[A-PAL] A-PAL Newsletter, No. 009

[kosova at jps.net]

Welcome to Albanian Prisoner Advocacy List -- Prisoner Pals Newsletter,
No.009, February 07, 2000


This report highlights the developments on the prisoner issue for the week
of January 30, 2000.

==========================================
A-PAL STATEMENT:
==========================================
	At this point, over 400 prisoners have been released from Serb prisons,
while some have recently received harsh sentences. The young woman with the
six month old baby boy, named Altin by Dr. Brovina, was released on December
29, 1999. Unfortunately 10 more minors have been located in prison,
including a 13 yr old in Sremska Mitrovica, the prison with the worst
conditions, and 16 year old Plerrat Isufi, who is still in Pozhrevac and was
not released when the other minors were last November, possibly because he
has studied English. Dr. Brovina's husband has said that she is well, but
that it will be weeks if not months until they hear the result of her
appeal. It is believed that the trial for Albin Kurti in Nis will be
sometime in February, although this is complicated by the fact that there is
no confession and the evidence police had gathered seems to be lost.
	Zeri editor, Halil Matoshi, was released. He had been arrested at home by
sixty police, tortured in a nearby home, and later was placed in a gym at
the Lipjan prison, where he and many others were told they would be
massacred similar to the Dubrava massacre. As he was released last week,
other prisoners clung to him, begging that he do everything possible to help
them. All those released report that they think constantly of those they
left behind and worry for their survival. Sremska Mitrovica is of particular
concern because the Red Cross has not visited there since August, 1999, due
to a disagreement of how the visits were to be conducted. So no one is
monitoring prison conditions there.  This is unacceptable.
	Nevertheless, our network of support is working by bringing pressure to
bear on the Serb legal system. But we need your continued advocacy as much
as ever. Don't give up! One visit to a 15 year old village boy now returned
home to his family in Kosova after months of cold, hunger, fear and torture
in prison is enough to convince one that we must press on harder. Each
prisoner has suffered well over 60 international human rights violations
during their arrest, interrogation, and detention.  Four have died.

==========================================
THIS WEEK’S TOPICS:
==========================================
* Association of Political Prisoners: Letter to Secretary Albright
* Natasa Kandic: The Lesson of Orahovac: The International Administration in
Kosovo Encourages Violence Against Serbs
* FreeB92 Daily News: Albanians imprisoned
* KosovaPress: Three Albanian prisoners were released from the Serb jails
* Agence France-Presse: Two Albanians jailed by Serbian courts for terrorism
* Agence France-Presse: Serbian court hands down five-year jail sentence to
Kosovo Albanian
* V.I.P. News Services: Serb and Albanian Prisoners Exchanged
* WiPC/IFEX: Flora Brovina appeals twelve year sentence, Halil Matoshi
released
* Susan Blaustein: Not All The Kosovars Have Gone Home
* KosovaPress: Teki Bokshi visited 15 Gjakova prisoners
* KosovaPress: Hunger strike for the release of the hostages who are still
kept in the Serb jails
* Free Serbia: Imprisoned two Albanians in Leskovac
* Bart Staes: Parliamentary Questions to the E.U.Council
* Amnesty International: Kosovo: Justice not being done
* KosovaPress: Who is guilty for the bloodshed

==========================================
QUOTES OF THE WEEK:
==========================================
	February 5: At a Prishtina conference with Jaime Shea, NATO spokesperson,
stated, "Mr. Milosevic, release those prisoners. The war is not over until
the prisoners come home."
	February 5: At the same conference, Veton Surroi stated that it was time to
start calling the prisoners "hostages," and to demand a negotiator to work
for their release.

==========================================
WEEK’S REQUESTED ACTION:
==========================================
	According to Bart Staes, the January 24 meeting of the Euro. Parliament
Foreign Affairs meeting did not discuss the prisoner issue as was hoped.
	In Kosova, APP is organizing an email rally to European Parliament members,
asking for the release of family members. We urge everyone to write to Doris
Pack and Elmar Brok, of the Foreign Affairs and Human Rights Committees of
EP, stressing that to move the issue forward, we request a Special Task
Force and Negotiator be appointed to investigate and resolve this urgent
issue. It is not possible for an UNMIK committee to do so. If possible, send
the same request to the US House Human Rights Committee.
	Write briefly to these European Parliament members and request a Special
Prosecutor Investigation into the Albanian prisoner situation, with the
authority to refer cases such as the 1,600 detainees kept on warrants to the
Hague for investigation.
	Please forward any replies to kosova at jps.net for the Association of
Political Prisoners web site.

