From kosova at jps.net Mon Jan 3 19:56:49 2000 From: kosova at jps.net (kosova at jps.net) Date: Mon, 3 Jan 2000 16:56:49 -0800 Subject: [A-PAL] A-PAL Newsletter, No. 004 Message-ID: Welcome to Albanian Prisoner Advocacy List -- Prisoner Pals Newsletter, No.004, January 03, 2000 This report highlights the developments on the prisoner issue for the week of December 26, 1999. ========================================== A-PAL STATEMENT: ========================================== In Kosovo's capital, Pristina, 30 miles southeast of here, thousands of ethnic Albanians jammed the main street in front of the National Theater, greeting the new millennium with fresh demands for the release of compatriots held in Yugoslav jails following the Kosovo conflict. ?Tonight, when the whole world is celebrating, thousands of Albanians are being tortured in the cells of the Serb criminals,? said Shukrije Rexha, a protest organizer. ?Let us not forget tonight our beloved ones who are not with us.? Thousands of ethnic Albanians are believed still held in Yugoslav jails more than six months after the Kosovo conflict ended with Milosevic's acceptance of a Western peace plan after 78 days of NATO bombing. AP-NY: December 31, 1999 ========================================== THIS WEEK?S TOPICS: ========================================== * Announcement: Hunger Strike, EP Member: Bart Staes * Australian Broadcasting Corporation: Third CARE worker released from Serb jail * KosovaPress: Large protest, demanding the release of Albanian prisoners * The Detroit News: Missing Kosovars hamper peace effort * Physicians for Human Rights: Families of Missing Persons and Victims of War * The Associated Press: Eight Kosovo Albanians Sentenced ========================================== QUOTES OF THE WEEK: ========================================== The Red Cross is still trying to compile a list of the missing, said spokesman Urs Boegli. The work has been stymied because the agreement that ended the Kosovo fighting did not compel the parties to offer any accounting. "The key to the solution is the warring parties themselves," Boegli said. "They know what their soldiers have done ... They can take the skeletons out of the closet, quite literally." ========================================== WEEK?S REQUESTED ACTION: ========================================== Contact Thaci, Ceka, Rugova, Qosa, Albright, Kouchner, and Serb Human Rights groups. Ask them to pressure both warring sides to cooperate and identify what has happened to the missing. As we are learning from the release of the CARE worker, sustained pressure from both sides is needed to force progress on this issue. Attach a copy of the ICG Recommendation with any correspondence [http://www.khao.org/appkosova/appkosova-report0035.htm] Sign the Petition supporting the Release of the Kosovar Political Prisoners [http://www.khao.org/appkosova/app_online.htm] Note: If you did sign the petition during the week of December 19, 1999, we ask that you resign the petition. Due to technical issues, we may not have received your signature. ========================================== FULL REPORTS AND ARTICLES BEGIN HERE: ========================================== ANNOUNCEMENT Hunger Strike: Bart Staes, EP Member Last Friday Simon and Mikel Kuzhmini and Ramiz Zekolli started a hunger strike in the Brussels Church of the Minimes (near the Court of Justice). Thuis action follows the condemnation of Flora Brovina. The trhee men want the release of the Kosovar prisoners in the Serbian jails. Bart Staes, Member of the European parliament, supports the action. More info: Bart Staes +32-75-372757 ========================================== AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION Third CARE worker released from Serb jail January 01, 2000 CARE Australia worker Branko Jelen has been released from a Yugoslav prison. Mr Jelen was jailed on espoinage charges with colleagues Steve Pratt and Peter Wallace last year. The aid workers were detained at the height of the Kosovo crisis, and were later sentenced to jail on spying charges. Australians Pratt and Wallace were released in September after Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic granted them clemency. Foreign Minister Alexander Downer says Mr Jelen was released yesterday on humanitarian grounds. Mr Downer says he is glad the issue has been resolved. He says the detention of aid workers caught up in a crisis while trying to pursue their work has been a serious threat to the future of humanitarian activities around the world. CARE Australia is celebrating the release of its jailed worker. The agency says it found out about Mr Yelen's release some time ago but had decided to remain silent until he had crossed the border. Spokesman Anthony Funnell says Mr Yelen has been through a terrible ordeal. "He's been in detention since early April, so it's been an enormous stress on him," he said. "He's not in the best of health, so we'll have to wait and see what sort of condition he's in before he comes out to Australia. "But the good news is that the Australian government has agreed to give Branko and his family residency in Australia, so we're really looking forward to the whole family coming out." ? 1999 Australian Broadcasting Corporation http://www.abc.net.au/news/newslink/weekly/newsnat-1jan2000-20.htm ========================================== KOSOVAPRESS: Large protest, demanding the release of Albanian prisoners December 30, 1999 Prishtin?, December 30 (Kosovapress) The Organizing Council of the Protests, tomorrow night organizes a large protest demanding the release of the Albanian Political Prisoners who are still kept in the Serb jails. The protest will start at 23.15 and will have only one message- the release of the Albanian prisoners. The protestors will also appeal on the International Community, to put the pressure on the Serb Regime in Belgrade for the release of more than 7.000 prisoners who are kept as hostages on the Serb jails throughout Serbia. In the name of the Organizing Council, a speech to the protestors will be held by Shukrie Rexha. The Organizing Council invites all the citizens to take part in the protest. http://www.kosovapress.com/english/dhjetor/30_12_99_1.htm ======================================= THE DETROIT NEWS Missing Kosovars hamper peace effort December 26, 1999 Thousands taken by Serbs during the war may be prisoners or dead By Danica Kirka / Associated Press KORENICA, Yugoslavia -- Six months after the end of the Kosovo conflict, not a single man between the ages of 16 and 60 from this ethnic Albanian village, which had a prewar population of 600, has been accounted for, residents and human rights activists say. "We don't know if they are alive or dead," said Hateme Kameri, whose husband, Rrustem, was last seen being beaten by Serb paramilitaries when they raided the village April 27. "We still have hope that the men are in prisons." The uncertainty about the men -- and the thousands of other people missing in Kosovo -- is hampering reconstruction and clouding hopes of reconciliation between ethnic Albanians and Serbs. Serb authorities have told the International Committee of the Red Cross that they are holding about 1,700 ethnic Albanians -- men and women ranging in age from 13 to 73 -- arrested during the conflict and transported out of the province before NATO-led peacekeepers arrived in June. Many Kosovo Albanians believe many more people are being held and that Yugoslavia is keeping them as bargaining chips for future negotiations on the status of Kosovo. Serb paramilitary forces swept into Korenica, a village of some 70 houses, about a month after NATO began its 78-day air campaign to halt Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic's crackdown on ethnic Albanian separatists. The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe has documented 89 missing people in Korenica and 30 others from a village a few miles away. All told, an estimated 10,000 ethnic Albanians died in the 18-month crackdown and 1.5 million were expelled from their homes, the State Department reported this month. "People are very frustrated here," said Kosovare Kelmendi of the Humanitarian Law Center, a non-governmental organization. "We are talking about people who have lost everything." The Red Cross is still trying to compile a list of the missing, said spokesman Urs Boegli. The work has been stymied because the agreement that ended the Kosovo fighting did not compel the parties to offer any accounting. "The key to the solution is the warring parties themselves," Boegli said. "They know what their soldiers have done ... They can take the skeletons out of the closet, quite literally." In the highly charged postwar atmosphere, there's no goodwill between Albanians and Serbs and few answers for those trying to find out if their relatives are dead or alive. International officials admit they don't even have a good guess on how many people are missing. There's also no system to centralize information on bodies that have been found. Individuals like Hateme Kameri, 32, and her cousin, Bekrije Kameri, 26 -- whose husband, Besim, is also missing -- are largely on their own. The women visited the Red Cross offices and scanned the lists of prisoners known to be held in Serbia. When that proved fruitless, they began watching mass grave excavations, hoping to find a familiar shoe or a recognizable jacket. "Whatever it is, I would like to have the truth," Hateme said. "Even if it is very bad, I would rather have the truth than not knowing anything at all." Unsure of whether to wait or to grieve, Hateme chooses to hope, for herself and her four children. "The children cry every night because they call for their father to come back." Bekrije said. "We cry with them." Copyright 1999, The Detroit News http://detnews.com/1999/nation/9912/26/12260080.htm ========================================== PHYSICIANS FOR HUMAN RIGHTS Families of Missing Persons and Victims of War December 23, 1999 For over three years, Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) has organized extensive programs aimed at working with the families of those killed or missing and identifying bodies exhumed from mass graves in Bosnia (see www.phrusa.org for details). When Kosovo presented similar issues, PHR was in a unique position to assist. PHR sought to implement mechanisms to ensure that the needs for support for families of those killed or missing in the conflict and support for the identification of those victims were being addressed in Kosovo. Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) believes firmly that families of missing persons and other victims should be considered integral to the entire forensic process. In early June, PHR issued a report, War Crimes in Kosovo: A Population Based Assessment of Human Rights Abuses Against Kosovar Albanians (see www.phrusa.org) On June 20, 1999, a few days after the peace agreement in mid-June, PHR deployed Mary Ellen Keough and Margaret Samuels, two veterans of PHR's Bosnia Projects, with the FBI forensic team to provide support for families involved in a series of International Criminal Tribunal for Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) exhumations by providing the families with counseling on how the forensic scientific process works and how to cope with the strong emotions normally encountered in such a situation. The PHR team also identified local mental health resources to assist PHR at the sites. They provided support to families and followed up with the most severe and traumatized families. Over the summer, PHR expanded its focus toward developing local capacity to address these issues. PHR's initiative to train local Kosovar social workers and forensic professionals was three-pronged: support for the families confronted by the identification process; forensic training in recovering and identifying remains; and antemortem data collection. Antemortem data is a detailed description of a victim or missing person - including physical characteristics, medical and dental history, and clothing and personal effects worn when last seen - which forensic experts use to identify bodies recovered in exhumations. PHR has assisted with more than 40 different ICTY exhumation sites and has begun to work on sites with local forensic teams. Thus far, more than 400 bodies have been recovered from these sites. The ICTY has uncovered a total of 2,108 bodies from 195 of the 529 grave sites it has so far identified. In addition, the ICTY has found cases of forensic evidence and grave tampering. Although many bodies have been identified at ICTY exhumation sites by family members, the identification rate has been low and bodies have remained unidentified. With local authorities only beginning their recovery and identification, it is clear the exhumation and identification process is in its early stages. It is premature for any definitive number of deaths to be determined. In fact, the total loss of death in Kosovo may never be known. While understanding the full scope of loss of life during the conflict is a process that has only just begun, neither Physicians for Human Rights