[A-PAL] A-PAL Newsletter, No. 011

[kosova at jps.net]

Welcome to Albanian Prisoner Advocacy List -- Prisoner Pals Newsletter, No.
011,
February 21, 2000

This report highlights the developments on the prisoner issue for the week
of February 13, 2000.

==========================================
A-PAL STATEMENT:
==========================================
	Despite the release of four minors, and a handful of other prisoners, many
severe sentences for unsubstantiated "acts of terrorism" were handed out
recently. Two Nish judges who have been particularly harsh lately are Judge
Dragoljub Draskovic and Judge Dragoljub Zdravkovic, as well as Judge Milomar
Lazic in Leskovac, who sentenced 8 Albanians to terms of 15 years based on
confessions extracted by torture.
	The prisoner problem remains at an impasse now for several technical
reasons, besides the obvious one of it being a power struggle managed by
Milosevic, in which he insists on sovereignty over these people, who should
by rights be detained, tried, and released in Kosova. But there is no court
system in Kosova, there is no prison system---and worst of all, there is not
one international organization willing to demand an amnesty or negotiate for
the release of these hostages. If they were Israeli or German or British
hostages, long ago someone would have intervened and obtained their freedom.
	Instead, these 1,600 people are being sacrificed by Milosevic to
demonstrate his continued power over Kosova. At the same time, they are
being sacrificed by the international community, who for eight months has
ignored this tragic situation, because no one wants to break the isolation
policy towards Milosevic and "get their hands dirty releasing the
prisoners." This is the "vacuum" Barbara Davis is referring to.
	This hands-off approach is wrong. Both sides are grossly violating the
human rights of these people and their families. Neither Serbia nor Kosova
will stabilize if the internationals ignore this wide-scale human rights
violation, while claiming at the same time that the establishment of human
rights is their number one priority in the region.
	What hypocrisy! If the internationals continue to ignore this pressing
problem, it will slowly force the families of prisoners to radicalize the
nature of their peaceful demonstrations, increasingly forcing them to act
more and more disruptively until their rights as European citizens are
recognized by the international community and their loved ones are freed. As
Jaime Shea, NATO spokesman said on February 5, "The war is not over until
the prisoners come home." (Unless they are Albanian prisoners--then the
families are told to get on with their lives.)

==========================================
THIS WEEK’S TOPICS:
==========================================
* Agence France-Presse: EU Parliament condemns violence in Mitrovica
* Reuters: U.N. Council Told 1,600 Kosovars Still Held By Serbs
* Excite Inc: CSCE Hearing Announced on Kosovo's Displaced and Imprisoned
* KFOR Press Update Pristina: Demonstration
* KosovaPress: Helsinki Commission hearing in the works
* EU-Parliament: Resolution on multi-ethnic violence in  Mitrovica, the
situation of Albanian Kosovar prisoners in Serbia and, in particular, the
case of Flora Brovina
* EP Member Bart Staes: New Resolution on the Situation of the Albanian
Kosovars in Serbia
* Helsinki Committee For Human Rights In Serbia: Student Forum: Confidence
Building Measures between Serbs and Albanians
* KosovaPress: 750 killed, 700 missing and 280 arrested
* free serbia: Albanians sentenced for alleged terrorism
* KosovaPress: A prisoner was released
* KosovaPress: The protests for the release of the Albanian prisoners from
the Serb jails are continuing
* Agence France-Presse: Serb court sentences four Kosovo Albanians for
"terrorism"
* KosovaPress: Another Albanian prisoner is released from the Serb prison
* Humanitarian Law Center Communique: Heavy sentences for eight ethnic
Albanians
* Agence France-Presse: UN Kosovo administrator says Mitrovica unrest was
planned
* KosovaPress: Kosova`s clergy condemn violence
* KosovaPress: Three Albanian prisoners are released
* Agence France-Presse: Serbian court sentences six Kosovo Albanians for
terrorism
* Group 484: Serbia: Trial of Albanian Students, Blgrade
* Reuters: Kosovo students protest against city's division
* International Helsinki Federation For Human Rights: Incitement to Violence
In Serbia Public Prosecutor Should Take Legal Action
* Grupa 484: Student Movement: Activists beaten

==========================================
QUOTES OF THE WEEK:
==========================================
	U.N. Assistant-Secretary-General for peacekeeping operations Hedi Annabi,
February 17:  "The status of people from Kosovo detained in Serbia proper
remains a matter of concern . . .  The appointment of a special envoy to
deal with the issue of detainees and the missing is being considered by the
U.N. High
Commissioner for Human Rights."
	     Belgrade-based Humanitarian Law Center, February 14:  "The indictement
was based on confessions by the defendants, who said they had been tortured
during the investigation."
	     Bernard Kouchner, February 20:  “The unknown fate of thousands of
missing ethnic Albanians is one of the ‘great obstacles’ to restoring faith
between their compatriots and Serbs in Kosovo,” he told France Culture.  . .
. "Alas, I saw that they were lifting the air embargo against Serbia without
linking it to at least some news of the missing persons. I do not think that
is good at all.   I believe that many are dead and that the Belgrade
government is not ready to respond to requests for information.” . . . "If
we had news of the missing, and if the news was good, I think that would
change everything," he stressed.