* Doris Pack: Chairperson-Southeast Europe Deleg. < dpack at europarl.eul.int >
* Emma Bonino < ebonino at agora.stm.it >
* Elmar Brock: Chairman Human Rights < ebrok at europarl.eu.int >
* Bart Staes < bstaes at europarl.eu.int >
* Patricia McKenna < mckennap at iol.ie >
* Heidi Hautala < hautala at vihrealiitto.fi >
* Ole Krarup < ole.kraup at jur.ku.dk >
* Daniel Cohn-Bendit < dcohn-bendit at europarl.eu.int >
* Cecelia Malmstrom < cecelia at liberal.se >
* Hans_gert Poettering < hpoettering at europarl.eu.int >
* Per Gahrton < pgahrton at europarl.eu.int >
* Jose Pomes Ruis < pomes at abc.ibernet.com >
* Christina Prets < eu-buero.prets at members.at >
* Heidi Ruhle < hruhle at europarl.eu.int >
* Elisabeth Schroedter < eschroedter at europarl.eu.int >
* Staffan B. Linder < sbl at moderat@se >
* Gunilla Carlsson < gcarlsson at europarl.eu.int >
* Den Dover < ddover at demon.uk >
* Olivier Duhamel < oduhamel at europarl.eu.int >
* Olivier Dupuis < o.dupuis at agora.stm.it >
* Marialiese Flemming < mflemming at europarl.eu.int >
* Karl Heinz Florenz < kflorenz at europarl.eu.int >
* Michael Gahler < mgahler at europarl.eu.int >
* Vasco Graca Moura < vgm at mail.telepac.pt >
* Marco Pannaella < m.pannella at agora.it >
* Mihail Papayannakis < papagiannakis at syn.gr >

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

Association of Political Prisoners
Prishtina, Kosova

February 1, 2000

Shukrie Rexha  tel 038-549-407
Alice Mead  amead at maine.rr.com

Dear Madame Secretary,

	Thank you for your support during the conflict in Kosova. But we must now
ask for your help with the 1,600 Kosovar prisoners still known to be
detained in Serbia. Their situation is very grave. Interviews with prisoners
recently released, including fourteen and fifteen year olds, indicate in
many cases that there is not enough food, there is a never-ending threat of
torture, and there is a lack of medical care and family visits. The trials
are according to observers of all nationalities "a travesty."
	Despite widespread concern for their well-being, little action to release
the prisoners has actually occurred, even though the Serbs' six month
detention period is long over. Now families are trying to raise 7,000 DM or
more to have their family members' cases "expedited." They are angry that no
international organization has taken the lead in investigating this abuse on
a grand scale, or in setting up a transfer
prison for discharged prisoners and debriefing those who have been abused
and tortured for possible prosecution.
	There are still known to be ten minors in Leskovac, Sremska Mitrovica, and
Pozharevac. Released minors report that torture for children and adults is
conducted at the same level of violence.
	Prisoners taken from their homes last spring are poorly clothed, many had
no shoes on and were wearing tee shirts. They are being kept in unheated
cells and most sleep on the bare floor with no blankets. Requests to see a
doctor are met with beatings. Discharged prisoners are suffering from
psychological problems, contusions, broken bones, and head trauma. They are
not being comprehensively treated. All released prisoners report being
unable to sleep because they fear the people they left behind will die.
	We, the Association of Political Prisoners, would like to request that you
appoint a Special Task Force of international and human rights lawyers to
investigate this as a class action. These prisoners are being subjected to
numerous Geneva Convention violations, as well as torture, intimidation,
inhumane treatment, and mistrials. The ICRC no longer visits Sremska
Mitrovica where released prisoners report that the conditions are appalling.
	They have the right to equal representation before international law, as
well as the laws in Serbia. No one is investigating the Kosovar's side of
the story at any level other than gathering  information. Because no one has
been authorized to deal with this, we propose a Special Task Force,
authorized and funded just for this situation examine these cases and refer
violations to The Hague. This was done for Kosovar refugees who crossed the
border into Albania--but it was not done for those who stayed or were left
behind. And that is wrong. This action needs to be taken before any further
civil unrest develops in Serbia. These prisoners are in constant fear of
execution.
	Failure to provide access to any form of justice for these European
citizens is inexcusable. You must move this issue forward by providing the
same kind of legal support and expertise afforded the fleeing rape and war
victims in June, 1999, and the mass grave sites in
the summer of 1999.
	This wide scale abuse that the prisoners are suffering is an intrinsic part
of President Milosevic's ethnic cleansing program. The abduction of these
2,000 people was not a random accident. It was intentional, as is their
continued torture and abuse. People in the villages are in constant
mourning, unsure if their loved ones are dead or alive. Four prisoners have
been returned dead so far.
	Some of the prisoners now in Sremska Mitrovica were witnesses at the
Dubrava prison massacre. Oddly enough, the death of their peers is being
investigated at The Hague, while the inhumane treatment of the witnesses and
survivors is allowed to continue unchecked. Those prisoners at Dubrava hve
not yet received medical treatment for wounds received on May 22, 1999, over
eight months ago.
	There will be little or no normalization in the villages or towns of Kosova
until the international community initiates and funds a formal investigation
into this new form or ethnic cleansing.

Sincerely,

Alice Mead
Shukrie Rexha
Association of Political Prisoners
Prishtina, Kosova

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

The Lesson of Orahovac: The International Administration in Kosovo
Encourages Violence Against Serbs

By Natasa Kandic

	During NATO's bombing campaign, Yugoslav Army (VJ) units from Nis and
Leskovac, Serbian police (MUP) units from Kraljevo and Pirot, Russian
mercenaries, and volunteers from Serbia and Republika Srpska were stationed
in Orahovac. Between 220 and 250 Albanian families were ordered out of
Orahovac by the police and the Army. About 1,000 Muslims from Orahovac left
town in fear. Sixty Albanians were mobilized by force. Twenty-five Albanians
were in custody on 1998 charges of terrorism and subversive activity. The
approximately 17,000 Albanians who remained in Orahovac spent the time from
March 24 until KFOR's arrival hiding in their homes from Serbian police,
army troops and paramilitaries.