nor other organizations are tasked with computing a body count. PHR's June study, War Crimes in Kosovo, revealed that 35% of those interviewed (over 1000) witnessed murders or saw dead bodies. PHR's experience with forensics and antemortem data collection in the former Yugoslavia, which has spanned most of this decade, demonstrates that thousands of bodies could be recovered years after the conflict. Bodies associated with the massacres of the Bosnian wars are still being unearthed four years after the end of that conflict.In addition, the lists of missing compiled by local municipalities, human rights groups and the ICRC in Kosovo, indicate thousands of Kosovar Albanians remain missing. In recent months, a public debate has erupted in the press regarding the fact that some of the suspected mass grave sites in Kosovo have produced fewer bodies than first believed to have been disposed of there. Critics assert that, because there have been fewer bodies recovered thus far than reported killed during the height of the conflict, genocide was not committed by the Milosevic regime and war was not justified. Ultimately, the number of individuals found to have been killed in the conflict does not alter President Milosevic's carefully planned and systematically executed plan to rid Kosovo of its Albanian majority. In our view, every intentional killing of a civilian, no matter what the number, is a war crime. Every execution of a detained combatant is a war crime. The house burnings, emptying out of villages, mass forced expulsions, are all grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions. The statistics on displaced persons and destruction of property, reported on by PHR in its "War Crimes in Kosovo" as well in other human rights and press reports, document the staggering scale of the systematic and brutal human rights abuses carried out by Serb authorities against Kosovar Albanians. Independent reports generally agree that Serb authorities forced more than 1 million people from their homes, with about 800,000 becoming refugees in other countries. Aid agencies now report that more than 100,000 homes have been at least partially damaged. PHR's report, "War Crimes in Kosovo", was based on a population-based assessment of Kosovar refugees in April in Albania and Macedonia in order to assess the pervasiveness of violence and abuses suffered by the population. Virtually all of the 1,180 randomly sampled individuals - 91% - said Serb authorities forced them to leave their homes. 29% saw first hand Serb authorities burning their homes or the remains of their burnt homes after Serb forces had passed through their community. For the past six months, PHR worked with the ICTY and other international and local agencies to further the principle that support for families of victims, conducted in a humane and sensitive manner, should be integral to the forensic process. PHR worked collaboratively with several international and local organizations including the International Commission for Missing Persons (ICMP), International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia (ICTY), Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), UN Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), the Center for the Defense of Human Rights and Freedoms (CDHRF), Pristina Forensic Institute, and Kosovo's regional Centers for Social Work. PHR's project with local social workers and mental health professionals from many of Kosovo's regional Centers for Social Work focused training on many of the issues that families encounter in the identification and exhumation process such as trauma, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and the reburial of loved ones. Mental health professionals, along with officers of the OSCE and local human rights groups which conduct investigations or have extensive contacts with families of victims, were also trained in antemortem data collection so that uniformly useful data is collected. Given that numerous bodies from ICTY exhumation sites are not being identified, antemortem data probably will prove crucial for identifications for years to come. PHR oversaw the collection of more than 400 sets of antemortem data from close relatives and friends of victims and/or missing persons. As members of communities and families of missing have generally been present during the exhumations, much of the collection of antemortem data has occurred at centralized locations in villages or at grave site. The United Nations Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) Civilian Police have agreed to be responsible for the storage of antemortem data. They are currently exploring computerized data options and will hire a missing persons staff and data entry workers, and have consulted with PHR's Bosnia Project about its Antemortem Database. PHR has worked closely with the Transcultural Psychosocial Organization, an international social service organization based in Amsterdam, to continue working with social workers. They plan on continuing to provide support to the centers of social work through training and facilitating interagency collaboration. For local forensic professionals, PHR led trainings to enable them to properly tackle the complex exhumation and identification tasks facing them. The trainings focused on three aspects of forensic work: exhumation, identification of bodies (including the use of antemortem data and comparison with postmortem data), and integrating family support services into the exhumation and identification process. It is proposed that OSCE continue PHR's work of monitoring forensic exhumations and conduct further trainings with the ICTY. PHR is alarmed that the death toll continues to rise in Kosovo -- the violence and killing did not cease when KFOR Security Force entered the province. With the return of Albanian Kosovar refugees and the withdrawal of Serb forces, there has been a rise of abuses against Serb and Roma (Gypsy) civilians by Albanians - including killings, disappearances, and intimidation. This trend of violence also includes crimes perpetrated by Albanians against Albanians. Approximately 200,000 Serb and Roma have departed Kosovo since June 1999. PHR has worked with international experts on sites with Serb and Roma bodies. PHR continues to work with the medical professionals to foster non-discrimination in the health care system and has undertaken a series of medical ethics and human rights trainings for hundreds of Kosovo health professionals. PHR condemns those behind recent attacks by Kosovar Albanians on Serbs, Gypsies, and other minorities. We call on the leadership of Kosovo to forcibly condemn such attacks. We urge UNMIK and KFOR to aggressively deploy police and military units to prevent such acts. Kosovo Update #14 >From News From PHR, Vol. 1, Issue 15 For other Kosovo Updates please visit www.phrusa.org--News Archive ========================================== THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Eight Kosovo Albanians Sentenced December 30, 1999 BELGRADE, Yugoslavia ?? A Serbian court sentenced eight ethnic Albanians for membership in the officially disbanded rebel Kosovo Liberation Army, the state-run daily Politika said Thursday. The court in Leskovac, a city 150 miles southeast of the Yugoslav capital, Belgrade, sentenced the eight on charges they "enlisted with the KLA in 1998, built bunkers, carried out surveillance of Yugoslav army troop movements and participated in attacks against the military and police" in Kosovo, the newspaper said. In one attack, several Serbian policemen were injured. Of the eight, all from the Kosovo region of Orahovac, one was tried and sentenced to five years in absentia. The remaining seven, all in police custody, received prison sentences ranging from two to five years. Serb-led Yugoslav forces battled the KLA for 18 months in Kosovo until NATO bombarded Yugoslavia last spring, forcing the withdrawal of all Belgrade's troops from the province. NATO-led peacekeepers now have control of Kosovo. China on Thursday condemned NATO's war over Kosovo anew, pledging to play an active role in rebuilding Yugoslavia, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Zhang Qiyue said at a twice-weekly news briefing in Beijing. Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan told his Yugoslav counterpart, Zivadin Jovanovic, earlier this week, "the Chinese side deeply sympathized with the severe damage to the economy caused by U.S.-led NATO's bombing," she said. Tang promised that the Chinese government "will participate in the reconstruction of Yugoslavia" and will encourage Chinese enterprises to take part, Zhang said. Yugoslavia's official Tanjug news agency, however, has reported that the state-run Import and Export Bank of China has extended $53 million in credits. With restive minorities of its own in Tibet and the Muslim northwest, China criticized NATO for failing to get explicit U.N. approval before bombing Yugoslavia to stop repression of Kosovo's ethnic Albanian minority. Beijing's opposition hardened after U.S. warplanes destroyed the Chinese Embassy in Belgrade. On Thursday, NATO officials said two Russian peacekeepers were injured when their vehicle struck a land mine near where an American soldier serving alongside Russian forces was killed in similar incident two weeks ago. The Russians had been patrolling an area near Kosovska Kamenica, 20 miles southeast of Pristina in the American-controlled sector of the province, on Wednesday. One of the Russians was slightly injured and the other received head wounds, the NATO-led peacekeeping command said in a statement. He was reported resting comfortably Thursday at the American-run Camp Bondsteel. NATO refused to speculate whether the land mine had been recently planted or was left over from the Serb crackdown in Kosovo. On Dec. 15, U.S. Army Staff Sgt. Joseph Suponcic, 26, of Jersey Shore, Pa., was killed when his Humvee hit a land mine near Kosovska Kamenica. He was serving as liaison with the Russian 13th Tactical group. American troops are popular among Albanians for Washington's role in driving Serb forces from the province in June. Many ethnic Albanians, however, hate the Russians because of Moscow's support of Belgrade. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/aponline/19991230/aponline102615_000.ht m ========================================== 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 Archives of the A-PAL Newsletters may be found at: http://www.khao.org/appkosova.htm Albanian Prisoner Advocacy List -- Prisoner Pals Newsletter, No. 004 From kosova at jps.net Tue Jan 11 00:03:23 2000 From: kosova at jps.net (kosova at jps.net) Date: Mon, 10 Jan 2000 21:03:23 -0800 Subject: [A-PAL] A-PAL Newsletter, No. 005 Message-ID: Welcome to Albanian Prisoner Advocacy List -- Prisoner Pals Newsletter, No.005, January 10, 2000 This report highlights the developments on the prisoner issue for the week of January 2, 2000. ========================================== A-PAL STATEMENT: ========================================== The early days of January 2000 have brought mixed news as well as a new round of demonstrations in Kosova. While there have been some welcome but unexpected releases, one prisoner died and another was sentenced to 13 years. Twenty new prisoners were identified in Nish. Albin Kurti is believed to have been moved from Pozharevac to Nis, where he awaits trial. The European Union's foreign affairs ministers will discuss the prisoner issue. And there were two hunger strikes in Europe. Weekly updates by the Council for Defense of Human Rights and Freedoms are making it easier to identify specific activity regarding individual prisoners (http://www.khao.org/appkosova/appkosova-reports.htm) ========================================== THIS WEEK?S TOPICS: ========================================== * Humanitarian Law Center Communique: Kosovo Albanians Acquitted In Pozarevac * REUTERS: Serbia drops charges against four Kosovo Albanians * FREE SERBIA: Hunger strike for Albanians * KOSOVAPRESS: The Hunger Strike Was interrupted * AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE: EU To Discuss Fate Of Kosovars Jailed In Serbia * KOSOVAPRESS: Protests For the Release of The Political Prisoners are Continuing * KOSOVAPRESS: One More Albanian Political Prisoner have been Released from Zaje?ari prison * KOSOVAPRESS: It is Doubtful that in ?a?ak Prison has Many Albanian Prisoners * KOSOVAPRESS: A prisoner was brought dead from Prokuple prison * FREEB92 DAILY NEWS: Albanian prisoners released * KOSOVAPRESS: Message-request for the release of the political prisoners * ALICE MEAD: Albin Kurti?s Upcoming Trial * KOSOVAPRESS: Today, Rrahman Olluri has been released from the prison of Nish * SPECIAL TO THE WASHINGTON TIMES: Serbian draft resisters forgotten * THE AUSTRALIAN: Serb aid worker to get asylum * AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE: Aid Worker, Jailed as Spy, Is Released in Yugoslavia * FREE SERBIA: Demand for releasing of Ristic and Maki * ReliefWeb: Secretary-General pleased by 31 December release of aid workers in custody of Federal Republic of Yugoslavia * FREE