==========================================
WEEK’S REQUESTED ACTION:
==========================================
	Continue to email the European Parliament in support of the campaign begun
in Kosova.  Write briefly to these EP 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.  You may attach the list of violations with your
correspondence(s).  [The list of violations may be found here:
http://www.khao.org/appkosova/appkosova-report0042.htm]
	Please forward any replies to kosova at jps.net  for the Association of
Political Prisoners web site.  We have attempted to correct the e-mail
addresses resulting in delivery failures.

* The European Court of Human Rights, Council of Europe in Strasbourg,
France: e-mail < webmaster at courtl.coe.fr > or  telephone + 33-3-88-412018
* Doris Pack: Chairperson-Southeast Europe Deleg. < dpack at europarl.eul.int >
* Arie Oostlander  < Aoostlander at europarl.eu.int >
* Emma Bonino < e.bonino 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.krarup 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 >
* Heidi Ruhle < hruehle 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 >
* 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:
==========================================

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
EU Parliament condemns violence in Mitrovica

February 17, 2000

STRASBOURG, Feb 17 (AFP) - The European Parliament condemned Thursday the
outbreak of violence between ethnic Serbs and Albanians in Kosovska
Mitrovica, in northern Kosovo.
     The Parliament urged the EU's Council of Ministers to launch "a new
initiative to put strong pressure on Belgrade and to obtain the release of
ethnic Albanian political prisoners."
     The resolution comes after a flare-up of armed violence in the divided
Kosovo town of Kosovska Mitrovica, one of the last bastions of the Serbian
population in the province and a flashpoint for ethnic
tensions.
     Two weeks of unrest there have left 10 ethnic Albanians dead and more
than 20 Serbs wounded. More than 1,000 ethnic Albanians are thought to have
left the Serbian sector.

Story from AFP  Copyright 2000 by Agence France-Presse (via ClariNet)
http://www.clari.net/hot/wed/at/Qeu-kosovo.RqgT_AFH.html

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

REUTERS
U.N. Council Told 1,600 Kosovars Still Held By Serbs

February 17, 2000

UNITED NATIONS, Feb 17, 2000 -- (Reuters) An estimated 1,600 people from
Kosovo are still being detained in other parts of Serbia while about 3,500
inhabitants of the mainly ethnic Albanian Serb province are listed as
missing, the Security Council was told on Wednesday.
     U.N. Assistant-Secretary-General for peacekeeping operations Hedi
Annabi, who gave these figures during a closed-door briefing for council
members, added that the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, former
Irish President Mary Robinson, was considering appointing a special envoy to
deal with the issue of detainees and the missing.
     "The status of people from Kosovo detained in Serbia proper remains a
matter of concern," Annabi said, according to his briefing notes obtained
later.
     "The most accurate count of Kosovo detainees in Serbia proper is
approximately 1,600," he said, citing a survey by the International
Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) of all civilian and some military prisons.
     He also said there were "approximately 3,000 missing persons from the
NATO bombing period and 400 to 500 persons reported missing since mid-June
1999."
     NATO conducted 11 weeks of air strikes against targets in Yugoslavia,
including Kosovo, from March to June last year to force Belgrade to halt the
oppression of ethnic Albanians.
     Hundreds of thousands of Kosovo Albanians fled during this period,
mainly to Albania and Macedonia, though most returned after the bombing
ended and a U.N. administration backed by the NATO-led KFOR entered Kosovo
in June.
     "The appointment of a special envoy to deal with the issue of detainees
and the missing is being considered by the U.N. High Commissioner for Human
Rights," Annabi said.
     Part of his briefing summarized a recent upsurge of violence in Kosovo
between ethnic Albanians and Serbs. Although centered on the mixed city
Mitrovica, "this has affected inter-ethnic relations in other regions of
Kosovo and has led to an increase in tension throughout the province," he
said.
     Annabi said the ability of the U.N. interim administration to maintain
the pace of its achievements largely depended on making good a serious lack
of financing for Kosovo's budget.
     "As it now stands, the cash available for the 2000 Kosovo consolidated
budget ... will be exhausted by early March, even after allowing for revenue
collection," he said.
     While DM 21.4 million ($10.8 million) had been received out of 28
million  ($14.1 million) needed for the Kosovo Protection Corps, an
emergency force established last month, and for a population registration
program, a 46 million mark ($23.2 million) deficit remained for unspecified
budget support.

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

EXCITE INC
CSCE Hearing Announced on Kosovo's Displaced and Imprisoned

February 17, 2000

WASHINGTON, Feb. 17 /PRNewswire/ -- The Commission on Security and
Cooperation in Europe today announced a forthcoming hearing:

Kosovo's Displaced and Imprisoned
Monday, February 28
2:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Room B-318, Rayburn House Office Building
Capitol Hill
Washington, D.C.
Open to Members, Staff, Public and Press

Scheduled to testify:

	Bill Frelick, Director of Policy, U.S. Committee for Refugees His Grace
Artemije, Serbian Orthodox Bishop of Prizren and Raska Andrzej Mirga,
Co-Chair of the Council of Europe Specialists Group on Roma and Chairman of
the Project on Ethnic Relations Romani Advisory Board Susan Blaustein,
Senior Consultant, International Crisis Group