Murders and Disappearances of Albanians During NATO's Bombing

	On March 27, four unidentified Serbs in black uniforms kidnapped Ilir Dina
(21) and Qerma Rehu (18) in their BMW, while Ilir's brother, Ibrahim,
managed to escape. The bodies of the abducted men were discovered by KFOR
troops near the village of Trupec, on the road to Prizren, in late June.
	On March 28, Serb policemen and Army reservists searched the homes of the
Topali family. They came again the next day and ordered the Topalis to
vacate the houses. Two of the Topali brothers, Alush and Velija, left in a
tractor and a car. Russian soldiers stopped them at the Hotel Park and
demanded DM40,000 from them. Alush gave them all he had -- DM17,300. They
let him keep DM100 for his journey. According to Alush, they were stopped 20
meters away by police reservist Zoran Stanisic from Orahovac, who hit
Velija twice with the rifle butt with great force, knocking him to the
ground. Some policemen picked Velija up and took him in the direction of the
hotel. At the entrance to the hotel, Velija was attacked by Stanko Levi} and
Aca Vito{evi}, local Serbs in uniform. According to Alush, his brother died
on the steps of the entrance to the hotel.
	On March 30, a group of Serb policemen and reservists, some of whom wore
red berets, killed Qazim (45), Sabit (33) and Fahredin (27) Dul at a police
checkpoint on the road leading out of the town. As on previous days, they
were going with their father to their farm to feed the sheep. The police at
the checkpoint looked at their ID cards and then gave the father back his ID
card and ordered him to return to Orahovac. They tore up his sons' ID cards
and  started beating them before their father's eyes. The father heard one
of his sons beg: "Boza, don't. You know us." While he was returning to town,
the father heard several gunshots. Five days later, he  found their charred
bodies in Bajram Shala's unfinished house 100 meters from the farm, near the
checkpoint where they had been stopped by the police.
	Xhulsime Shehu (58) was killed in her home on April 13. According to the
testimony given by a witness (a member of the Shehu family), four policemen,
two of whom were local Serb police reservists, entered the house. The
witness heard a burst of automatic gunfire. After that, he saw two of the
policemen come out of the house and start digging in the yard where the
Shehu family had hidden DM70,000 in cash and DM20,000 worth of jewelry. The
witness saw two of these four policemen several hours later, when they
returned to inspect the crime scene.
	On April 22, unknown persons killed Muhedin and Munavera Tara, the parents
of Ismet Tara, the KLA commander in Orahovac.
	On April 27, three policemen brought Hajdije Spahiju (33), in the presence
of her mother, to the police station, allegedly for questioning. The
policeman that drove the police vehicle was a local. When they entered the
house, the policemen had a stack of file cards containing identity cards,
including Hajdije Spahiu's identity card. After a while, her mother went to
the police station and reported to policeman Dragan Dujovic that her
daughter was missing. Two policemen took her statement and told her they
would inform their superiors in Belgrade about it. After KFOR's arrival,
the mother found Hajdije's grave in the village of Bela Crkva, in the yard
of Nuhi Kelmendi. According to Kelmendi, he found her body in his yard on
June 1. She had been shot to death.
	Four Serb policemen took Arben Derguti (28) from his home on April 29, and
he has not been seen or heard from since. He was driven away in a red van
with Pristina license plates. According to Derguti's family, the uniformed
men in the van included policeman Nenad Dujovic from Velika Hoca, the
Orahovac police deputy commander, a drunken reservist with an earring and
policeman Stanoje Vidovi} (son of Budimir Vidovic) from Bosnia, who had been
assigned to the Orahovac police station. The van was driven by a local
Romany.
	On May 3, three policemen killed biology teacher Elmaze Kadiri and her
mother-in-law Nurisha, and then set their house on fire. Neighbors managed
to put the fire out before it engulfed the entire house. The family
concluded from Elmaze's broken teeth and cut-off pieces of her ears that she
had been cruelly tortured before she was shot to death. Three days after the
murder, the police ordered Elmaze's husband and children to leave the house
and go to Albania.
	The brothers Sulejman (45) and Nekija (62) Dema, and Nekija's wife Shefkije
(54) disappeared on May 4. According to their family, Vekoslav Simi}, an
Orahovac physician and friend of the Demas, came to Sulejman asking for his
brother Nekija, who owned an appliance-and-plumbing store, because he wanted
to purchase some material for the health-care station of which he was the
director. As Nekija was not at home, Sulejman and Dr. Simic started looking
for him. Witnesses say they saw all three of them, in the company of
Yugoslav Army officers, in front of the store around 11 am. At around  12
pm, Dr. Simic came to Sulejman's house again and said that some reservists
had entered the store and led Nekija, his wife and Sulejman away, but that
he knew their commanding officer and that they would soon be sent back home.
Their fate is still unknown.
	Jermin and Emsala Abazibra and their daughters -- Sehare (25), Makvire (24)
and Jasmine (14) -- left their home on May 5 after a group of uniformed
persons, including a local policeman, Bo`a Damjanovi}, entered it and
ordered them to pack up and leave for Albania. The Abazibras left their home
in a Golf, which witnesses saw on the road to Prizren. Witnesses say that
their car was followed by paramilitaries in a red van and a white Lada. Two
local Serbs, Aca Vito{evi} and Igor Antic, were reportedly among the
paramilitaries. Several days later, the police in Orahovac confirmed to
relatives that five members of the Abazibra family had been killed. The
relatives were given two identity cards, two pairs of earrings and two
wristwatches.
	Seven members of the Sharku family, one of the richest in Orahovac, were
killed in the night of May 9. They were: Taibe (58), Ali (58), their
daughter Azemina (36), her children Visar (13), Azra (10) and Venhara (8),
and Egzona (8), daughter of Azemina's brother Haxhia. The bodies were
discovered by Azemina's sister Iska, who visited her parents and sister on
May 10. The victims were shot to death. It seems that plunder was the main
motive for this massacre. DM400,000 worth of cash and gold was taken from
their home.
	Ajvazi Seram was in the home of a neighbor, Ismail Bekeri, on June 11, when
five uniformed persons came in, saying they had to search the premises.
Three of them took Bekeri to the basement, while two took Seram to the upper
floor, where they beat him until he gave them DM500 and told them he had
more money and gold in his house. They let him go home to retrieve this
money and gold. Meanwhile, they killed Bekeri. The police waited for Seram
to return, then took his money and gold, telling him they would not harass
him any more.
	On June 11, five uniformed persons entered the house of Hidayet Cena and
his sister Lirije, asking for money and gold. Lirije gave them her jewelry,
but they wanted money.  One of them took Lirije to the upper floor to find
her money, while the others forced her brother to deliver cash as well. They
killed Hidayet and inflicted a serious stab wound on Lirije.
	On June 12, Jonuz Hoxha (13) -- whose father was killed by Serb troops in
July 1998 while fleeing Orahovac with a group of civilians – was killed by
one of the pressure-activated mines laid by retreating Russian volunteers
who had stayed in Orahovac during NATO's bombing campaign.