SERBIA: Process against OSA members started ========================================== QUOTES OF THE WEEK: ========================================== Secretary-General Kofi Annan , January 5: The Secretary-General was pleased to learn of the release form prison on 31 December 1999 of Branko Jelen, the remaining CARE aid worker under custody by the Government of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia on charges of passing on secret information. His release is a welcome start to the new year and a sign of encouragement to the humanitarian community, whose aim is to assist all in need around the world. Shukrie Rexha, the president of the Organizing Council, January 4: Tonight's protest, in the last hour of this century, even in this organizing form, is sending a message to the following year, putting this issue in the first place, as the primary - urgent one to be solved. Tonight, when the whole world is celebrating, thousands of Albanians, mainly youngsters, are being tortured in the Serb cold cells of the criminal Serb Regime. For every passing hour, they fight for life - simply because they are Albanians. Shpetim Bushati, January 7: "Your [Ibrahim Egriu] intentions reflect eye-openess of the highest morale of your personality and the true unselfishness of yours, since man cannot be liberated at the battlefield only, but also during peace time when the interest of our land and nation calls for it. This act of yours sends a strong message to the sensible opinion of the world proper for the liberation of the many thousands of prisoners and kidnapped by the fascist serb regime in Kosova." ========================================== WEEK?S REQUESTED ACTION: ========================================== The European Union Foreign Affairs Ministers will discuss the prisoner situation on January 24-25. Call or email your European Parliamentarian or foreign affairs minister to let them know that international organizations must take action on this crucial issue. - Two hunger strikes were held: One in Brussels and the other, in Oslo - Large demonstrations were held in Prishtina on New Years Eve and in Gjakova the following week. Sign the Petition supporting the Release of the Kosovar Political Prisoners [http://www.khao.org/appkosova/app_online.htm] Note: If you did sign the petition during the week of December 19, 1999, we ask that you resign the petition. Due to technical issues, we may not have received your signature. ========================================== FULL REPORTS AND ARTICLES BEGIN HERE: ========================================== HUMANITARIAN LAW CENTER COMMUNIQUE Kosovo Albanians Acquitted In Pozarevac January 06, 2000 Judge Nikola Vazura of the Pozarevac District Court acquitted four Kosovo Albanians charged with terrorism for lack of evidence. After 17 months in custody, the four men were taken over by the International Committee of the Red Cross and returned to their homes. Ekrem Veselaj, Haziz Krueziu, Eshref Mazreku and Hilmi Perteshi, all from Suva Reka Township, were arrested on 6 July 1998 and charged with participation in an attack on a column of police vehicles at Donje Krusice village, Kosovo. At the trial, three of the defendants stated that they were stopped and arrested without cause at a police checkpoint. The fourth was taken into custody at the Prizren hospital where he was receiving treatment for a broken leg. The Court found that the results of the "paraffin glove" test done during the investigatory proceedings did not prove conclusively that they had fired at members of the Serbian police force. The Humanitarian Law Center welcomes the ruling of the Pozarevac Court, which was rendered solely on the basis of legal principles and standards. It urges all courts in Serbia to demonstrate equal professionalism in adhering to the law and justice, and to disregard attempts to exert political influence on courts of law. ========================================== REUTERS Serbia drops charges against four Kosovo Albanians January 06, 2000 BELGRADE, Jan 6 (Reuters) - Four Kosovo Albanian men, held in Serb jails since July 1998 on terrorism charges, were freed on Thursday after the case against them was dismissed, a human rights lawyer said. ``I was very surprised. It was a rare case really because they were released of all the charges,'' said Radovan Dedijer, a lawyer from Belgrade's Humanitarian Law Fund, which attends the trials of some 2,000 Kosovo Albanians now jailed in Serbia. ``Normally they issue a conviction at least to cover the time already spent in jail,'' Dedijer said by telephone. The four men were escorted back to Kosovo by the International Red Cross, the fund said. They were arrested on July 6, 1998 and accused of participating in an attack on a column of Serb police vehicles in the Kosovo village of Donja Krusica. Police were targeted by separatist Kosovo Liberation Army guerrillas during a year-long conflict with the security forces which preceded last year's NATO air strikes against Yugoslavia that forced Serb police and troops from the province. The defendants denied the charges, saying police picked them up at random. One said he was arrested while in hospital. The fund praised the decision by the court in Pozarevac, home town of Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic. Dedijer said the judges were Serbs from the Kosovo town of Prizren. It also appealed to other courts in Serbia not to let politics influence their decisions. Dedijer said dozens more trials were due in the coming weeks, but that it was difficult to predict which if any of the defendants would be freed. One case soon to come to court involves 155 men from the western Kosovo town of Djakovica who human rights activists say were picked from refugee columns during the air strikes, when hundreds of thousands of Albanians fled a Serb campaign of terror. Copyright 2000 Reuters Limited http://infoseek.go.com/Content?arn=a2188LBY091reulb-20000106&qt=Kosovo&sv=IS &lk=noframes&col=NX&kt=A&ak=news1486 ========================================== FREE SERBIA Hunger strike for Albanians January 04, 2000 Already for eleven days in Bruxelles, three founders of Alliance of Albanians in world, Simon and Mikel Kuznini from Zagreb and Ramiz Zekoli from Bruxelles, are striking with hunger asking for releasing of Albanian prisoners jailed in Serbia, SENSE reported. According to data announced by Belgrade's Found for humanitarian right there are about 2000 Albanians from Kosovo in prisons in Serbia and Bernard Koushner said that are missing between 4000 and 6000 persons from Kosovo. Representatives of Red Cross and humanitarian organizations visit prisoners in Serbia but it's assumed that some prisoners could be in military prisons where Red Cross wasn't allowed to enter till now. Three Albanians had started the strike day before Christmas in one church in Bruxelles. They are visited by doctors regular and they didn't have any health problems till now. But now, after 11 days of strike, their medical condition comes to critical phase. For now they have received telegrams of support from Albanians organizations and appeals to stop starvation so they shouldn't in jeopardize their health. ? Copyrights Free Serbia, 1999. http://anon.free.anonymizer.com/http://www.xs4all.nl/~freeserb/news/e-utorak 04januar.html ========================================== KOSOVAPRESS The Hunger Strike Was interrupted January 09, 2000 Oslo, January 9 (Kosovapress) After the consultation between the president of the World Albanian League, Mr. Simon Kuzhnini and the strikers in Malma, Sweden who were on strike for six days, yesterday in the Cathedrale "HYLLYE" has been interrupted the hunger strike. Those who were taking part in the strike have been Mr. Ibrahim Egriu, president World Albanian League of the Scandinavian countries and three members of its chairmanship.They have been in strike for six days because about 7.000 Albanian people are still kept in the Serb jails throughout Serbia. ========================================== AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE EU To Discuss Fate Of Kosovars Jailed In Serbia January 05, 2000 BRUSSELS, Jan 5, 2000 -- (Agence France Presse) Ethnic Albanians in Belgium won a promise Wednesday that the fate of several thousand Kosovars languishing in Serbian prisons will be discussed by EU foreign ministers, representatives said. The pledge was made as 200 ethnic Albanians demonstrated peacefully outside EU headquarters and three Kosovo Albanians went into the 13th day of a hunger strike in a Brussels church to draw attention to the prisoners' plight. Stephan Lehne, an aide to EU foreign policy high representative Javier Solana, was quoted as telling a delegation of Kosovars that, given Belgrade's isolation, there was a limit how much pressure could be brought to bear. "But they will do all they can, and study the issue at a coming meeting of (foreign) ministers," said Gani Azemi, a Belgian-based associate of veteran Kosovo political leader Ibrahim Rugova who participated at the meeting. The delegation, supported by Belgian Green Euro-MP Bart Staes, was also to meet Wednesday with officials from Portugal, which has just taken over the six-month rotating presidency of the 15-country European Union. An estimated 2,000 to 5,000 ethnic Albanians are still behind bars in Serbia, seven months after NATO air strikes ended Belgrade's control of Kosovo and put the Balkan hotspot under U.N. administration. EU foreign ministers are scheduled to meet next January 24-25. (c) 2000 Agence France Presse ========================================== KOSOVAPRESS Protests For the Release of The Political Prisoners are Continuing January 09, 2000 Gjakov?, January 9 (Kosovapress) During this Friday, the citizens of Gjakova have organized a large protest, demanding the release of the political prisoners who are still kept in the Serb jails. About 1.500 Albanian citizens from |Gjakova municipality have been captured by the Serb police , militaries and paramilitaries during the NATO bombardment. A number of those citizens have been executed while another number of those men and women were tortured badly and after while they have been sent to the Serb jail throughout Serbia. Through this protest the citizens of Gjakova is showing and at the same time making pressure to the International Community that without the release of their friends, brothers and sisters there will be no human breathing of freedom in Kosova. ========================================== KOSOVAPRESS One More Albanian Political Prisoner have been Released from Zaje?ari prison January 09, 2000 Gjakov?, January 9 (Kosovapress) Five days ago, from the prison of Zajeqari have been released another political Albanian prisoner. The prisoner named Nexhat Ibrahimi from Prizreni, has been arrested during the NATO bombardment. During the suffering sentence he has stayed in the same room with two brothers who were also prisoners, from Brekoci, the district of Gjakova. Their names are Valdet and Muhamet Leka. ========================================== KOSOVAPRESS It is Doubtful that in ?a?ak Prison has Many Albanian Prisoners January 09, 2000 Podujev?, January 9(Kosovapress) According to some witnesses who have travelled from Sanxhaku region, in the prison of ?a?aku are being kept a large number of Albanian prisoners. Due to these sources in the prison are locked also the Albanian women. Until now the public opinion has not been informed about this case. ========================================== KOSOVAPRESS A prisoner was brought dead from Prokuple prison January 06, 2000 Suharek?, January 6 (Kosovapress) Today in Suhareka, a prisoner was brought dead by the help of International Red Cross. The prisoner Muhamed Basha was sixty years old, the poor old man died from the serb tortures at the prison in Prokuple. http://www.kosovapress.com/english/janar/6_1_99_1.htm ========================================== FREEB92 DAILY NEWS Albanian prisoners released January 06, 2000 POZAREVAC, Thursday - A court in the central Serbian city of Pozarevac today released a group of Albanians who have been held for seventeen months on charges of terrorism. The four were released into the care of the International Red Cross, who arranged transport for them to Kosovo. The four men were arrested on July 6, 1998 after being accused of taking part in an attack on a convoy of police vehicles in Kosovo. The Pozarevac District Court today ruled that there was insufficient evidence against the men. ========================================== KOSOVAPRESS Message-request for the release of the political prisoners January 04, 2000 Prishtin?, January 4, (Kosovapress) On the New Years night, at December 31, 23.15 hrs, The Organizing Council of the protests have organized a large protest, demanding the release of the political prisoners. Tens of thousands of protestors have requested the release of the political prisoners who are still kept in the Serb jails throughout Serbia. The message was read by Shukrie Rexha, the president of the Organizing Council. "We are gathered here tonight, in the last hour of this year, to express our concern for our brothers and