
letter to the Serbian Parliament announcing his wish to be dismissed from
office on personal grounds. As he himself stated: "The status of a judge in
today's Serbia probably represents the unique phenomenon in the contemporary
judiciary systems of the world. The grave social crisis that Serbia has been
suffering from for the past years involving wars, isolation from Europe,
poverty and discrimination, the collapse of all moral standards and basic
social values, subordination of all state institutions to the narrow
interests of the ruling political parties, shamefully low income of a judge,
whereas an ordinary policeman earns more ... placed our judiciary in an
absurd and disgraceful position. Although I have been doing my best to
resist this downfall over the past years, I have not been able to change the
actual reality: on our judgments, only the poor were sent to prison.
Therefore, as I lack prerequisites to perform my function in the best
manner, and since I do not wish to accept any other standard, I consider
myself unfit to continue to be a judge" (taken from the letter published in
the independent weekly, Vreme, 16 October).
	At the very beginning of its regular yearly session the Serbian parliament
removed three members of the Association of Judges from their office, on the
grounds of incompetent and unprofessional performance. The striking and
frightening fact about this venture was the complete disregard of legal
procedure, which the constitution of Serbia (Art. 101, para. 4) and the
Serbian Courts Act (Art. 27) prescribe. Namely, when the proposal for the
dismissal of a judge is initiated by the president of the court where the
judge sits, it should be directed to the general session of the Supreme
Court of Serbia, which then deliberates on the merits of the concrete
proposal. After the Supreme Court has heard the testimony of the judge in
question and after it is found that the reasonable grounds for his removal
from office exist, the Court initiates the procedure before the parliament,
whose members than vote on the matter. In this case, neither was the general
session of the Supreme Court ever summoned, nor did the Court ever
determinate the relevant facts or hear the testimony of the three judges
before they were relieved by the parliament. Such arbitrariness, apart from
showing inexcusable disrespect of law, totally undermines the constitutional
principle of the permanence and immovability of judges, which is elementary
for an independent judiciary. The dismissed judges are now left with no
further legal remedies at their disposal whilst the others are intimidated
by the new pattern of repression.
	The Belgrade Centre for Human Rights joins the Association of Judges in
their legitimate fear that the campaign against this Association is
primarily aimed at complete submission, primarily of the municipal courts,
to the will of the regime before the coming elections. Namely, according to
the newly amended Local Self-Government Act, which governs local elections,
the municipal courts will decide in the final instance on the results of the
elections and on related complaints. Bearing in mind the unfortunate
experience with manipulations performed by judges close to the ruling
parties after the local elections in November 1996, the government's aim
becomes much clearer.
	If the persecution of the independent judges is not stopped by increased
pressure both from the international and domestic spheres, the chances for
Serbia ever to have fair elections and genuine democracy will be diminished
for at least another four years.

THE BELGRADE CENTRE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS
Mlatišumina 26, 11000 Beograd, FR Yugoslavia
Tel/fax (+381 11) 432 572 or 344 1203.
E-mail: <mailto:bgcentar at eunet.yu>bgcentar at eunet.yu
<http://www.bgcentar.org.yu>www.bgcentar.org.yu


==========================================


KOSOVAPRESS
Four Albanian prisoners were released by serb jails

December 22, 1999

	Pejë, December 22 (Kosovapress): According to some reports by information
office in Peja, yesterday, by the serb jail in Leskovc were released another
four albanian prisoners: Agron Ibrahim Kollçaku from Peja, Beqir Tahir
Hoxha, Xhevdet Ramë Bajrami and Vllaznim Brahim Përgjegjaj from Vitomirica
near Peja. The prisoners have been hostage at the Leskovci prison for seven
months, they know very well how they have survived their tortures. Their
stories are awful, more worse are to the others who are still in jail. The
prisoners over mentioned detained the prison since the first days of NATO
bombarding.

http://www.kosovapress.com/english/dhjetor/22_12_99_1.htm

==========================================

PROUD OF THE ASSOCIATION OF JUDGES OF SERBIA
An open letter to Mr. Balsa Govedarica, president of the Supreme Court of
Serbia, published in the Belgrade independent daily Danas