(...)

You may find the full report at:
http://www.khao.org/appkosova/appkosova-report0040.htm

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

FREEB92 DAILY NEWS
Albanians imprisoned

February 01, 2000

LESKOVAC, Tuesday - Two Kosovo Albanians were today sentenced to fifteen and
five years in a Serbian prison on charges of terrorism. Agim Ejshani and
Zahir Agushi, both of Klina, were tried in a special hearing of the District
Court from the Kosovo town of Pec, sitting in Leskovac in southern Serbia.
Ejshani was convicted of taking part in the bombing of a police station in
the Kosovo village of Klincici in September 1998 and Agushi of giving
assistance to Kosovo Liberation Army members in 1997 and 1998.

http://www.freeb92.net/archive/e/

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

KOSOVAPRESS
Three Albanian prisoners were released from the Serb jails

February 01, 2000

Prishtinë, February 1 (Kosovapress)
	Last night from the prison of Pozharevci, were released Ibrahim Pepshi,
Rrahman Jonuzaj and Mikel Dodaj, all three from the village of Dujakë, the
district of Gjakova.
	According to Rrok Lulaj, the head of the sub-branch of the Democratic
Progress Party of Kosova of the village of Dujakë, all three of those
Albanian innocent citizens have been kept in prison for 13 months.
Meanwhile, Rrahman Jonuzaj and Mikel Dodaj during their staying in prison,
have coped the wounds caused during the NATO bombardment, in the Dubrava
prison.

http://www.kosovapress.com/english/shkurt/1_2_2000.htm

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

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Two Albanians jailed by Serbian courts for terrorism

February 01, 2000

BELGRADE, Feb 1 (AFP) - A Serb court on Tuesday sentenced two Kosovo
Albanians to 15 and five years in prison for "terrorist activities," Beta
news agency reported.
	Agim Ejshani, 46, was sentenced in the southern Serbian town of Leskovac to
15 years jail for participating in a mortar attack on a police station in
central Kosovo in September 1998.
	The same court jailed Zahir Agushi, 49, for five years, for helping the
Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), which fought for independence for Kosovo's
ethnic Albanian majority, the agency said.
Both men are from the central Kosovo town of Klina.
	The KLA was officially demilitarised last September after the United
Nations took over the administration of the Serbian province.
	A total of 1,700 ethnic Albanians are held in Serbian prisons, mostly
accused of being KLA members, according to the non-governmental Humanitarian
Law Centre in Belgrade.
More than 170 ethnic Albanians have been convicted in the past three months
and sentenced to jail terms ranging from three to 15 years.
	More than 230 other defendants have been released since mid-June, when
Belgrade transferred some 2,050 prisoners from Kosovo when it was forced by
NATO air attacks to withdraw its forces from the province.