sisters, who are still kept in the Serb jails, under the permanent torture. Tonight's protest, in the last hour of this century, even in this organizing form, is sending a message to the following year, putting this issue in the first place, as the primary - urgent one to be solved. Tonight, when the whole world is celebrating, thousands of Albanians, mainly youngsters, are being tortured in the Serb cold cells of the criminal Serb Regime. For every passing hour, they fight for life-simply because they are Albanians. Even tonight, they are waiting, instead in-humanity, to win humanity and to go out through the iron doors of the jail. They are kept and isolated there, and those who are keeping them there are negating every humanitarian law and Convention for human rights. Even tonight, they have the right to hope the ending of such an absurd game with their life. UN Security Counsel Resolution 1244 stands in value as the real instrument of UNMIK. Precisely, this Resolution obliges the serious engagement of the International Community over this issue. Thousands of Albanians life are in question here. The International Community is responsible for their safety. It is necessary to act urgently, to make pressure to the Serb criminal Regime demanding the unconditional release of all Albanian Political prisoners who are being kept as hostages. We are deeply convinced that this is the pre-conditional factor for the successful operations of the International Community in Kosova, and for the installation of the law and order. This is also the pre-conditional factor to end the ethnic discrimination in the area. We, also demand from the International Community, to make pressure to the Serb Regime and give information for 4000 Albanians, who have been arrested by the Serb police Militaries and paramilitaries. Until now nobody knows anything about their destiny. Honored the participants of the protest! The family's and people's concern is reasonable. Such a reason is obligating us. For a sublime question such as the prisoners issue is, it is necessary to act together, as Albanians and only then we will have the guaranteed success. Tonight 's message-request, is our last message for this year, on the last protest organized during this passed year, protest full of wounds and pain for us. I would like to join my feelings to your feelings, and even in an such un-ordinary way to congratulate the prisoners, the changing of the years, to wish them being released soon and coming back to their families and to return the meaning of the life here". http://www.kosovapress.com/english/janar/4_1_99_2.htm ========================================== ALICE MEAD Albin Kurti?s Upcoming Trial January 05, 2000 Dear Friends of Albin-- I have been asked by Albin's brother to let you know that Albin was transfered to Nis Prison two weeks ago. And it is believed that the authorities are preparing for his trial there. We recently experienced the trial and sentencing of Dr. Brovina a few weeks ago, so we have some idea what to expect from that. So far, no one knows what the official charges are against Albin. But in the summer a Serb paper stated that he was being held for acts of terrorism, as evidenced by his meetings with Holbrooke, whom he never met, and Hill. In addition, he was supposedly charged with providing First Aid information. We do know that Albin was severely tortured when he was first arrested last April. In most of the cases so far, forced confessions are being used as the main evidence for conviction. Sentences range from 3 years to 20 years in other trials. The family does not want the kind of widespread publicity that Flora Brovina went through, but of course wish ardently for his release and believe absolutely in Albin's innocence of these ludicrous charges. Therefore, we should all do our utmost to make his situation known to western officials at all levels and to Serb human rights groups. We are all aware of the scrupulous moral decisions and the personal sacrifices that Albin made in his efforts to bring justice to Kosova. If the Brovina trial is any indication, it will be very difficult for Albin to obtain a fair trial in Nis. For details and articles on Albin's background and his political and peace work, Wolfgang Plarre maintains a meticulous web site at: www.bndlg.de/~wplarre/Suche-Kurti.htm. A biography of Albin written by his brother is on the Assoc. Political Prisoners web site at: www.khao.org/appkosova.htm. We urge all of you to contact officials in foreign affairs and human rights at every level in your country and to urge them to use every means possible to provide basic human rights for Albin. Please do not begin a widespread media campaign at this point. The family does not want Albin to have a trial in that kind of atmosphere. Sincerely, Alice Mead Kosova Action Network Association of Political Prisoners ========================================== KOSOVAPRESS Today, Rrahman Olluri has been released from the prison of Nish January 06, 2000 Lipjan, January 6 (Kosovapress) Mr. Rrahman Olluri who was born in the village of Rufc i Ri, the district of Lipjani, today has been released from the prison of Nish. Rrahman Olluri was arrested by the Serb police on May 8. In the moment of his arrest he was at his home, in his village and for eight months he has been serving his sentence to Serb jails of Pozharevci and Nishi. Before his arrest Mr. Rrahman Olluri has been a KLA activist, and during the war he has given a great contribution, so that today we could be free. At that time, he was KLA logistic member and for eight months he has been maltreated in a permanent way. He said to a Kosovapress correspondent that soon he will give information about the health and state of some of his friends who remained in the prison of Pozharevci. http://www.kosovapress.com/english/janar/6_1_99.htm ========================================== SPECIAL TO THE WASHINGTON TIMES Serbian draft resisters forgotten January 3, 2000 By Veronique Mistiaen Thousands of young men who fled Serbia rather than take part in the war in Kosovo now find themselves stranded in Hungary, facing long prison sentences if they go home but denied refugee status in Hungary or any other NATO country. BUDAPEST - Thousands of young men who fled Serbia rather than take part in Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic's war in Kosovo now find themselves stranded in Hungary, facing long prison sentences if they go home but denied refugee status in Hungary or any other NATO country. Many have been held since the Kosovo campaign in Debrecen, a former Soviet army base made up of rows of dilapidated barracks surrounded by barbed wire, where they spend their days sitting on iron beds in dank rooms staring into space. This so-called "reception center," housing about 1,000 asylum seekers from around the world, is just one of the camps holding the Serbian deserters and draft resisters, some accompanied by wives and children. Others survive in overcrowded and inadequate private accommodations in Hungary. In the words of Amnesty International, they are "the forgotten resisters" of the Kosovo war. "Throughout the conflict in Kosovo, NATO member states made repeated calls to those serving in the Yugoslav military to resist their leadership," said Brian Phillips of Amnesty, one of the few organizations campaigning on their behalf. "Now the men who . . . heeded these calls and the prompting of their conscience, find themselves in urgent need of protection. But the governments who issued the calls to resistance appear to take little interest in the uncertain future facing these men." Lorenzo Pasquali, deputy representative for the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Budapest, said no one is sure how many Yugoslavs are living in Hungary, although newspapers have quoted figures up to 20,000. Amnesty and other human rights organizations estimate their numbers in the thousands. Typical of these men is Goran, a 28-year-old Serbian technician who fled when military police came to deliver his draft papers on March 31, 1999, a few days after NATO started bombing Serbia. "I knew the risks. Milosevic had declared a state of war and the borders were closed," said the tall, dark-haired man, who asked that his last name be withheld to protect his family. "But I didn't agree with his senseless policies. I had always opposed him. I wasn't going to serve in his war." Goran said he grabbed a change of clothes, a piece of bread, his passport and some meager savings and took off through roads, fields and woods across what refugees call the "green border" into Hungary. "I felt so optimistic. I thought my worries were behind me" when he crossed the border, Goran said. But he was soon picked up by Hungarian border police and sent to two refugee camps before ending up at Debrecen. There, he was told his application for asylum had been denied for lack of evidence. Today, he feels utterly abandoned. "I know I did the right thing by refusing to fight in the war. I don't regret it, but it costs me so much. I have no job. I miss my friends and family. I am afraid," he said. Hunched on his bed, slowly sipping tea from an old yogurt pot, he continued: "In the eyes of my people, I am a traitor and a lot would never forgive me. . . . If I go home, I'll go to jail. But it seems that everybody expects us to be sent back and doesn't care." His main hope is to emigrate to the United States, where an uncle in Texas is willing to sponsor him, but he says that so far the U.S. Embassy has been of little help. The Yugoslav Lawyers Committee for Human Rights says men like Goran have good reason to fear returning to Yugoslavia. Special laws imposed during the Kosovo campaign provide for jail sentences of up to 10 years for draft dodging, and up to 20 years for leaving the country to avoid a recruitment call-up. Amnesty International has determined that at least several hundred draft evaders are already imprisoned in Yugoslavia, most of them serving five-year sentences, and as many as 23,000 more cases are before the military courts. Even without the threat of imprisonment, return would be difficult for many. "My grandfather told me, 'If you come back, I'll kill you, and if I don't, someone else will,' " said Sinisa Prole, 26. He and eight friends who used to plan anti-Milosevic demonstrations and write political pamphlets at a cafe they called the "Bastion of Freedom" live together in a cramped two-room apartment on a busy boulevard in Budapest. All are now despised in the small mining town 35 miles north of Belgrade where they once lived. Both UNHCR and the Council of Europe have said that "refusal to take part in a war condemned by the international community because of serious violations of international humanitarian law should be considered grounds for granting asylum." Yet no European country including Hungary has been willing to grant refugee status to the Yugoslav draft dodgers. Under pressure from UNHCR, Hungary has given one-year renewable permits to some 1,200 draft evaders and other asylum seekers. The U.N. refugee agency is now lobbying to win them the right to work and go to school. Other draft evaders are in Hungary on tourist visas while they await a decision on their status or are in the country illegally. Hungary so far has not deported anyone and is unlikely to do so "at this stage," Mr. Pasquali said. "We're not asking for special favors. We have skills; we'll work," said Snezana Bozickovic, 30, who fled with her husband and son. She said her family is prepared to go to any Western country where people can speak English. Not all draft evaders, however, want a new life abroad. Sveta Matic, 26, an active member of the student opposition in Belgrade who was arrested many times, dreams only of going home. "I want to go back to Serbia. I don't care if we don't have electricity, if I have to wait until I am 40, if I [go back as] a simple worker. I want to be part of building a new democratic Serbia," he said. All site contents copyright ? 