Background:

	Approximately two years ago, a decade of severe repression and lingering
ethnic tensions in Kosovo erupted into full-scale violence, leading
eventually to NATO intervention in early 1999 and UN administration
immediately thereafter. The conflict in Kosovo was ostensibly between the
Serbian and Yugoslav forces controlled by Yugoslav President Slobodan
Milosevic -- since indicted for war crimes -- on the one hand, and the
Kosovo Liberation Army which arose from more militant segments of Kosovo's
Albanian majority on the other. As with previous phases of the Yugoslav
conflict, however, the primary victims have largely been innocent civilians.
Over one million ethnic Albanians were displaced during the conflict, as
well as over one hundred thousand Serbs and tens of thousands of Roma in the
aftermath of the international community's intervention. Senseless
atrocities were frequently committed throughout this process of forced
migration. Many remain unable to return, and the recent violence in the
northern city of Mitrovica demonstrates the continued volatility of the
current situation. Meanwhile, a large number of Kosovar Albanians, removed
from the region while it was still under Serbian control, languish in
Serbian
prisons to this day. The February 28 hearing intends to focus on the plight
of these displaced and imprisoned people from Kosovo, as well as the
prospects for addressing quickly and effectively their dire circumstances.

Copyright © 1995-2000 Excite Inc
http://news.excite.com/news/pr/000217/dc-csce-kosovo-hearng

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

KFOR Press Update Pristina
Demonstration

February 16, 2000

(...)
Demonstration

Yesterday in Prizren a peaceful demonstration involving approximately 7.500
people took place between 11:30 and 12:30. The participants gathered to
protest against Kosovo Albanian prisoners being held in Serbia.
(...)

http://www.kforonline.com/news/updates/nu_16feb00.htm

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

KOSOVAPRESS
Helsinki Commission hearing in the works

February 16, 2000

Prishtine, February 16 (Kosovpress) - Condemning the continued detention of
Kosovar Albanians removed to Serbia at the end of the 1999 Kosova conflict
and calling for their release through a resolution which comprise as the
following:
	Whereas at the conclusion of the NATO campaign to halt the Serbian and
Yugoslav ethnic cleansing in Kosova, alarge , but undetermined number of
Kosovar Albanians held in Serbian and Yugoslav prisons in Kosova were taken
from Kosova before and during the withdrawal of Serbian and Yugoslav police
and military forces from Kosova,  Whereas the Serbian Justice Ministry has
admitted that roughly 2.000 prisoners were brought to Serbia from Kosova in
June 1999, while Serbian and Yugoslav police and military forces were
withdrawing from Kosova, Whereas the number of Kosovar Albanians still held
in the Serbian or Yugoslav prisons is unclear as full list of names of those
in detention has not been released, but estimates have ranged from just over
1.000 to several thousands still in detention,  Whereas on July 10, 1999,
the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Cooperation
in Europe, comprised parliamentarians from accros Europe, the United States
and Canada, adopted a resolution calling upon Serbia and Yugoslavia, in
accordance with international humanitarian law, to grant full, immediate and
ongoing International Committee of the Red Cross access to all the prisoners
held in relation to the Kosova crisis, to ensure the huamne treatment of
such prisoners and to arrange for the release of all such prisoners.
	Whereas on July 21, 1999, the House of Representatives passed an amendment
by unanimous vote of 424-0 which called upon the governments of Serbia and
Yougoslavia to immediately account for all Kosovar Albanians in their
custody and return them to Kosova, Whereas Dr. Flora Brovina, a Kosovar
pediatrician and activist held by Serbia whose clinic provided medical
services to women and children, was sentenced to 12 years in prison based,
according to Amnesty International, on" self -Incriminating statements which
she signed under duress" and charges which Amnesty International
characterized as " without foundation", Whereas on December 10, 1999, the
Department of State " condemned the proceeding against Dr. Flora Brovina and
insisted that the Belgrade authorities account for, release and return the
thousands of Kosovar Albanians that they are continuing to hod to Kosova and
to their families, and Whereas to date, only 383 Kosovar Albanians have been
released from the Serb and Yugoslav prisons:
	Now, therefore , be it  Resolved by the House of Representatives ( the
senate concurring ), That it is the sense of the Congress that-
	1. the Serbian and Yugoslav governments should immediately account for all
Kosovar Albanians held in their prisons and treat them in accordance with
all applicable international standards ,
	2. the ICRC should be given full immediate and ongoing access to all
Kosovars now held in Serbian and Yugoslav prisons ,
	3. all Kosovar Albanians now held in Serbian and Yugoslav prisons should be
released and any evidence against them turned over to the prisons should be
released and any evidence against them turned over to the UNMIK for legal
processing because neither the Serbian nor Yugoslav judicial systems have
juridiction over Kosova, and
	4. the United Nations Security Council should condemn the continued
detention of Kosovar Albanians in Serbian and Yugoslav prisons and call for
their return to Kosova.

http://www.kosovapress.com/english/shkurt/16_2_2000.htm

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

EU-PARLIAMENT
Resolution on multi-ethnic violence in  Mitrovica, the situation of Albanian
Kosovar prisoners in Serbia and, in particular, the case of Flora Brovina