Story from AFP   Copyright 2000 by Agence France-Presse (via ClariNet)

http://www.clari.net/hot/wed/an/Qyugo-kosovo-court.RCbk_AF1.html

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

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Serbian court hands down five-year jail sentence to Kosovo Albanian

February 02, 2000

NIS, Yugoslavia, Feb 2 (AFP) - A Serbian court sentenced on Wednesday an
ethnic Albanian to five years in prison for "terrorist activities" against
the country.
Shpetim Hoti, 22, from the southwestern Kosovo town of Djakovica, was
sentenced by a court in Nis for "joining" separatist Kosovo Liberation Army
(KLA), which fought for independence for Kosovo's ethnic Albanian majority.
	Although Hoti, detained since August 1998, had previously denied the
charges, speaking at the trial Wednesday, he admitted he had joined the KLA
units.
	The KLA was officially demilitarized last September after the United
Nations took over the administration of the Serbian province.
	A separate trial of five ethnic Albanians, accused of being the KLA
members, was adjourned by the Nis court for February 7.
	A total of 1,700 ethnic Albanians are held in Serbian prisons, mostly
accused of being KLA members, according to the non-governmental Humanitarian
Law Centre in Belgrade.
More than 170 ethnic Albanians have been convicted in the past three months
and sentenced to jail terms ranging from three to 15 years.
	Since mid-June, when Belgrade transferred some 2,050 prisoners from Kosovo
when it was forced by NATO air attacks to withdraw its forces from the
province, more than 230 other defendants have been released, the center
said.

Story from AFP   Copyright 2000 by Agence France-Presse (via ClariNet)

http://www.clari.net/hot/wed/di/Qkosovo-yugo-court.Rju0_AF2.html

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

V.I.P. NEWS SERVICES
Serb and Albanian Prisoners Exchanged

February 2, 2000

	Three Serb prisoners held in Albanian jails in Kosovo were exchanged for
three Albanians on Saturday, Blic says on Wednesday.
	The daily said the exchange took place with the mediation of the Ozna
detective agency from Kragujevac at two separate locations simultaneously.
	The three Albanians were returned to their families at the KFOR base in
Merdare at 13:00 on Saturday after courts in Serbia freed them of charges of
taking part in the conflict on the side of the Kosovo Liberation Army (UCK).
The three Kosovo Serbs were freed in Rozaje at the end of a search for them
after they went missing last October, the owner of the Ozna detective agency
told Blic.
	The identity of the released prisoners was not disclosed and Ozna sources
said they expect to see more imprisoned persons exchanged soon.
	This was the first case of an exchange of prisoners following the conflict
in Kosovo.

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

SOURCE: Writers in Prison Committee (WiPC), International PEN, London
IFEX- News from the international freedom of expression community

Flora Brovina appeals twelve year sentence, Halil Matoshi released Action
Alert Update - Federal Republic Of Yugoslavia (Serbia)

February 01, 2000

(WiPC/IFEX) - On 9 December 1999, Flora Brovina, a Kosovo Albanian poet,
pediatrician and women's rights activist, was sentenced to twelve years in
prison. On 21 January, her legal defense filed an appeal to the Serbian
Supreme Court against the judgment. International PEN continues to call for
Brovina's release.
On 21 January 2000, Rajko Danilovic, Flora Brovina's defense lawyer retained
by the Belgrade based Humanitarian Law Centre (HLC), filed an appeal to the
Serbian Supreme Court against the twelve year sentence served against his
client in December. Brovina was convicted of "terrorism".
	The appeal calls for the Supreme Court to either acquit Brovina, or to
order her release on bail pending a retrial on the grounds that there had
been serious violations of due process during the trial hearings. One of the
irregularities cited in the appeal was that the conviction was based on
evidence obtained from Brovina under interrogation. Another irregularity is
that material that had not been made available to the defense prior to the
trial was read out at the court. The lawyer sees these irregularities as
being in breach of the Serbian Code of Civil Procedure.
	Other complaints by the defense are that the courts view any Kosovo
Albanian institution's activities as potentially "seditious" with the
objective of Kosovan secession. These institutions include organizations
such as the League of Albanian Women, of which Brovina was a senior member.
The defense notes that the League's activities are, however, non-partisan
and solely dedicated to the promotion of women's rights. Similarly, all
protests and demonstrations held in Kosovo were seen as "hostile acts"
against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Brovina had been influential in
a number of protests in the late 1990s against Serb human rights abuses.
	The HLC states "that most of the contents of the statements read out [in
the court] were untrue and [that Brovina] used the metaphor of the elephant
which admitted to being a giraffe to describe the mental torture she was
subjected to."
	International PEN was formerly seeking clarification on reports stating
that journalist Halil Matoshi, who works for the Albanian-language "Zeri"
newspaper, had been arrested in June in Kosovo and transferred to a prison
in Serbia. PEN has since received confirmation that he was held for some
time in Pozarevac Prison without charge. This is the same prison where
Brovina was held until her transfer to Nis. On 1 February, International PEN
learned that Matoshi was freed on 28 January, and has returned to his
family.