1999-2000 News World Communications, Inc. http://www.washtimes.com/world/News3-20000103.htm ========================================== THE AUSTRALIAN Serb aid worker to get asylum January 03, 2000 By foreign affairs writer ROBERT GARRAN The decision to free Yugoslav aid worker Branko Jelen came directly from President Slobodan Milosevic, and seemed aimed at winning favour with the UN, Care Australia said yesterday. Mr Jelen, the Yugoslav colleague of Australian aid workers Steve Pratt and Peter Wallace, walked free from Pozarevac prison in the southern Serbian city of Nis late on Friday, and could start a new life in Australia as early as this week. Care Australia spokesman Antony Funnell said the Australian Government had promised to grant residency status to Mr Jelen, his wife and two children, who would almost certainly face persecution if they remained in Yugoslavia. Mr Jelen had been a program manager for Care in Pristina when he was arrested, along with Mr Pratt and Mr Wallace, just before the start of the NATO bombing campaign against Yugoslavia. All three men were accused of spying for NATO, charges they and Care Australia denied, and Mr Jelen was kept in jail after the release in September of the two Australians. On New Year's Eve, Mr Jelen travelled with Care officials from Nis to Budapest and, if his trauma counsellor and his doctor give the all-clear, he and his family could travel to Australia late this week. Mr Funnell said the decision to free Mr Jelen came directly from Mr Milosevic. "Unless it came directly from Milosevic it just wasn't going to happen. There were too many bit players who had their own agendas and who were causing problems," he said. "It probably seemed to Milosevic to be a good time to get rid of him and show some good faith with the UN and agencies like us. "On top of that, he was in pretty bad condition. Overall, it was a lot worse on him just because he was one of them. "Towards the end, he was getting extremely depressed, so that may well have scared the Yugoslav authorities. "They were starting to get a bit worried that he may not last the whole journey." He said the visit to Belgrade in late November by Care Australia chairman Malcolm Fraser had been instrumental in winning Mr Jelen's release. Mr Fraser called on Mr Milosevic, but by Christmas the hopes for his release had begun to fade. "At that point, the internal political fighting, particularly with the factions in the military, was full on," Mr Funnell said. Care's case was helped by the fact it was one of the few agencies providing aid in Yugoslavia, Mr Funnell said. Mr Fraser's criticisms of NATO's approach before and after the war in Kosovo may also have put Care in good standing. Mr Fraser maintained his criticisms at the weekend. "For everyone at Care, this is a joyous way to start the new year. Branko should never have been imprisoned," he said. "Like Steve Pratt or Peter Wallace, he was the victim of a senseless conflict, which only compounded the tremendous suffering of hundreds of thousands of people in the Balkans." The Australian http://news.com.au/news_content/national_content/4133040.htm ========================================== AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE Aid Worker, Jailed as Spy, Is Released in Yugoslavia January 2, 2000 BELGRADE, Serbia, Jan. 1 -- The government has freed a Yugoslav employee of the aid organization CARE who had been in prison since May on spying charges, aid workers and officials said today. Branko Jelen, 34, an employee of CARE's Australian branch, was freed late Friday. He and two Australians who also worked for the aid group were convicted in May of spying against Yugoslavia during the 78-day bombing by NATO over Kosovo. The two Australians, Steve Pratt and Peter Wallace, were freed four months later after President Slobodan Milosevic issued a pardon. A CARE spokesman and officials in Australia said that Mr. Jelen had been granted asylum there and would travel to Australia with his wife and two children as soon as he was fit. "He has been though an ordeal," the spokesman, Antony Funnell, said from Sydney. "He was detained in early April, and his health is not the best. He will spend a couple of days with the counselor and doctor to make sure he is fit to travel." He added that Mr. Jelen would be "coming out here to live." "From our perspective we would prefer that he get here sooner rather than later," Mr. Funnell said. Malcolm Fraser, a former prime minister who is CARE's chairman in Australia, said Mr. Jelen should never have been jailed. "Like Steve Pratt and Peter Wallace, he was a victim of a senseless conflict which only compounded the tremendous suffering of thousands of people in the Balkans," Mr. Fraser said in a statement. "With the last of the humanitarian aid workers now free, it is time for Western nations to take up the United Nations' recent call for a full resumption of humanitarian assistance to Yugoslavia in order to meet the serious need for aid within that country," he added. Mr. Fraser attributed the release to the diplomatic efforts of CARE's staff and Foreign Minister Alexander Downer of Australia, and to international pressure from figures like Kofi Annan, the United Nations secretary general, and George Papandreou, the Greek foreign minister. Copyright 2000 The New York Times Company http://www.nytimes.com/00/01/02/news/world/yugo-release.html ========================================== FREE SERBIA Demand for releasing of Ristic and Maki January 04, 2000 Independent Association of Journalists of Serbia (IAJS) announced today that the General secretariat of president of Republic Serbia has passed on the demand of IAJS for releasing of Nebojsa Ristic, editor of TV "Soko", to court which had judged him, Fonet reported. IAJS had sent the demand for releasing to president Milan Milutinovic. In announcement IAJS said that, according to current procedure, act of General secretariat means that president of Republic has asked for case for decision. New Democracy has also sent a letter to Milutinovic in which they are sugesting him to use his constitutional rights and release Bogoljub Arsenijevic - Maki, leader of Civil resistance from Valjevo, Nebojsa Ristic, chief editor of TV "Soko" from Sokobanja and all others political prisoners that are "only guilty because they think that this country has incapable and undemocratic government which should be changed". ========================================== RELIEFWEB Secretary-General pleased by 31 December release of aid workers in custody of Federal Republic of Yugoslavia January 05, 2000 The following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for Secretary-General Kofi Annan: The Secretary-General was pleased to learn of the release form prison on 31 December 1999 of Branko Jelen, the remaining CARE aid worker under custody by the Government of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia on charges of passing on secret information. His release is a welcome start to the new year and a sign of encouragement to the humanitarian community, whose aim is to assist all in need around the world. http://wwwnotes.reliefweb.int/files/rwdomino.nsf/480fa8736b88bbc3c12564f6004 c8ad5/d08eab3f12ac2ec58525685d00786e39?OpenDocument ========================================== FREE SERBIA Process against OSA members started January 06, 2000 The investigation against seven citizens of Krusevac started today on Military court in Belgrade, Radio B2-92 reported. The charges are unification for enemy activities and preparing terrorist actions, foundation of Serbian liberation army (OSA) and preparing assassinations on many oppositions and regime personas. Some Belgrade media reported after failed assassination on SPO leader Vuk Draskovic that OSA took responsibility for this action. Borivoje Borovic, one accuser's lawyer and also lawyer of Vuk Draskovic said that OSA was really founded, but not as a terrorist organization but as a organization which supposed to help Kosovo Serb after Yugoslav army withdraw. He said that all arrested OSA member completely denied any connection with Draskovic assassination attempt. - When they heard about the assassination on Draskovic, they took responsibility because advertising reasons. They wished to attracted attention on there's organization. But now, it is proved without any doubt that they don't have anything with this or any other assassination in Yugoslavia. - Borovic said. Kosovo Albanian Endjulu Prekaj sentenced to a 13 year prison term Five-member court council of Military court in city of Nis convicted on December of 31st Kosovo Albanian Endjulu Prekaj to a 13 year prison term because unification for enemy activities, Danas dally reported. Judge Radomir Mladenovic said that accused - Court rejected to interrogate witnesses which would confirm that Prekaj was conscripted by force to KLA, against his free will. Indictment is saying that the gun has been founded when Prekaj was arrested, but that gun was not registered anywhere (after the arrestment) or nether shown. "Paraffin glove" was never used to proof that the gun was used at all - Djordje Kalanj, Prekaj's lawyer said. ? Copyrights Free Serbia, 1999. http://anon.free.anonymizer.com/http://www.xs4all.nl/~freeserb/news/e-cetvrt ak06januar.html ========================================== 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 Archives of the A-PAL Newsletters may be found at: http://www.khao.org/appkosova.htm Albanian Prisoner Advocacy List -- Prisoner Pals Newsletter, No. 005 From kosova at jps.net Thu Jan 20 21:06:59 2000 From: kosova at jps.net (kosova at jps.net) Date: Thu, 20 Jan 2000 18:06:59 -0800 Subject: [A-PAL] A-PAL Newsletter, No. 006 Message-ID: Welcome to Albanian Prisoner Advocacy List -- Prisoner Pals Newsletter, No.006, January 17, 2000 This report highlights the developments on the prisoner issue for the week of January 09, 2000. ========================================== A-PAL STATEMENT: ========================================== Public pressure is working! KEEP it UP! A-PAL advocates now number nearly 1,600 members from countries like Norway, Malaysia, Israel, Germany, the US, Canada, UK, France and Italy. Political prisoners who have been held without charges can now hope for the chance of dismissal. ========================================== THIS WEEK?S TOPICS: ========================================== * Press Release : Solana and Portugal want to Raise the matter of the Kosovarian Prisoners Fate with the European Council * Humanitarian Law Center Communique : Another Group of Kosovo Albanians Acquitted * ICRC : As in other Conflict Situations, the ICRC Seeks to Establish the Whereabouts of all Persons Reportedly Detained or Otherwise Missing * The Associated Press : Serbs Release 10 Ethnic Albanians * FreeB92 Daily News : Albanian Prisoners Released * Alice Mead : Public Pressure Aiding in Release of Kosovar Prisoners as Serbia's Six Month Detention deadline passes ========================================== QUOTES OF THE WEEK: ========================================== Sejfi Protopapa, January 10: The Serbian Authorities in Belgrade are holding the Albanian civilians in prisons, detention camps and generally under inhumane confinement. While the Albanians believe there are 7000 individuals in captivity, the Serbs do not even maintain a register for them. So, in addition to the suffering of the detainees themselves, their families in Kosova suffer even more for not knowing the fate of their loved ones. This is civilian hostage taking and keeping, in barbaric and inhumane conditions, that cannot be justified in modern day Europe. Worse yet, the Serbian political opposition is not offering any suggestions to resolve the issue of the Albanian hostages. Are all the Serbs so blinded by their hatred of all their fellow Albanians? Only the Nazis come close to this level of insensitivity to cruelty. Under these circumstances, on this issue, the inertia of the European Union and the United Nations is approaching accomplicity in a crime against humanity. If you have written an email on behalf of the prisoners, please email us a copy! We collect comments and use them when we contact officials. They are a big help. ========================================== WEEK?S REQUESTED ACTION: ========================================== Support EP Belgian Parliamentarian Bart Staes of the Green Party, who has arranged a meeting with Xavier Solana and the new Portuguese Presidency of the EP to discuss the prisoner situation on January 24-25 in Brussels. Demonstrations, letters, emails and calls do work! Show the EP officials that the prisoner situation is at the heart of establishing and preserving the rule of law in the region. Email, write or call. If you want to brave the cold, demonstrate! This ongoing situation is a grievous violation of the Geneva Accords. Speak out Again: The Brovina appeal is scheduled soon. Her sentencing was an outrage. Brovina supporters must rally again. Include her case in emails and letters. Albin Kurti's case, now at Nis Prison, should be dismissed, as should the editor of the Kosovar newspaper Zeri, Mr. Matoshi. Neither individual has been charged, and there is no evidence in either case. They are simply being held on police warrants that have long since expired. Kurti was severely tortured upon his arrest. ========================================== FULL REPORTS AND ARTICLES BEGIN HERE: ========================================== PRESS RELEASE Solana and Portugal want to Raise the matter of the Kosovarian Prisoners Fate with the European Council January 05, 2000 BRUSSELS - The Portuguese presidency of the European Union and an assistant of Javier Solana, the Special Representative for the Common Foreign Affairs and the Security Policy, promised today to Bart Staes, Member of the European Parliament, to put the question of the Kosovarian prisoners in Serbia on the agenda of the European Council of Ministers. The talks of B. Staes and the Kosovarian delegation with the cabinet-Solana and the Permanent Representation of Portugal toke place in accordance with the fortnight hunger strike of three Kosovarian representatives in the Miniemenkerk in Brussels. The Portuguese presidency read the memorandum and refered to the resolution of the European Parliament in