February 17, 2000

13. Violence between ethnic groups in Mitrovica; Albanian prisoners in
Serbia, notably the plight of Mrs Flora Brovina

B5-0141, 0150, 0158 and 0176/2000

European Parliament resolution on multi-ethnic violence in Mitrovica, the
situation of Albanian Kosovar prisoners in Serbia and, in particular, the
case of Flora Brovina

The European Parliament,

	- having regard to its previous resolutions on the situation in Kosovo and
the former Yugoslavia, in particular its resolution of 22 July 1999 1,
	- recalling its resolution of 16 September 1999 2 on the detainment of
Albanian Kosovar prisoners in Serbia,
	- having regard to the UN Security Council resolution of 10 June 1999,
	- recalling the statement of 13 January 2000 of its Delegation for
Relations with South-East-Europe on the sentencing of Ms Flora Brovina in
Serbia,
	A. deeply concerned by recent events in the Mitrovica region, where, after
a rocket-propelled grenade was fired at a KFOR-escorted UNHCR bus carrying
Serb civilians, killing two passengers and injuring three, violent clashes
took place between the Albanian and Serb populations that could hardly be
controlled by the international military contingent,
	B. whereas KFOR evacuated some 500 people, in particular Albanian Kosovar
families, following the violent clashes that broke out after the attack on
the bus,
	C. noting the deepening division of the city and the surrounding suburbs
along ethnic lines,
	D. pointing out the plight of the Serb minority, which is living in dire
straits in enclaves defended by KFOR, with no possibility to move freely,
	E. whereas the Council has not yet responded to the call made by Parliament
for a discussion of the question of Albanian Kosovar political prisoners in
Serbia;
	F. shocked and appalled by reports of the unfounded sentencing of Ms Flora
Brovina, an Albanian Kosovar doctor, to twelve years' imprisonment, by a
court in the Serbian city of Nis,
	1. Condemns strongly the outbreak of violence in Mitrovica by all opposing
groups in the city;
	2. Regrets that the latest wave of violence has resulted in a number of
victims on all sides;
	3. Condemns the first direct assault on KFOR troops by snipers in
Mitrovica;
	4. Expresses once again its grave concern over the situation of thousands
of Albanian Kosovar detainees imprisoned in appalling conditions in Serbia;
	5. Urges the Council to take a new, decisive initiative with a view to
exerting strong pressure on the Belgrade authorities and obtaining the
release of Albanian Kosovar political prisoners;
	6. Appeals to the Serbian government to immediately release Ms Brovina,
who, according to the latest news, is being held prisoner in the prison
hospital at Pozarevac in Serbia, where she is in a poor state of health;
	7. Urges all sides involved to cease immediately all acts of aggression and
to comply with Regulation 2000/4, which prohibits incitement to national,
racial, religious or ethnic hatred, discord or intolerance, as a key element
for a democratic society in which civil discussions and political debates
must take place in a responsible and non-violent manner;
	8. Calls on both parties to cooperate fully with UNMIK in order to set up
an effective power-sharing administration capable of facilitating
reconstruction activities and a return to daily life;
	9. Gives its full support to the taking of appropriate action by KFOR in
response to criminal activity against any citizens of Kosovo and to protect
civilians who belong to ethnic minorities;
	10. Calls on the Council and the Member States to redouble their efforts to
provide the necessary manpower and resources for the United Nations police
and for the establishment of the judiciary;
	11. Urges, in this respect, the Council and the Commission to make EU
support conditional, favouring reconstruction projects in those parts of
Kosovo where human and minority rights are fully respected and democratic
principles guaranteed;
	12. Calls on the Council to link the softening of sanctions against the
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia to the adoption of a more conciliatory
approach by the Belgrade authorities on the issue of the Albanian Kosovar
political prisoners held in Serbia;
	13. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the
Commission, the Member States, the authorities of Serbia and of the Federal
Republic of Yugoslavia, the UN Representative in Kosovo, the OSCE and the
International Red Cross.

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

EP MEMBER BART STAES
New Resolution on the Situation of the Albanian Kosovars in Serbia

Dear Friends,

	I am writing to inform you that the European Parliament adopted a new
Resolution on the situation of Albanian Kosovar prisoners in Serbia, in
particular, the case of Flora Brovina.
	There were many different motions on this matter. So the adopted resolution
is a compromise of course. I will cite the most important articles
concerning the prisoners in Serbia.

" The European Parliament,

- expresses once again its grave concern over the situation of thousands of
Albanian Kosovar detainees imprisoned in appalling conditions in Serbia;
- urges the Council to take a new, decisive initiative with a view to
exerting strong pressure on the Begrade authorities and obtaining the
release of Albanian Kosovar political prisoners;
- appeals to the Serbian government to immediately release Ms Brovina, who,
according to the latest news, is being held prisoner in the prison hospital
at Pozarevac in Serbia, where she is in a poor state of health;
- calls on the Council to link the softening of sanctions against the
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia to the adoption of a more conciliatory
approach by the Belgrade authorities on the issue of the Albanian Kosovar
political prisoners held in Serbia;
- instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the
Commission, the Member States, the authorities of Serbia and of the Federal
Republic of Yugoslavia, the UN Representative in Kosovo, the OSCE and the
International Red Cross. "

I hope we'll push this matter through.