RECOMMENDED ACTION:

Send appeals to authorities:
- condemning the twelve year sentence against Brovina, who is held solely
because of her legitimate and non-violent humanitarian activities and for
her long-running campaign against Serb abuses in Kosovo
- calling for her immediate and unconditional release

APPEALS TO:

Slobodan Milosevic
President
Fax: + 381 11 636 775

For those meeting difficulties with this contact number, try:
Zivadin Jovanovic
Minister of Foreign Affairs
Fax: + 381 11 367 2954

PEN also recommends that letters of protest be sent to the Serb embassies in
your own countries.

Please copy appeals to the source if possible.

For further information, contact the WiPC, International PEN, 9/10
Charterhouse Buildings, Goswell Road, London EC1M 7AT, U.K., tel: +44 171
253 3226, fax: +44 171 253 5711, e-mail: intpen at gn.apc.org

The information contained in this action alert update is the sole
responsibility of WiPC. In citing this material for broadcast or
publication, please credit WiPC.

Distributed by the International Freedom of Expression Exchange (IFEX)
Clearing House
489 College Street, Suite 403, Toronto (ON) M6G 1A5 Canada
tel: +1 416 515 9622   fax: +1 416 515 7879
Alerts e-mail: alerts at ifex.org  General e-mail ifex at ifex.org
Internet site: http://www.ifex.org/

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

NOT ALL THE KOSOVARS HAVE GONE HOME
By Susan Blaustein

February 03, 2000
The Wall Street Journal Europe, page 12

	For most ethnic Albanians, the war over Kosovo had a happy ending. But in
addition to the thousands who died, there are several thousand more still
being held in Serbia. These prisoners, most of whom were arrested or
abducted during the NATO air strikes, were hastily moved into Serbia proper
once the peace agreement was signed last June. Unfortunately Western
governments and institutions, eager to paint a rosy picture of the
reconstruction process in Kosovo, have been mostly silent on this issue.
	Women and children were among those Albanians taken by the Serbs. Two
Albanian babies have been born in Serbian prisons since the conflict ended.
One woman, a highly respected pediatrician and poet, was recently sentenced
to 12 years for her "terrorist" activities. Some 350 prisoners, including
all but 10 of the children, have now been released by the Serbian justice
ministry, which claims some 1,650 prisoners still under its control. Kosovar
human rights monitors, keenly aware of the thousands of Albanians still
missing, fear that there are hundreds more whose identities and whereabouts
have not been disclosed.
	Even the Serbian government's conservative figures would suggest that one
in a hundred Kosovar families still have a family member – usually a male
wage-earner -- in a Serbian prison. During extensive interviews with Kosovar
families and prisoners, I was told that many have suffered regular torture
and abuse while in Serbian custody. Visiting family members have had
difficulty recognizing loved ones who now appear battered and emaciated, and
prisoners have reported a number of suicides among their cellmates. Few
detainees have been charged or tried, in flagrant violation even of Serbia's
criminal code, which generously affords authorities six months in which they
may detain prisoners without charging them with any crime.
	Prisoners' families, meanwhile, are reeling under the emotional and
financial strain. Many have paid exorbitant bribes to one or more Serbian
lawyers, in hopes of buying their loved one out of prison, or at least of
getting accurate information regarding his whereabouts. Many have put their
lives at risk by travelling unescorted across Serbia to visit their family
members, and have paid bribes to Serbian officials at every checkpoint along
the way. But United Nations officials in Kosovo, eager to chart progress
toward reconstruction and democratization, have set up a commission to
address the problem, but have reportedly urged these families to move on and
busy themselves rebuilding their homeland. Such appeals only enrage
prisoners' families and supporters, who insist there can be no rebuilding,
no peace, and certainly no reconciliation until the prisoners are returned.
	While the issue of releasing the Albanian prisoners was included in each
cease-fire and proposed peace agreement in the course of the Kosovo
conflict, these provisions were unceremoniously dropped from the final
"military-technical agreement" negotiated between NATO commanders and their
Yugoslav counterparts. Senior NATO officials say that Washington, in its
eagerness to end the bombing, acceded to Serb demands to remove the prisoner
provisions, among others, from the draft peace agreement. This omission is
regrettable, to say the least. The International Committee for the Red Cross
has not campaigned for the prisoners' release because it claims to lack the
authority, in the absence of an internationally binding legal document.
Other international organizations, among them the United Nations High
Commission for Human Rights, have found it very difficult to press Belgrade
without the backing of a signed agreement. With so little diplomatic or
economic contact with this ostracized rogue nation, Western governments
would also appear to have very little leverage.
	But these are just excuses for inaction. International humanitarian law
long ago foresaw circumstances in which, for whatever reasons, formal peace
agreements might neglect to include provisions relating to prisoners of war
and detained civilians. The Third and Fourth Geneva Conventions of 1949,
Common Article III to all the Geneva Conventions, and Protocol II, which
entered into force in 1978 and to which the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
is a signatory, state unambiguously the obligation to release all such
prisoners immediately upon the cessation of hostilities, and, as long as
they remain in detention, to guarantee their humane treatment and rights to
due process. Hence the international community is not only well within its
authority to demand the prisoners' release, but as signatories to the Geneva
Conventions it can be argued that Western nations have the obligation to
force those who violate those conventions to comply.
	The U.S. State Department has already helped to galvanize an international
effort in Kosovo on behalf of both the prisoners and the missing. Last
month, the European Union's Council of Ministers promised to do the same.
First, the EU's Council and Commissioners should draft and introduce a U.N.
Security Council resolution calling on Belgrade to abide by international
law, and to release all Albanian political prisoners still detained in
Serbia. In addition, the EU should work with the U.S. and the appropriate
international agencies to create a properly staffed, well-equipped task
force that will take the lead in identifying and locating those in
detention, gaining access for family members, physicians, and defense
counsel, monitoring trials, and pressing the relevant Serbian ministries for
the prisoners' timely release.
	Finally, the EU should make clear that there will be no lifting of
sanctions for Serbia, or admission to the Stability Pact for southeastern
Europe, until such time as the Albanian prisoners are released. There can be
no business of peace until the business of war is complete. In this case,
that business consists of thousands of the very lives that NATO intervened,
almost a year ago now, to protect.