which the previous presidency, Finland, was asked "to raise the matter of the early release of all prisoners, directly with the Serbian government". Portugal and the cabinet-Solana are conscious of the critical situation of the Kosovarian prisoners in Serbia. There is a situation without rights, with tortures, show trials and neglect of elementary human rights. The assistant of Solana added that there is also a strong repression against Serbian dissidents. Nevertheless the problem is that it is difficult for the international community to exert pression on the Milosevic-regime due to the complete international isolation. For the time being the only real possibility is the rigid application of the international embargo. In this way Bart Staes, Member of the European Parliament, suggests a boycot of the participation of the Yugoslavian football team on Euro-2000. Considering the serious situation the Portuguese presidency as well as the cabinet-Solana declared to be ready to put the question of the Kosovarian prisoners on the agenda of the next European Council of Ministers. Bart Staes, Member of the European Parliament Tel. : 32.2.284.5.642 Fax : 32.2.284.9.642 E-post : bstaes at europarl.eu.int ========================================== HUMANITARIAN LAW CENTER COMMUNIQUE Another Group of Kosovo Albanians Acquitted January 13, 2000 Judge Dusan Spasic of the Pozarevac District Court yesterday acquitted for lack of evidence another 10 Kosovo Albanians accused of acts of terrorism. After spending 18 months in custody, the group was today turned over to the International Committee of the Red Cross whose representatives will escort them back to Kosovo. Veton Muljaljija, Arben Salja, Biljbu Sehu, Mejdin Korenica, Bajram Merdja, Nursaba Destani, Sarki Seljami, Satri Haljilji, Sehu Zekiri and Adilj Kolari, all of Orahovac Township, were arrested from 21 to 23 June 1998 during the armed conflicts in Orahovac. They were charged by the prosecutor of participating in armed attacks on Serbian police officers in the period from 18-21 June 1998 when two officers were killed and several more wounded. Although the accused tested positive in the ?paraffin glove? test during the investigative proceedings, the Court ruled that this did not constitute sufficient evidence that they had fired on police. This was the second time that the Pozarevac District Court rejected the ?paraffin glove? test as proof of the commission of a criminal offense. On 5 January this year, Judge Nikola Vazura made a similar ruling and acquitted four Kosovo Albanians from Suva Reka Township. The Humanitarian Law Center points out that, in contrast to the District Court in Pozarevac, other courts in Serbia have sentenced ethnic Albanians to long terms in prison solely on the basis of the ?paraffin glove? test, considered by experts to be a crude and unreliable investigative technique. ========================================== ICRC MISSION IN KOSOVO As in other conflict situations, the ICRC seeks to establish the whereabouts of all persons reportedly detained or otherwise missing. January 10, 2000 I - Protection and Detention People deprived of their freedom The ICRC is visiting some 1,700 persons held in Serbia proper, in order to verify their conditions of detention and enable them to remain in contact with their relatives in Kosovo. Thus, over 4,250 Red Cross Messages (RCMs) have been delivered to prisoners' relatives in Kosovo and some 3,600 were delivered to the prisons. Since June, ICRC has helped 326 persons to come back home in safety after their release in Serbia. On a regular basis, ICRC helps ex-detainees in this manner after their release from prison. ICRC also visits those detained by KFOR, CIVPOL and United Nations Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) police in Gnjilane/Gjilan, Mitrovica, Pec/Peja, Pristina and Prizren. ICRC as lead agency for missing people in Kosovo More than 3,000 persons have come to the ICRC offices to report their missing or arrested relatives. ICRC is completing a campaign of tracing by event, visiting the communities in order to gather information on the people who have disappeared in similar circumstances. http://www.icrc.org/icrceng.nsf/Index/52FDEDAE8E2BC1DE41256862004A8F5B?Opend ocument ========================================== THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Serbs Release 10 Ethnic Albanians January 13, 2000 BELGRADE, Yugoslavia -- Serb authorities released ten ethnic Albanians on Thursday who were suspected of attacking police in Kosovo but filed charges against 144 ethnic Albanians jailed in central Serbia. Prosecutors said the jailed Albanians took part in "terrorist actions" in Kosovo last year, killing and wounding Serb policemen, soldiers and civilians, the private Beta news agency reported. The 144 people are from the western Kosovo town of Djakovica and were members of the disbanded Kosovo Liberation Army, a rebel ethnic Albanian group. They were arrested while trying to cross illegally into Albania last May, Beta reported. They are being held in three different prisons in central Serbia. Hundreds of ethnic Albanians are still jailed in Serbia months after NATO bombing ended Serb rule in Kosovo and NATO-led peacekeeping forces were deployed in the province. Some 2,000 ethnic Albanian prisoners were transferred to central Serbia along with the withdrawing Serb troops last June. Many have been charged with terrorism, but others have been set free. A court in the eastern Serbian town of Pozarevac released the 10 ethnic Albanians Thursday after 18 months in prison, Beta reported. The ten were all from the southwestern Kosovo town of Orahovac and had been imprisoned in Pozarevac while awaiting trial. The 10 had been accused of participating in Kosovo Liberation Army attacks in June 1998 that left two Serb policemen dead and several wounded. After the court dismissed the prosecution's case due to lack of evidence, the accused were handed over to the International Committee of the Red Cross to be returned to their homes in Kosovo. ? Copyright 2000 The Associated Press http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/aponline/20000113/aponline152059_000.ht m ========================================== FREEB92 DAILY NEWS Albanian prisoners released Jan 13, 2000 18:36 CET POZAREVAC, Thursday - The Pozarevac District Court today dismissed charges against ten Albanians who have spent eighteen months in prison. The Belgrade Fund for Humanitarian Law reports that the court did not accept forensic evidence against the Albanians who had been charged with terrorism. http://www.freeb92.net/archive/e/ ========================================== ALICE MEAD amead at maine.rr.com Public Pressure Aiding in Release of Kosovar Prisoners as Serbia's Six Month Detention deadline passes January 14, 2000 There is reason to hope that the widespread public pressure regarding the Albanian prisoners detained in Serb prisons is leading to far more releases, stated Natasa Kandic, executive director of the Humanitarian Law Center. Her human rights organization is working for the release of all the prisoners. The vast majority of them are being held without charges or evidence and the six month holding period is long past. Dr. Flora Brovina, whose trial received international publicity and whose harsh sentence of 12 years in prison based on a forced confession and a photograph as evidence, is up for appeal possibly this Monday, January 17th. Kandic urges all those who spoke out about the trial at that time, to speak out again on the unfairness of the court's proceedings and the blatant lack of evidence. Albin Kurti, the student activist who led the demonstrations to reopen the University of Prishtina, was arrested in late April, 1999 and after being severely tortured at the police station in Prishtina, was sent to Lipjan Prison with his father and brother, who were released in late May. Albin was transferred to Pozhrevac Prison until the last week in December, 1999. He is now being held in Nish, yet according to HLC in Belgrade, there is no evidence against him, he has never had a court hearing, and there are no charges. He has been detained for eight months at this point, well past the six month deadline, and his case (which does not exist at this point) is so grievously flawed that it should be immediately dismissed, stated Kandic. She added that the majority of prisoners continue to suffer in the prisons without any formal charges against them. According to Yugoslav law, they should be dismissed as well. Kandic believes that Albin Kurti's case may be up for review very shortly, that being the probable reason he was recently transferred to Nish. She urges human rights advocates to act quickly on behalf of protecting the civil rights of both Brovina and Kurti. Association of Political Prisoners Kosova Action Network Kosova Humanitarian Organization KOSOVA PRISONER ADVOCACY ACTION (A-PAL): E-mail, Call or Write to: * President Milosevic: Fax + 381 11 636 775 * Zivadin Jovanovic, Minister of Foreign Affairs: Fax + 381 11 367 2954 * President Clinton: * Secretary of State Albright: * EP Foreign Minister Xavier Solana and Chris Patten * Sant Egidio, Mario Giro: * UNHCHR: Mary Robinson, Luca Lupoli * Ambassador Holbrooke: * EP Green Party:Per Gahrton, Bart Staes and Portuguese Presidency of EC * Kofi Annan * Amnesty International EU: * Spence Spencer, State Department Human Rights: Tel + 202-647-1576 * Tony Blair, UK: * Jacques Chirac: * Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs: * Claudia Roth: ========================================== 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 Archives of the A-PAL Newsletters may be found at: http://www.khao.org/appkosova.htm Albanian Prisoner Advocacy List -- Prisoner Pals Newsletter, No. 006 From kosova at jps.net Tue Jan 25 13:57:26 2000 From: kosova at jps.net (kosova at jps.net) Date: Tue, 25 Jan 2000 10:57:26 -0800 Subject: [A-PAL] A-PAL Newsletter, No. 007 Message-ID: Welcome to Albanian Prisoner Advocacy List -- Prisoner Pals Newsletter, No.007, January 24, 2000 This report highlights the developments on the prisoner issue for the week of January 16, 2000. ========================================== A-PAL STATEMENT: ========================================== It is critical that the United States, the European Union, Canada and as many other democracies as possible coordinate their policies to exert maximum pressure on Belgrade to release the prisoners. Milosevic has long relied on divergent policies among the Western allies to help diffuse pressure and maintain power. Now that he is finally a defeated and indicted war criminal, such disunity is unconscionable. There are no guarantees of success, but the costs of trying to free the Kosovar prisoners are minimal. Doing so would bolster other critical Western efforts in the Balkans, and could bring freedom for these forgotten victims or the Kosovo war. - by: Kurt Bassuener and Eric A. Witte (full report by Washington Post below) ========================================== THIS WEEK?S TOPICS: ========================================== * Alice Mead: Bajrush Xhemail ? Released from Sremska Mitrovica on June 28, 1999 * Humanitarian Law Center Communique: Judgment in Brovina Case Appealed * Alice Mead: Update on Political Prisoner Issue * The Balkan Action Council: Week in Review * KosovaPress: Two Albanians were released from Serbia prison * KosovaPress: In the Serb prison of Pozharevci has died Uk? Miftari * Washington Post: Kosovar Prisoners * Alice Mead: Public pressure aiding in release of Kosovar prisoners as Serbia's six month detention deadline passes * FreeB92 Daily News: Trajkovic proposes exchange of Tomanovic for Brovina * FreeB92 Daily News: Jailed dissident artist moved from prison hospital * FreeB92 Daily News: NGO demands release of minor * Humanitarian Law Center, Belgrade: Natasa Kandic and Bajram Kelmendi Honored 1999 Award for Human Rights Defenders by the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights * KosovaPress: Today, students will have protests * Grupa484: Arrested: Activists from the Resistance! * Grupa484: Serbia, news from prisons * Voice of America: Kosova Prisoners ? Isuf Hajrizi (In Albanian) * Kosova-Info-Line: Power f?r die Association of Political Prisoners (APP) in Prishtina * Kosova-Info-Line: Power for the Association of Political Prisoners (APP) in Prishtina (translated in English) * Kosova-Info-Line: Freilassung kosovarischer H?ftlinge aus serbischen Gef?ngnissen mit Druck der ?ffentlichkeit unterst?tzen ========================================== QUOTES OF THE WEEK: ========================================== January, 19: "I am very much pleased to be here", said Natasa Kandic in the acceptance speech yesterday evening in New York, in front of some 700 representatives of international human rights organizations and corporate America - "And I am very proud to receive this award in my and in the name of my late colleague and friend Bajram Kelmendi. But I am not pleased by the fact that there are still up to two thousand ethnic Albanian political prisoners in Serbian prisons. And I am not happy that I am the only Serb