Sincerely,

Bart Staes,
Member of the E.P.

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

HELSINKI COMMITTEE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS IN SERBIA
Student Forum: Confidence Building Measures between Serbs and Albanians

Appeal to the Ministry of Justice Republic of Serbia

February, 2000

We, the participants of the student forum, organized in Skopje on 15 and 16
January 2000 by the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia within its
project Confidence Building Measures between Serbs and Albanians", demand:

	1. Immediate and unconditional release of all Kosovo Albanians imprisoned
againts whom no charges were brought;
	2. Immediate suspension of all ongoing legal proceedings against Kosovo
Albanians;
	3. Revision of all the court proceedings launched against Kosovo Albanians
since March 24th 1989, until today.

	Zdravko Jankovic
	Fisnik Halimi
	Sandra Sljepcevic
	Heroina Telaku
	Vladimir Markovic
	Bashkim Fazliu
	Emilija Andrejevic
	Eliza Hoxha
	Vladimir Cvetkovic
	Artan Muhaxhiri
	Nenad Glisic
	Xhelal Ramadani

Individuals and organizations willing to support this initiative are invited
to join the appeal.

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

KOSOVAPRESS
750 killed, 700 missing and 280 arrested

Gjakovë, February 16 (Kosovapress) - Communal Council for the Human rights
in Gjakova has confirmed the estimates about the killed persons, missed and
arrested during the war. Also were estimated and damages and number of burn
houses during the conflict in Kosova by Serb occupier and that during the
period of March 1998 till June 1999. At the municipal of Gjakova there have
been killed 750 persons, among them were members of KLA, children, women,
elders etc. Missing persons 700. While in the jails are supposed to be some
280 persons.
	Only at the town of Gjakova were burned 1,506 houses by the barbarous
serbs. And around the villages are burned and destroyed 3.000 houses.

-----------------

FREE SERBIA
Albanians sentenced for alleged terrorism

February 15, 2000

	A Serbian court on Monday sentenced five ethnic Albanians to up to four
years in prison for being Kosovo guerrillas and conspiring against the
country, the independent Beta news agency reported. Beta said the same court
in the southern town of Leskovac sentenced eight other Kosovo Albanians last
week to up to 15 years in prison, and a ninth to two years on Monday in the
same case. The trials were among several cases brought against Kosovo
Albanians for their alleged role in fighting Serb rule in the southern
province. Many of them were arrested by Serb forces during NATO's
March-to-June 1999 bombing campaign and transferred to other parts of
Serbia. Kosovo is now under international control after Yugoslav security
forces withdrew in June.
	In Monday's court rulings, Beta said Driton Berisha was sentenced to four
years, Ljuz Marku to three, Hadzija Redzep to two and Isuf Hadzijaj to 17
months in jail. They were charged with being members of the Kosovo
Liberation Army and of carrying firearms and digging trenches outside their
village in the southern Serbian province. The report did not say when they
had been arrested. The agency did not name another ethnic Albanian man who
it said was sentenced to two years in a separate trial earlier on Monday in
which the court freed four Kosovo Albanians all aged fewer than 18. The
Belgrade Humanitarian Law Fund said in a statement quoted by Beta that the
five were part of a group of 13 ethnic Albanians tried in Leskovac last
week, of whom eight received sentences of up to 15 years. That group was
charged with "conspiring to commit subversive activities related with
terrorism." Beta said the Yugoslav army arrested the 13 men in April 1999 in
the Moslem-dominated town of Plav in Montenegro, Serbia's only remaining
partner republic in the Yugoslav federation.
	The Belgrade office of the International Committee of the Red Cross has
said there are still some 1,600 Kosovo Albanian prisoners in Serb jails. The
ICRC has helped transfer some 400 back to Kosovo in cooperation with Serb
authorities after they were released.

http://anon.free.anonymizer.com/http://www.xs4all.nl/~freeserb/news/e-utorak
15februar.html

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

KOSOVAPRESS
A prisoner was released

February 15, 2000

Viti, February 15 (Kosovapress) - Last days a prisoner Abaz Beqiri aged 19
was released from Serbia jail. He was from Sllatina e Epërme of Vitia, where
he was arrested with two his friends when he was going at the place called
Jezerc. After his release, he was waited very respectfully by his friends
and villagers. Every body was happy about his release, he was well known as
a good activist during the liberation war in Kosova.

http://www.kosovapress.com/english/shkurt/15_2_2000.htm

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

KOSOVAPRESS
The protests for the release of the Albanian prisoners from the Serb jails
are continuing

February 11, 2000

Gjakovë, February 11 (Kosovapress) - Hundreds of Albanians protested in
Gjakova in the streets of the city, demanding the release of the Albanian
political prisoners who are still kept in the Serb jails through out Serbia.
The protestors. Holding the transparences in their hands, appealed to the
International Community to do more for the release of their brothers and
sisters who are kept in jails for one and only reason - because they are
Albanians. According to the Organizing Council of the protests, the protests
will be held regularly, every Friday, until the families will have back
their lovers returned home.