December 14, 1999

Mr. president,

	Being struck as a professional and human being with what had been done to
the Serbian judiciary, including your illegal and unprincipled policy of
inquisition with regard to members of the Association of Judges of Serbia
through the presidents of courts, which was recently exercised in my (Second
Municipal) court on a session of the college of judges, I am addressing you
with this open letter.
	Let me remind you of our acquaintance when I was the Second Municipal Court
Deputy President, the position I left at the time of the founding of the
Association of Judges. I am still sitting in the Second Court without being
promoted regardless of my long carrier, responsible performance, and, I dare
say, expertise, but, on the contrary, in the last couple of months, I lived
through being unprofessionally and quite theatrically transferred from and
into various departments, together with my desk. At the moment, I am sitting
in the department of non-contentious procedure.
	Both of us followed one's own path: yours led you to serve the regime and
mine led me to struggle for preservation of the profession in the
Association of Judges, together with the people of an outstanding honor and
professionalism, who are, by now, my dear friends. Both of us did it
following our own beliefs. My belief lies in preserving the profession and
my children's future and the future of all the youth lost at this time in
these parts. I admit that I have been selfish, as well, to protect some of
this soul left in me after all I had lived through in this country during
the past ten years.
	You have put our profession, once respected and admired, in service of
daily politics, and deprived it of independence, which it was granted by
Constitution and Law. As far as the financial status is concerned, we (the
judges) became a socially deprived category. As far as the expertise and
efficacy of the courts and the work results are concerned, let the parties
and lawyers be the ones to evaluate. I am of the opinion that the result of
such evaluation would be very poor and entirely different from the one you
have been using to praise yourself, in the Report on the work of court, but
then again, you yourself are also very much aware of that fact. The
Association of Judges strives for independence, legality, improvement of
financial status, dignity and respect of judges, who would not be subjects
but distinguished administrators of justice. It is probably for this reason
that the Association bothers you so much.
	In conclusion, I will, hereby, answer to your question, for the summoned
college of judges was neither a proper place, nor did I have anyone there to
answer to:
	I am a member of the Association of Judges and I do stand proud of it!

Awaiting your response,

Mrs. Gordana Mihajlovic,
Judge of the Second Municipal Court in Belgrade


==========================================

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Kosovo Missing Mire Hopes of Peace
By Danica Kirka

December 22, 1999

KORENICA, Yugoslavia -- Six months after the end of the Kosovo conflict, not
a single man between the ages of 16 and 60 from this ethnic Albanian
village, which had a prewar population of 600, has been accounted for,
residents and human rights activists say.
	"We don't know if they are alive or dead," said Hateme Kameri, whose
husband Rrustem was last seen being beaten by Serb paramilitaries when they
raided the village April 27. "We still have hope that the men are in
prisons."
	The uncertainty about the men - and the thousands of other people missing
in Kosovo - is hampering reconstruction and clouding hopes of reconciliation
between ethnic Albanians and Serbs.
	Serb authorities have told the International Committee of the Red Cross
that they are holding about 1,700 ethnic Albanians - men and women ranging
in age from 13 to 73 - arrested during the conflict and transported out of
the province before NATO-led peacekeepers arrived in June.
	Many Kosovo Albanians believe many more people are being held and that
Yugoslavia is keeping them as "bargaining chips" for future negotiations on
the status of Kosovo.
	Serb paramilitary forces swept into Korenica, a village of some 70 houses,
about a month after NATO began its 78-day air campaign to halt Yugoslav
President Slobodan Milosevic's crackdown on ethnic Albanian separatists.
	The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe has documented 89
missing people in Korenica and 30 others from a village a few miles away.
	All told, an estimated 10,000 ethnic Albanians died in the 18-month
crackdown and 1.5 million were expelled from their homes, the State
Department reported this month.
	"People are very frustrated here," said Kosovare Kelmendi of the
Humanitarian Law Center, a non-governmental organization. "We are talking
about people who have lost everything."
	The Red Cross is still trying to compile a list of the missing, said
spokesman Urs Boegli. The work has been stymied because the agreement that
ended the Kosovo fighting did not compel the parties to offer any
accounting.
	"The key to the solution is the warring parties themselves," Boegli said.
"They know what their soldiers have done ... They can take the skeletons out
of the closet, quite literally."
	In the highly charged postwar atmosphere, there's no goodwill between
Albanians and Serbs and few answers for those trying to find out if their
relatives are dead or alive. International officials admit they don't even
have a good guess on how many people are missing. There's also no system to
centralize information on bodies that have been found.
	International war crimes tribunal investigators already are overwhelmed by
the number of sites to examine. Frustrated residents aren't waiting for
investigators to verify their claims of massacres and have been exhuming
bodies on their own.
	Individuals like Hateme Kameri, 32, and her cousin, Bekrije Kameri, 26 -
whose husband, Besim, is also missing - are largely on their own.
	The women visited the Red Cross offices and scanned the lists of prisoners
known to be held in Serbia. When that proved fruitless, they began watching
mass grave excavations, hoping to find a familiar shoe or a recognizable
jacket.
	"Whatever it is, I would like to have the truth," Hateme said.
	"Even if it is very bad, I would rather have the truth than not knowing
anything at all."
	Unsure of whether to wait or to grieve, Hateme choses to hope, both for
herself and her four children. Without other options, she and Bekrije are
taking on the tasks their husbands once performed – chopping wood, cleaning
cow stalls, building fires.
	The work helps them keep going during the day. It is only at night that
things get really tough.
     "The children cry every night because they call for their father to
come back." Bekrije said. "We cry with them."