who feels safe in Kosovo today." Bajrush Xhemail, July/99: "Since April 30, 1998 at the beginning of the war in Kosova, we were transferred to Mitrovica e Sremit prison, where the guards behaved very savagely towards us, offending us on our nationality, beating and torturing us even in the presence of the head of the prison. Many political prisoners suffered bodily injury. We were under constant pressure. In April, 1999 we were transferred to Nish prison. The minute we set foot in that prison, a cordon of guards, some 50 of them, waited for us at the entrance, beating us in a most savage way and hitting us using not only fists and rubber clubs, but also using baseball bats and metal bars. Many Albanian prisoners were seriously injured." Bogoljub Arsenijevic Maki: For the New Year, he sent a message to all well-intentional people and organizations who are trying to set him free from the prison, not to ask mercy for him from President Milosevic, because he would be ashamed if set free by the biggest criminal in Serbia. ========================================== WEEK?S REQUESTED ACTION: ========================================== The European Union Foreign Affairs Ministers will discuss the prisoner situation on January 24-25. Call or email your European Parliamentarian or foreign affairs minister to let them know that international organizations must take action on this crucial issue. - Two hunger strikes were held: One in Brussels and the other, in Oslo - Large demonstrations were held in Prishtina on New Years Eve and in Gjakova the following week. Sign the Petition supporting the Release of the Kosovar Political Prisoners [http://www.khao.org/appkosova/app_online.htm] Note: If you did sign the petition during the week of December 19, 1999, we ask that you resign the petition. Due to technical issues, we may not have received your signature. ========================================== FULL REPORTS AND ARTICLES BEGIN HERE: ========================================== ALICE MEAD Bajrush Xhemail ? Released from Sremska Mitrovica on June 28, 1999 Written July, 1999 Prishtina, Kosova Bajrush was born on May 11, 1956 near Ferizaj. He graduated from the Faculty of Metallurgy and has two children. He was arrested and sentenced several times, the first time on December 14, 1982. The last time he was arrested was August, 1993 as a member of the Kosova Popular Movement (LPK) and sentenced to 8 years in prison. Since April 30, 1998 at the beginning of the war in Kosova, we were transferred to Mitrovica e Sremit prison, where the guards behaved very savagely towards us, offending us on our nationality, beating and torturing us even in the presence of the head of the prison. Many political prisoners suffered bodily injury. We were under constant pressure. In April, 1999 we were transferred to Nish prison. The minute we set foot in that prison, a cordon of guards, some 50 of them, waited for us at the entrance, beating us in a most savage way and hitting us using not only fists and rubber clubs, but also using baseball bats and metal bars. Many Albanian prisoners were seriously injured. On April 29, 1999 we were transferred from Nish to Dubrava prison. The return to Dubrava was very strange because we had been transferred from there one year ago allegedly due to security reasons and now we were taken back there at the time of greatest insecurity. In a short period of time, around 950 prisoners were gathered in the Dubrava prison, most of them Albanian political prisoners. We were put in prison premises which were used by Serb paramilitary forces during the fighting. Undoubtedly, the massacre in the Dubrava prison is the most painful, horrible, and tragic episode in the history of Albanian political prisoners and perhaps also in the history of prisons in general. After constantly provoking NATO aircrafts from a powerful anti-aircraft base set up around the prison where we held as war hostages, the NATO planes with the purpose of destroying this base, attacked on May 19, 1999, and bombed almost every building inside the prison walls and in particular outside the walls. As a result, 26 prisoners were killed and 40 others suffered bad injuries. Then came the event which was planned by Serbs in advance. Hoping to use the air strikes as an alibi for their crimes before the international community, on May 22, around 5:00 a.m.Serb forces massacred a great number of prisoners after they lined them up in the sports field. I was present among them as well. Serb forces started to shoot from machine guns and hand grenade launchers. The shooting lasted half an hour. The same day in the evening, 10 uniformed and masked persons entered through the main gate of the prison armed with automatic rifles, hand grenades and grenade launchers, and started to shoot in the direction of Albanians. This action was repeated the next day. But this time backed by reinforcements. They got in using the door near the watchtower in the northern wing of the prison. The tragic outcome of these three raids was a massacre of at least 100 prisoners and 200 wounded. Unfortunately the wounded prisoners did not receive First Aid by officials and even other prisoners were not allowed to help their friends. After the massacre, on May 24, 1999, we were transferred to Lipjan prison, where we suffered tortures similar to the Nish prison by a cordon of prison guards at the entrance. Due to this torture, a fifty year old prisoner died at the room opposite to me. On June 10, 1999, we all transferred to prisons in Serbia. They sent me in Sremska Mitrovica prison. Together with 320 other prisoners. I was released from there after my prison term of six years was over. Even now, the Albanian political prisoners are in a very bad situation in Serbian prisons. They are faced with total isolation, deprived of media, not allowed to read anything, suffering from hunger (they received only 2 insufficient, poor meals per day). Due to poor hygienic conditions, they suffer from lice and skin diseases. They sleep on the floor with no beds or sheets and with no medical care whatsoever. The worst of all is the injured prisoners from the massacre at Dubrava. Albanian prisoners are not allowed visits from family members and there is no medical or humanitarian aid except the ICRC which has only made a registration of prisoners. This indifference on the part of the international community is not understandable, moreover, when it is known that the Albanian prisoners are being kept hostage by the Serb forces and the majority of them are not even listed as prisoners. They should be released in a short period of time and the international officials must exert every possible pressure for this. The prisoners and their families are waiting every day for this to happen as soon as possible. ========================================== HUMANITARIAN LAW CENTER COMMUNIQUE Judgment in Brovina Case Appealed January 21, 2000 Rajko Danilovic, a lawyer retained by the Humanitarian Law Center to defend Flora Brovina, has filed an appeal with the Serbian Supreme Court against the judgment pronounced by the District Court in Nis on the grounds of serious violations of due process, and incorrect and incomplete determination of the facts of the case. The defense counsel moved that the Supreme Court either quash the decision and order a retrial, or acquit Flora Brovina. He also moved that the defendant be released from custody under Article 385 (4) of the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC). Should the Supreme Court rule to set aside the judgment, defense counsel will propose fixing of bail at a session of the Supreme Court. Violations of due process By basing its decision exclusively on police reports on the interrogation of the defendant, the District Court in Nis was in violation of the CPC which in Article 86 states that a conviction may not be based solely on statements and other information that have been removed from the trial record. Application of CPC Article 84 (1(2)) requires that such reports and information have been removed from the record. Hence there were no grounds for the application of this provision since the reports in question had not been removed from the record and placed in a separate folder prior to the Court's decision to have them read out, but were handed to the Court by the prosecutor during the trial. Police reports that have not been removed from the trial record may not be read out in court even at the request of the defendant, still less at the request of the prosecutor. These very restrictive provisions of the cited article do not, however, provide for the prosecutor to suggest to the court which material should be used. It is up to the court and the court alone to decide whether or not it is necessary to use reports and information that have been removed from the record. In addition, the law does not allow reading of removed reports and information on a selective basis. Although the defendant was questioned by police 18 times during her pre-trial detention, the District Court, governed by criteria known only to itself or, possibly, the fact that the prosecutor handed to it only two reports, ruled that only these reports, dated 24 April and 29 April 1999 respectively, be read out. An especially concerning circumstance in this case was the condoning by the Court of abuse of procedural law by the prosecutor. The fact that the prosecutor took out of his own files two selected reports and handed them to the court and then amended the indictment so as to enable the application of CPC Article 84 (1(2)), which requires that the criminal offense in question carry a term of imprisonment of 20 or more years, confirms that the trial of Flora Brovina was a political trial which can be conducted only by manipulating the evidence. The judgment itself constitutes a serious violation of CPC Article 364 (1(11)) since in the accompanying opinion the incriminated acts are set out in a disorderly fashion, making the opinion incomprehensible and contradictory to the reasoning for the judgment. Furthermore, no reasons are given for numerous decisive facts relating to the commission of the criminal offense. Incorrect and incomplete determination of the facts The entire process whereby the facts of the case were to be determined consisted only of setting out of claims which represent the stereotype of ethnic Albanians in Kosovo. This is true also of the judgment. The poorly reasoned opinion of the court is based on the prejudiced conception that the political and other public activities of each and every Kosovo Albanian are aimed only at creating "seditious organizations" whose objective is the "secession" of Kosovo. Hence the use in the judgment of imprecise and ambiguous terms such as "under the aegis of this organization" to denote the League of Albanian Women. The League of Albanian Women is a non-partisan and non-governmental organization which primarily strives for the emancipation of Albanian women. The use of non-legal terms such as the one cited above shows that the Court considers that protests and demonstrations are in themselves a "hostile act." Similarly, the League, a publicly founded organization whose activities are public and which cooperates with organizations like it in FR Yugoslavia and abroad, becomes an "organization which works to raise funds for other illegal organizations and groups, with the same goals and platform." Without any corroborating evidence, the Court found that the defendant was in the first half of 1999 involved in the establishment of "terrorist gangs of the so-called Kosovo Liberation Army," and this in spite of her commitment in all her public activities to peaceful, political settlement of conflicts. Although the defendant stated that most of the contents of the statements read out were untrue and used the metaphor of the elephant which admitted to being a giraffe to describe the mental torture she was subjected to, the District Court wound up the proceedings immediately after hearing the self-incriminating statements and found her guilty. It thereby disregarded its obligation under the law to collect other evidence apart from the confession of the accused. Violation of the Criminal Code Since the League of Albanian Women as a non-partisan and non-governmental organization was neither in words or deeds dedicated to goals such as those set out in the judgment, e.g. "establishing groups for the commission of criminal offenses" against the constitutional order and security of FR Yugoslavia, the existence of which is a prerequisite for the application of Article 136 of the Criminal Code, it ensues that the Criminal Code too was incorrectly applied. Equating of the goals of the League of Albanian Women and of groups with goals such as those cited in Article 136 is de facto wrong, legally untenable, and shows that the District Court was under the influence of prejudice, not legal reasoning. ========================================== ALICE MEAD Update on Political Prisoner Issue January 18, 2000 Dear Friends, Today I spoke with Natasa Kandic at HLC Belgrade. She is now working with another large group of political prisoners from