http://www.kosovapress.com/english/shkurt/11_2_2000_2.htm

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

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Serb court sentences four Kosovo Albanians for "terrorism"

February 14, 2000

BELGRADE, Feb 14 (AFP) - Four Kosovo Albanians were sentenced Monday to jail
terms ranging from one-and-a-half to four years for "terrorism" by a court
in the southern Serb town of Leskovac, Beta news agency reported.
     Driton Berisha, 21, was sentenced to four years imprisonment, Lluz
Marku, 29, to three years, Hadxia Rexhepi, 25 to two and Isuf Haxhijaj, 30,
to one-and-a-half years in jail, the agency said.
     The defendents, all from villages near Djakovica in western Kosovo,
were found guilty of belonging to the rebel Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA),
and are thus considered terrorists by Belgrade.
     The four men, who were arrested in 1998, were also found guilty of
"participating in armed actions against the Kosovo security services."
     On Thursday, eight Kosovo Albanians were sentenced by the same court to
the maximum prison terms of 15 years on charges of terrorism, the
Belgrade-based Humanitarian Law center said.
     Another defendant was sentenced Thursday to two years in jail, while
four others, including a teenager, were cleared off charges and released,
the center said.
     They had initially been accused of murdering 16 Kosovo policemen in
1998, the center said.
     But the prosecutor changed their indictements after witnesses denied
any policeman had been killed in attacks attributed to the group, it added.
     "The indictement was based on confessions by the defendants, who said
they had been tortured during the investigation," the center said.
     Belgrade authorities said last week that 180 Kosovars had been tried in
Serbia, and that 149 of them had been convicted and 31 acquitted.
     According to the center, some 1,300 Kosovo Albanians are still being
held in Serbia on terrorism charges.
     More than 230 have been released since mid-June, when Belgrade
transferred roughly 2,050 prisoners from Kosovo as it was forced by NATO air
attacks to withdraw its forces from the southern Serb province, the center
said.

Story from AFP  Copyright 2000 by Agence France-Presse  (via ClariNet)
http://www.clari.net/hot/wed/cj/Qyugo-kosovo-justice.RVwG_AFE.html

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

KOSOVAPRESS
Another Albanian prisoner is released from the Serb prison

February 14, 2000

Malishevë, February 14 (Kosovapress) - According to Kosovapress editor in
Malisheva, yesterday another Albanian was released from the Serb jail. Ismet
Gashi, born on the village of Vërmica, the district of Malisheva, have been
serving his sentence in the prison of Nish.
	Yesterday he was released from prison and returned home. It is worth to
allege that Ismet Gashi was arrested on June, 1998.

http://www.kosovapress.com/english/shkurt/14_2_2000_1.htm

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

HUMANITARIAN LAW CENTER COMMUNIQUE
Heavy sentences for eight ethnic Albanians

February 14, 2000

	The trial of 13 Kosovo Albanians charged with terrorism and seditious
conspiracy ended on Thursday, 10 February, at the District Court in
Leskovac. The group was arrested by the Yugoslav Army at Plav, Montenegro,
in April 1999. The Kosovo Albanians were originally accused of killing 16
police officers in Locani and Prilep villages.  However, the prosecutor
amended the indictment when police officers who gave testimony said no
police had been killed in these attacks.  The indictment was based in
entirety on the self-incriminating statements made by the accused to
military investigators immediately after their arrest.
	The defendants told the Court these statements had been extracted from them
under torture. The panel, presided by Judge Milomir Lazic, sentenced Imer,
Sefer, Zeneland Besim Nitaj, Hasan, Rustem, Ramo and Dukaj Avni, all of
Drenovac, Decani Township, to 15 years in prison.  Valdet Lekaj of Djakovica
received a prison term of two years, while Ahmet Sulja, Kujtim Lekaj, Hasim
Dukaj and Fidan Dervishaj, all minors, were acquitted and discharged.

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

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
UN Kosovo administrator says Mitrovica unrest was planned

February 20, 2000

PARIS, Feb 20 (AFP) - The United Nations' civilian administrator in Kosovo,
Bernard Kouchner, said Sunday that recent violence in Kosovska Mitrovica was
organized and the air embargo against Serbia had been lifted too soon..
     "Mitrovica is a powder keg ... and this is a new phase," he told the
public French radio France Culture.
     "I hope things will calm down quickly. I am not sure of that," he said,
adding that he thought the recent violence was organized.
     "I think extremists on both sides have gained from it," he said.
     Two weeks of violence that flared late February 3 in Mitrovica left 10
ethnic Albanians dead and more than 20 Serbs wounded.
     The unrest followed a grenade attack on a bus carrying Serbs which
killed two and wounded five, according to the United Nations.
     Kouchner also said that the European Union was wrong to ease sanctions
on Serbia before at least getting news on missing Albanian Kosovars in
return.
     The unknown fate of thousands of missing ethnic Albanians is one of the
"great obstacles" to restoring faith between their compatriots and Serbs in
Kosovo, he told France Culture.
     "Alas, I saw that they were lifting the air embargo against Serbia
without linking it to at least some news of the missing persons. I do not
think that is good at all," Kouchner said.
     Estimates vary as to the number of ethnic Albanians missing since
Yugoslav forces withdrew from the southern Serb province in June following
11 weeks of air strikes by a NATO-led coalition.
     Figures of between 3,000 to 7,000 have been cited, and Kouchner
believes they are around 5,000 while admitting he is not certain.
     "I believe that many are dead and that the Belgrade government is not
ready to respond to requests for information," he said.
     "If we had news of the missing, and if the news was good, I think that
would change everything," he stressed.
     Kouchner said he was basically in favor of lifting sanctions, calling
them "still inappropriate."
     The EU decided Februay 14 on a six-month suspension of the air embargo,
which was imposed in September 1998.