© Copyright 1999 The Associated Press

==========================================

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
Kosovo: Six months on, climate of violence and fear flies in the face of UN
mission

December 23, 1999

	Violence against Serbs, Roma, Muslim Slavs and moderate Albanians in Kosovo
has increased dramatically over the past month pointing to a failure by the
United Nations (UN) mission to protect human rights, Amnesty International
said today.
	Murder, abductions, violent attacks, intimidation, and house burning are
being perpetrated on a daily basis at a rate which is almost as high as it
was in June when the international UN civilian and security presence (KFOR)
were initially deployed.
	In the first week of December, 24 murders were reported.  Amnesty
International is particularly concerned about reports of abductions of young
children and women which have reached an alarming rate in recent weeks.  Two
Serb women who were abducted and reportedly tortured and raped in October
escaped and an investigation is under way.
	Serbs and Roma are now almost all living in enclaves protected by KFOR
troops and Serbs in Pristina (Prishtina) and other mixed communities require
a military KFOR escort to leave their homes and conduct daily tasks such as
buying food.  On 7 December, an elderly Serb woman and her son were found
murdered in their home in a central area of Pristina.  Their home was not
guarded by KFOR troops.
	Identity-based human rights abuses are coupled with abuses which appear to
be part of an organized campaign to silence moderate voices in ethnic
Albanian society.
	Last month, Kontakt, a multi-ethnic radio station based in Pristina had its
offices ransacked and equipment stolen.  Members of Kosovo's Democratic
League of Kosovo party have also increasingly become the target of attacks
and intimidation.
	The UN is responsible for the protection and promotion of human rights in
Kosovo.  The mission is required to take active steps to ensure safety and
accountability but it is currently ill-equipped to do so.  The
Secretary-General of the UN stated several months ago that 6,000
international police officers were required to effectively police Kosovo,
however to date only 1,890 have been deployed.  This has led to a law and
order vacuum.
	"Violent human rights abuses continue to be perpetrated at an alarming rate
with impunity.  Unless the remaining international police officers are
deployed, this situation will continue and a system of law and order will
not be established in Kosovo," Amnesty International said.
	"The law and order vacuum also results from the fact that the UN has thus
far failed to establish a functioning, independent and impartial judicial
system," Amnesty International said.
	Amnesty International is also concerned that the UN mission and KFOR
appears reluctant to take steps to bring to justice members of the Kosovo
Liberation Army (KLA) and the Kosovo Protection Corps who commit human
rights abuses such as unlawful detentions, beatings or evictions.  At
present there is no effective sanction for crimes committed in Kosovo.
	"The campaign for human rights in Kosovo is far from over.  In the spring
of this year the international community intervened in Kosovo with the
declared aim of preventing a human rights catastrophe.  However, at the
closing of the year human rights abuses continue to be perpetrated on a
daily basis."
	"In order to bring about a significant improvement, the international
community should live up to its promises and redouble its efforts to ensure
respect for human rights for everyone in Kosovo," Amnesty International
urged.

==========================================

THIS IS A PETITION LAUNCHED BY A BELGRADE-BASED NGO
"Going Home – Idemo Kuci"

December 21, 1999

BACKGROUND:

	During the Nato intervention in Serbia, 3 humanitarian workers of CARE have
been arrested, sentenced and imprisoned by the Serbian authorities on the
basis of espionage. Two of them, Australian nationals, were let go, but not
acquited, after the Australian government, society and the rest of the free
world stood by them. The third person, Mr. Branko Jelen, even though an
employee of CARE, but unfortunately not being an Australian national, is
still in prison. The latest information we have obtained is that he is
preparing to go on a hunger strike as a sign of his protest. His family  is
really desperate.
	Forgotten and abandoned by a large chunk of the  public. They are getting
fewer and fewer visits. Can you imagine how  hard it is for them? Who will
stand by him? By them? The governments of  Serbia and Yugoslavia are the
ones who put him in prison in the first place. This is a campaign by "Going
Home" for the immediate or very soon release of Branko Jelen and his return
to his family, his children.

STATEMENT:

	In signing this, we agree that the current treatment of Branko Jelen and
many others like him, particularly political prisoners and free media
personnel of all nationalities in Yugoslavia is completely UNACCEPTABLE and
deserves attention and action by the United Nations and the world. This is
not a small issue. Political prisoners, mistreatment of humanitarian
workers, repressive measures against NGOs and the free media and their
extremely difficult position are completely UNACCEPTABLE.
	It is indeed the humanitarian workers who  first clean up the mess left
behind by the politicians. It is their devotion and desire to help other
fellow human beings what makes them hunted targets of repressive regimes.
Equality and human decency is a RIGHT not a freedom, whether one lives in
Yugoslavia or elsewhere.
So, when will Branko Jelen and others like him be GOING HOME? We feel that
the release of Branko Jelen will ease up the work of humanitarian
organizations, which are already having enough of a burden on their backs,
because all people of Yugoslavia are in desperate need. It is THE moment for
citizens of Yugoslavia to feel at home in their own country.

	What to do?  PLEASE COPY this email on to a new message, sign the bottom
and forward it to everyone on your distribution lists. We are kindly asking
every person on the list to also please send the message to:

hocukuci at idemokuci.org.yu

THIS ACTION IS CONDUCTED BY "GOING HOME" YUGOSLAVIA.
WE APPRECIATE YOUR HELP.  THANK YOU.

==========================================

Archives of the A-PAL Newsletters may be found at:
http://www.khao.org/appkosova.htm

Albanian Prisoner Advocacy List -- Prisoner Pals Newsletter, No. 003

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