---
Ms. Blaustein is senior consultant to the International Crisis Group, which
just released a report on the Albanian prisoners in Serbian detention.

(Copyright (c) 2000, Dow Jones & Company, Inc.)

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

KOSOVAPRESS
Teki Bokshi visited 15 Gjakova prisoners

February 03, 2000

Gjakovë, February 3 (Kosovapress)
	The fate of 1500 inhabitants of municipal of Gjakova, who are taken as
hostage, kidnapped on the streets, at works, at houses and everywhere they
were found. They are still on the Serbia jails, but some of them are
unidentified and their families know nothing about them, they have no names
and surnames announced at the jails this is a big worry for the our
citizens.
	Now days is talking much about 144 prisoners especially from the street
Çabrati, where their fate is expected to be announced very soon as we have
been informed by Mr. Teki Bokshi lawyer for the humanitarian rights but the
date has not been jet proclaimed. By the way the lawyer Teki Bokshi last few
days has visited some of the Gjakova prisoners and all they are safe and in
very stable conditions, they are: Gani Gexha, Qamil Haxhi Beqiri, Nexhmedin
Varaku, Medi Ferizi, Edmond Dushi, Mithat Guta, Shefqet Vokshi, Jeton
Bytyqi, Arbën Lukaj, Kastriot Zhubi, Adriatik Pula, Burim Zhubi, Gzim Sada,
Skender Sina and Albert Delia.

News at 19:30  http://www.kosovapress.com/english/shkurt/3_2_2000.htm

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

KOSOVAPRESS
Hunger strike for the release of the hostages who are still kept in the Serb
jails

February 03, 2000

Gllogoc, February 3 (Kosovapress)
	The Sub-Council for the Defense of the Human Rights and Freedoms in Gllogoc
released a statement for journalists in which it expressed the concern of
thousands of Albanians who are still kept under the horror conditions of the
Serb jails throughout Serbia. The Council will organize this hunger strike
to tell to the International Community that it is not doing anything for the
release of the detainees, missing people and Albanian prisoners who are
still kept in the Serb jails. A 24 hunger strike will be organized, in the
sign of expressing solidarity for those who are kept under the permanent
torture in the Serb jails.
	The hunger strike will start tomorrow at 14:00.This hunger strike will be
open for all, coming from every part of Kosova. In the end of the hunger
strike will be held a press conference for journalists.

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

FREE SERBIA
Imprisoned two Albanians in Leskovac

February 02, 2000

	District Court from the Kosovo town of Pec, sitting in Leskovac in southern
Ser bia, had sentenced yesterday two Kosovo Albanians, Agim Ejshani and
Zahir Agush i, both from Klina, to fifteen and five years in a Serbian
prison on charges of terrorism. Ejshani was convicted of taking part in the
bombing of a police sta tion in the Kosovo village of Klincici in September
1998 and Agushi of giving assistance to Kosovo Liberation Army members in
1997 and 1998, reported Beta.

http://anon.free.anonymizer.com/http://www.xs4all.nl/~freeserb/news/e-sreda0
2februar.html

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

BART STAES
Parliamentary Questions to the E.U.Council.

February, 2000

	Herewith my parliamentary questions to the European Council about the
Albanian prisoners in Serbia.
	On the occasion of the hunger strike (from 24.12.99 until 06.01.00) and the
demonstration on 05.01.00, both organized in Brussels by Kosovarians of the
Albanian World Union for the release of the Albanian prisoners in Serbia, I
was received by an assistant of the High Representative for the Common
Foreign Affairs and the Security Policy and by the Portuguese Presidency of
the European Union on the 5th of January.
	Both authorities promised to put the question of the Albanian prisoners on
the agenda of the European Council of Ministers on the 24th and 25th of
January. Reading the reports I came to the conclusion that there was not a
discussion about this question on that European Council of Ministers.

Therefore I would like to pose these questions :

How the Council will implement the Resolution of the European Parliament
from 16.09.99 in which the Presidency is urged to hold direct talks with the
Serbian government on the early release of all prisoners ?

When the Council will have discussions on the case of the Kosovarian
prisoners in Serbia ?

Is the Council ready to introduce and to support an U.N. Security Council
resolution calling the release of the albanian prisoners in Serbia ? If not,
why not ?