Story from AFP   Copyright 2000 by Agence France-Presse (via ClariNet)
http://www.clari.net/hot/wed/ci/Qkosovo-un.RzFs_AFK.html

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

KOSOVAPRESS
Kosova`s clergy condemn violence

February 18, 2000

Prishtinë, February 18 (Kosovapress) - General Dr. reinhardt welcomes the
statement of the religious leaders of Kosova made recently in Sarajeva
concerning shared moral commitment. The spiritual leaders Dr. Rexhep Boja,
the Mufti and President of the Islamic Community, Bishop Dr. Artemije, the
Serbian Orthodox Bishop of Raska and Prizren, and Bishop Marko Sopi of the
Roman Catholic Church of Prizren declare:
	"Violence against people or the violation of their basic rights are not
only against man made laws, but they also are break God`s law. We jointly
condemn all violence against innocent persons and any form of abuse or
violation of fundamental human rights, and specifically we condemn: acts of
hatred based on ethnicity or religious differences. The desecration of
religious buildings, and the destruction of graveyards. The expulsion of
people from their homes. The obstruction of the free right of return to
their homes, acts of revenge. The abuse of the media with the aim of
spreading hatred".
	KFOR is convinced that the vast majority of the people in Kosova fully
support the words of the religious leaders and that it is only a relatively
small number of criminals who actively try to undermine the process of peace
and reconciliation with their violent activities.

http://www.kosovapress.com/english/shkurt/18_2_2000.htm

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

KOSOVAPRESS
Three Albanian prisoners are released

February 18, 2000

Obiliq, February 18 (Kosovapress) - Three Albanian prisoner from the
municipal of Obiliq were released from the prison Pozharevac. The prisoners
are Valon Berisha old 27 years, Sali Sadiku old 38 from Millosheva and Afrim
Mehmeti aged 27 from Babimofci. Last year on June 30, they were arrested by
Serb police at the village Vranidoll near Prishtina, they were arrested that
day when other hundreds of Albanians were departed from columns who marched
from Podujeva to Prishtina. The three innocent prisoners were arrested only
why they were Albanians, they were maltreated at the prison in Lipjan and
accused that they have been participants of KLA, and then they have been
transferred to the prison in Pozharevc. Now they are released from Nishi
Court where they did not have facts for their punishment and they are
proclaimed as innocents.

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

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Serbian court sentences six Kosovo Albanians for terrorism

February 18, 2000

NIS, Yugoslavia, Feb 18 (AFP) - Six Kosovo Albanians were sentenced Friday
to prison terms ranging from 10 months to 10 years for terrorism by a court
in the southern Serbian town of Nis.
     Besim Jashari was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment, brothers Abdulah
and Tomor Hodza and Saip Berisha got three-year sentences, while Zahir
Shkodra and Osman Murati got 18 and 10 months respectively.
     The defendants had denied charges of belonging to the Kosovo Liberation
Army (KLA), considered terrorists by Belgrade. They were accused of
organising a local KLA unit in January 1999 in the Kosovar village of
Gracanica.
     The six said they "were mistreated and beaten" by Serbian police during
their arrest and detention in June 1999.
     Jashari's lawyer, Bora Nikolic, told AFP after the trial that the
prosecution had given "no evidence" for any of the accusations.
     "We believe the sentences should be revoked and a new trial held, since
there were many legal omissions," he said.
     Belgrade authorities said last week that 180 Kosovars had been tried in
Serbia, and that 149 of them had been convicted and 31 acquitted.
     According to the Belgrade-based non-government group Humanitarian Law
center, some 1,300 Kosovo Albanians are still being held in Serbia on
terrorism charges.
     More than 230 have been released since mid-June, when Belgrade
transferred roughly 2,050 prisoners from Kosovo as it was forced by NATO air
attacks to withdraw its forces from the southern Serbian province, the
center said.
     The KLA has been officially demilitarised since September last year.

Story from AFP  Copyright 2000 by Agence France-Presse (via ClariNet)
http://www.clari.net/hot/wed/cr/Qyugo-kosovo.RBNm_AFI.html

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

GROUP 484
Serbia:  Trial of Albanian Students, Belgrade

February 18, 2000

Dear friends,

	Today continued the trial of Petrit Berisha, Driton Berisha, Dritan Meqa,
Shkodran Derguti and Abdulahu Isam, 5 Albanian students in Belgrade, who
were accused for terrorism and who are in jail since May 1999. Zef Paluca is
tried in absentia. Today's witnesses were Hisan Berisha, father of the
accused, and Frend Mehmeti, Berisha's neighbor.
	Both of them testified that Petrit was not a member of KLA during July 1998
and that he could not have killed policemen in Pec (Peja) during that
period.
	The lawyers of the defense said that there is another trial where somebody
is also accused for the same murder of the policemen, and that there was a
trial of another group of Albanian students in Belgrade, and that they were
set free after it was proved that there was no student terrorist
organization called Shkumbimi (these students were accused for founding the
same organization)  The trial will continue on March 17th 2000, with new
witness.

For Group 484,
Dragana Gavrilovic

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

REUTERS
Kosovo students protest against city's division

February 17, 2000
By Shaban Buza

PRISTINA, Yugoslavia, Feb 17 (Reuters) - Thousands of Kosovo Albanians
marched through the streets of their capital on Thursday to demand an end to
violence and ethnic division in the northern city of Mitrovica.
     The protesters, mainly students and university professors, called on
Kosovo's NATO-led KFOR peacekeeping force and United Nations administration
to bring security and freedom of movement to the province's third-largest
city.
     Mitrovica, an industrial city with great symbolic importance for both
Kosovo Albanians and Serbs, has been the scene of serious outbreaks of
violence in the past two weeks.
     At least nine people have been killed and more than 20 wounded,
including two French peacekeepers.
     The U.N. mission in Kosovo, UNMIK, says it has noted an increase in
attacks on minorities elsewhere in the province since trouble flared in
Mitrovica earlier this month. Local political leaders have warned tensions
could escalate further.
     ``Stop the killings in Mitrovica'' read one banner at the protest in
Pristina, which police officers estimated attracted about 10,000 people.
     ``Serb paramilitaries and criminals move around freely and live in
Albanian homes and apartments in northern  Mitrovica, looting, terrorising
and massacring Albanians,'' university professor Shefqet Rashani alleged in
a speech at the rally.
     Albanians used to form the majority of the population in both halves of
Mitrovica, as they do in Kosovo as a whole. But Serbs have grouped together
in the north of Mitrovica and say Albanians cannot return to their homes for
now.
     The Serbs, who took control of the north after Albanians fled Serb
forces during NATO's bombing of Yugoslavia, insist they are only trying to
protect themselves from Albanian revenge attacks which have plagued post-war
Kosovo.

``NO BERLIN WALL IN KOSOVO''

	Albanians suspect a Serb plot to control northern Mitrovica and its
mineral-rich hinterland. Recent violence in the city have shown both Serbs
and Albanians have no shortage of weapons and are prepared to use them to
push their case.
     Many of the protesters were students at Pristina university's faculty
of mining and metallurgy, which is located in northern Mitrovica. The
students have been unable to gain access to the building because of the
division.
     ``No Berlin wall in Kosovo'' read one placard at the rally.
     ``Our fellow students from Mitrovica still don't know the feeling of
being a student in a university building,'' said Driton Lajci, president of
the Pristina students' union.
     Shocked by the recent violence, KFOR and the U.N. have drafted in extra
troops and police to improve security in Mitrovica and the U.N. has promised
a package of political and economic measures to normalise the situation
there.

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

INTERNATIONAL HELSINKI FEDERATION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS
Incitement to Violence In Serbia Public Prosecutor Should Take Legal Action

February 13, 2000

	Vienna, 13 February 2000.  The International Helsinki Federation for Human
Rights (IHF) and the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia are
deeply disturbed by threats to Serbian media and civil organizations
"supported by the West" by Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Vojislav Seselj.
Seselj told Belgrade radio station B2-92 that "you can't really think that
you will survive our possible liquidation," among numerous other threats.
     "We categorically reject the attempt to intimidate those who have the
courage to think independently and monitor human rights and political
developments in Serbia," stated the members of the IHF's governing Executive
Committee, meeting in Vienna.
     "To threaten civil society in Serbia with 'liquidation' constitutes an
incitement to violence that makes targets of individuals and groups," the
IHF board said.
     "Seselj is making civil society activists into scapegoats for the
incapacities of the government and the political 'elite.'"
     The IHF and the Serbian Helsinki Committee are calling upon the Public
Prosecutor to take legal action in the case.

Executive Committee of the International Helsinki Federation for Human
Rights:
	Ludmilla Alexeyeva (President)
	Ulrich Fischer (Vice President)
	Holly Cartner
	Krassimir Kanev
	Bjorn Engesland
	Andrzej Rzeplinski
	Sonja Biserko
	Stein-Ivar Aarsaether (Treasurer)
	Aaron Rhodes (Executive Director)

For further information:
International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights,
Internet: http://www.ihf-hr.org ; E-mail: office at ihf-hr.org
Tel. +43-1-408 88 22 or +43-676-635 66 12

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

GRUPA 484
Student Movement: Activists beaten

February 16, 2000

Dear friends,

	Tonight around 23 o'clock 19 activists of the Student Movement RESISTANCE!
were led up to the police station cause the gluing of posters in the center
of Subotica. One of the activists succeeded to call lawer of the RESISTANCE!
from the police car and he said that some of them were seriously beaten.
Till now nobody had any other contact with them cause their mobiles phones
are off. We are still waiting for some new information. We will inform you
when we get more information.

Sincerely yours,
RESISTANCE! TILL VICTORY

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

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. 011