Is the council ready to make it clear that the ultimate lifting of sanctions
against Yugoslavia, as well as Serbia's participation in the stability pact
for south eastern europe, must be conditioned on the resolution of all
outstanding issues concerning kosovarian prisoners ? if not, why not ?

Sincerely,

Bart Staes,
Member of the European Parliament

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

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
Kosovo: Justice not being done

February 04, 2000

	Delays in establishing a functioning, multi-ethnic, independent and
impartial judicial system in Kosovo have led to a situation where human
rights abuses, particularly against members of minority communities are
committed with virtual impunity, Amnesty International wrote in a letter to
the United Nations (UN) in Kosovo.
	The organization is concerned there is a growing perception in Kosovo's
communities that justice is not being done in some courtrooms where judicial
decisions appear to be made with political, rather than legal considerations
in mind. Members of the judiciary have been subjected to threats,
intimidation and even violent attacks. And delays in the establishment of a
functioning judiciary have led to extended periods of pre-trial detention.
	Amnesty International welcomed the recent appointment by the UN Mission in
Kosovo of new judges and lay judges as an important step towards the
re-establishment of a functioning judicial system, but pointed out this is
not enough to correct the current judicial problems.
	In a report released today which accompanied the letter, Amnesty
International urged the UN to; bring the judicial system and all applicable
laws, including UN-created laws, into line with international human rights
standards, place international judges and prosecutors in Kosovo's five
district courts and appeals structures, and provide legal professionals with
training in international human rights and humanitarian law.

Source: Amnesty International, International Secretariat, 1 Easton
Street, WC1X 8DJ, London, United Kingdom

http://www.amnesty.org/news/2000/47000700.htm

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

KOSOVAPRESS
Who is guilty for the bloodshed

Mitrovicë, February 4 (Kosovapress)

	During the last 24 hours the Serb criminals killed at least 6 Albanian and
wounded about twenty others. The cause of this reason is the attack on the
UNHCR bus and the murder of two Serbs. This attack was condemned by
Albanians and their political parties. Also it was condemned and by KFOR,
UNMIK, OSCE and by Madeline Allbright and by many other world political.
Many reports announce that the attack has bee made by Albanians! The
accusation to the actors ethnical minorities on attacks is morally and
juridical harmful. In Kosova somebody is assisting to the murders, attacks
and is giving the direction to the political causes.
	Many guards, inside and outside Kosova, these incidents they always want to
see and to be organized and created by Albanians. It is true that for many
Serb murdered the guilty is Belgrade by their secret services, if we just
look at the facts that Serbia wants destabilization in Kosova, then we have
to understand that the attack on UNHCR bus and the murder of two Serbs has
been committed by the secret services of Belgrade. For the situation in
Kosova, for murders, buries and for the terms among the Albanian majority
and Serb minorities it is written all around the world. But only few are who
have to do with the situation.
	The first cause is not the definition of the Kosova status. Except this,
there are some other reasons where social and economic process loud the
situation. The statement and concrete efforts of OSCE, UN and some other
large countries for the keeping Kosova under the Serb control brings the
intensified situation in Kosova and its current destabilization. Their
stress had encouraged Serbia which had reinforced their crimes in Kosova, by
acting and provoking many different conflicts. This has encouraged and local
Kosova Serbs which are organized as "enclaves" and directed by the criminal
regime of Milosheviq. There was a hope that by coming KFOR forces ,the
Kosova border will be safe and secure, and order and peace will be for
everyone in Kosova. What happened? Across the border Albanian-Albanian are
deployed many forces who monitor during the night day, and the border among
Serbia-Montenegro already is open. And the criminals who run away now are
returned back and do the same acts with the Northern criminals.
	The developed countries, they did not keep their promises on helping
Kosova. The Kosova budget is still zero! The government of Kosova is
governed without laws, by desire of French military, Italian, American and
British! After seven months, the concern belongs to soldiers, polices who
wonder streets and restaurants! The persecutors and lawyers are named by the
ex-regime and they want to keep the justice according to the Yugoslav laws.
Still the inhabitants from East Kosova Bujanoc, Presheva and Medvegja are
killed, raid, expelled...
	The North deployments are not just as they should have been. To divide
Kosova has bee made a deal already one year. The first step it was to depart
Mitrovica, where on the first day they disturbed the Albanians to return
their homes and on the other side they let the criminal serbs to come back.
The French forces proclaimed to the Albanians for the self defense! What
kind of game is this. Why we have to defense ourselves when we are unarmed
why you are here just to protect the serb criminals?! If you insist on this
Albanians are enough aware and they know how to defense themselves. About
this situation should undertake something and Albania and to voice itself
officially. The tragic game for the Albanians seems has not ended yet...

http://www.kosovapress.com/english/shkurt/4_2_2000.htm

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

Additional updates of the Kosovar political prisoners, including those
sentenced, missing and released, may be found at:
http://www.khao.org/appkosova/appkosova-database.htm
http://www.khao.org/appkosova/appkosova-report0037.htm
http://www.khao.org/appkosova/appkosova-report0038.htm
http://www.khao.org/appkosova/appkosova-report0041.htm

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

Albanian Prisoner Advocacy List -- Prisoner Pals Newsletter, No. 009