Gjakova, around 155 of them, and is hopeful that their cases will be dismissed this week. She feels there has been progress in the judges' perception of how the cases should be handled due to the outpouring of internet interest. She says Brovina's appeal will go to the Supreme Court soon, who hopefully will recognize the flaws in the first trial. Pressure should be maintained on this high profile case. Comments are needed from the U.S. State Department, Cong. Engel, Albanian Caucus, HR committee, ICG, Amnesty, Human Rights Watch, and others. As for Albin Kurti and Matoshi, editor of Zeri, for both of them they are held only on police warrants, which expired I believe on June 30, 1999, there is no evidence, no charges, no court documents of any kind. We must maintain pressure for their dismissal. It is typical of all the political prisoner cases. Another boy was "discovered" at Pozharevac. His 18 year old brother was charged and the younger boy was brought to Serbia as well. No one knew of him until this week. Natasa pointed out that this is why we should continue to try to get as much detailed info out as possible. Dan Perez is now in Shkopje, Macedonia. He has spent ten days trying to get the information on disc. I will continue this when I go and also meet Natasa in Kosova - she is really an incredible person. She deserves a medal for this! Talk about bias in reporting that Serbs and Albanians can't cooperate. This whole prisoner thing documents the opposite! HLC Belgrade urges the release of all political prisoners. Concerns remain regarding the status of the Kosovar prisoners, who face criminal charges dating from before the conflict in March, 1999, including where they should be tried, etc. Natasa is beginning to feel some measure of success and precedence for the political cases. Now she says she also needs our help in thinking about how to handle the criminal cases of Albanian prisoners who were transferred, especially the serious ones. It is important that we take their cases seriously. How and where should they be tried? Detained? Who should their judges be? We need to spell out a process for this and then start to spread it everywhere. Sincerely, Alice Mead ========================================== BALKANS WATCH ? WEEK IN REVIEW The Balkan Action Council January 19, 2000 (...) HUMAN RIGHTS Thursday a Leskovac prosecutor charged 144 ethnic Albanians captured near Djakovica in Kosovo last May with terrorism and acts against the state. A Pozarevac judge freed 10 men from Orahovac due to a lack of evidence that they assaulted police. Serbian authorities still hold an estimated 2-5,000 Kosovo Albanians. Rada Trajkovic of the Serbian National Council has proposed that Kosovo Albanian doctor Flora Brovina, currently in a Serbian prison, be exchanged for Kosovo Serb doctor Andrija Tomanovic, who disappeared after NATO forces entered Kosovo. Full Report may be found at: http://www.balkanaction.org/bw/bw3-3.html ========================================== KOSOVAPRESS Two Albanians were released from Serbia prison January 20, 2000 Prishtin?, January 20 (Kosovapress) By announcment of KMDLNJ in Prishtina it is reported that, yesterday were released two albanian prisoners from Serbia prisons, they were taken as hostages from police forces during the NATO bombarding. From Pozharevci prison it is released Vehbi Rrustemi aged 60, from the village Gllamnik of Podujeva, and from the prison of Mitrovica e Sremit was released ingineer Xhevat Tahiri from Podujeva. http://www.kosovapress.com/english/janar/20_1_2000_1.htm ========================================== KOSOVAPRESS In the Serb prison of Pozharevci has died Uk? Miftari January 20, 2000 Gllogoc, January 20 (Kosovapress) According to the information taken by the Miftari family members from Shtrubullova, the district of Gllogocit, The International Red Cross Committee made them aware for the death of their family member, Uk? Miftari in the prison of Pozharevci. He was arrested by the Serb militaries and paramilitaries on May 28, 1999 and later on he was sent to the prison of Pozharevci. Due to the witnesses, during the time while he was suffering the sentence in prison he was very bed tortured and as a result he died. Mifatri was father of eight children. In April, 1999, during one of the Serb offensives, his son Bujar was killed by the Serb forces and paramilitaries. It is known that the Serb Regime is keeping in the Serb jails as hostages more than 7000 Albanians. Since the end of the NATO bombardments in Yugoslavia, a number of Albanians, kept in the Serb jails throughout Serbia were killed by torturing them in-humanly. ========================================== WASHINGTON POST Kosovar Prisoners By Kurt Bassuener and Eric A. Witte January 22, 2000 Seven months after NATO halted its bombing campaign against Serbia, the fate of thousands of Kosovar Albanian prisoners remains unresolved. Many of those taken to Serbia proper before, during and immediately after the conflict are not even charged with criminal wrongdoing. A prominent doctor and human rights leader has been sentenced to a long prison term on flimsy charges. Kosovo Albanian students in Belgrade are being tried and tortured on charges of "terrorism," and a lawyer representing a number of prisoners recently had to buy his way out of custody after being held for more than a week. The Serbian justice ministry admitted last summer to holding roughly 2,000 prisoners, and the International Committee of the Red Cross attested to slightly more. A U.N. official said 5,000 are incarcerated, and the local Society for Political Prisoners estimated as many as 7,000. There are no misconceptions about the severe conditions these prisoners likely endure -- especially since NATO troops in Kosovo discovered many Serb-run police stations that doubled as torture centers. Some of those who have been released -- only some 400 thus far -- can attest to the horrific conditions of the prisoners. Flora Brovina, a doctor, poet and human rights activist sentenced last month to 12 years in prison for supposedly aiding the Kosovo Liberation Army, has been mistreated in prison. She stated at her trial that she was thankful she had been beaten "only once." One of the prisoners released has since died as a result of the savage beatings inflicted by Serbian police. Prisoners such as Brovina are the lucky ones, though: At least Serbia admits to their incarceration. Many of the families of those missing have fallen prey to unscrupulous people who purport to have information about their loved ones, or even offer to gain their freedom -- for large sums of money, naturally. Why should the international community make this issue a priority when there are so many other areas of Balkan policy that need urgent attention? Partly because of the brutality with which these prisoners are being treated and partly because securing the release of these prisoners and resolving the fate of the missing will contribute to the social stability of Kosovo. Many Kosovar refugees returned to find their fields sown with mass graves and mines or their relatives and neighbors executed. The grief of some surviving Kosovars has driven them to bloody revenge and many times to cold-blooded murder -- often of innocent, elderly or infirm Serbs who could not conceivably be guilty of the "ethnic cleansing" that brought NATO intervention. While the brutal killings conducted by Serb forces will not be forgotten, the prisoner issue is the one critical obstacle to future coexistence between Kosovar Albanians and Serbs that can most easily be removed. Every prisoner has family, friends and acquaintances distressed and radicalized by their incarceration. The unresolved fate of the thousands of missing feeds the abhorrent wave of violent intolerance that has swept over Kosovo. Serbian leader and indicted war criminal Slobodan Milosevic has recognized that keeping a large stable of Kosovo Albanian prisoners maintains a high frustration level in Kosovo, making the jobs of international peacekeepers that much more difficult. With the end of the war, the West clearly has little remaining leverage over Milosevic, short of rewarding him with reconstruction funds or lifting sanctions -- both of which alliance leaders correctly have ruled out. But while there is no obvious road map for freeing the Serb-held prisoners, several options are available to the West. U.S. Ambassador Richard Holbrooke should actively seek partners to push through a U.N. Security Council resolution. while the United States chairs the council this month. Peacekeeping troops and the U.N. refugee agency could act as the post-transfer vetters -- distinguishing true criminals (who ought to remain incarcerated -- in Kosovo rather than Serbia) from political detainees. It is critical that the United States, the European Union, Canada and as many other democracies as possible coordinate their policies to exert maximum pressure on Belgrade to release the prisoners. Milosevic has long relied on divergent policies among the Western allies to help diffuse pressure and maintain power. Now that he is finally a defeated and indicted war criminal, such disunity is unconscionable. There are no guarantees of success, but the costs of trying to free the Kosovar prisoners are minimal. Doing so would bolster other critical Western efforts in the Balkans, and could bring freedom for these forgotten victims or the Kosovo war. Kurt Bassuener is associate director of the Balkan Action Council. Eric A. Witte is program coordinator at the International Crisis Group. ? Copyright 2000 The Washington Post Company http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/2000-01/22/098l-012200-idx.html ========================================== ALICE MEAD Public pressure aiding in release of Kosovar prisoners as Serbia's six month detention deadline passes January 14, 2000 There is reason to hope that the widespread public pressure regarding the Albanian prisoners detained in Serb prisons is leading to far more releases, stated Natasa Kandic, executive director of the Humanitarian Law Center. Her human rights organization is working for the release of all the prisoners. The vast majority of them are being held without charges or evidence and the six month holding period is long past. Dr. Flora Brovina, whose trial received international publicity and whose harsh sentence of 12 years in prison based on a forced confession and a photograph as evidence, is up for appeal possibly this Monday, January 17th. Kandic urges all those who spoke out about the trial at that time, to speak out again on the unfairness of the court's proceedings and the blatant lack of evidence. Albin Kurti, the student activist who led the demonstrations to reopen the University of Prishtina, was arrested in late April, 1999 and after being severely tortured at the police station in Prishtina, was sent to Lipjan Prison with his father and brother, who were released in late May. Albin was transferred to Pozhrevac Prison until the last week in December, 1999. He is now being held in Nish, yet according to HLC in Belgrade, there is no evidence against him, he has never had a court hearing, and there are no charges. He has been detained for eight months at this point, well past the six month deadline, and his case (which does not exist at this point) is so grievously flawed that it should be immediately dismissed, stated Kandic. She added that the majority of prisoners continue to suffer in the prisons without any formal charges against them. According to Yugoslav law, they should be dismissed as well. Kandic believes that Albin Kurti's case may be up for review very shortly, that being the probable reason he was recently transferred to Nish. She urges human rights advocates to act quickly on behalf of protecting the civil rights of both Brovina and Kurti. Alice Mead amead at maine.rr.com Association of Political Prisoners Kosova Action Network Kosova Humanitarian Organization ========================================== FREEB92 DAILY NEWS Trajkovic proposes exchange of Tomanovic for Brovina January 16, 2000 (...) KOSOVO, Sunday -- Member of the Serbian National Council for Kosovo Rada Trajkovic today proposed the exchange of abducted Serbian doctor Andrija Tomanovic for Albanian aid worker Flora Brovina who has been sentenced to twelve years imprisonment by the regime in Serbia. Trajkovic said that she hoped her proposal would be supported by the international community who she hoped would attempt to persuade the Albanians to accept this exchange. http://www.freeb92.net/archive/e/ ========================================== FREEB92 DAILY NEWS Jailed dissident artist moved from prison hospital January 18, 2000 (...) VALJEVO, Tuesday - Jailed painter and dissident Bogoljub "Maki" Arsenijevic was today moved without explanation from the Valjevo prison hospital to a remand prison, the Valjevo Civil Resistance, of which Arsenijevic is the founder, announced today. Radio Patak reports that the transfer occurred while Arsenijevic was being visited by his wife and that it had probably happened because of his public statement that he would not accept a pardon from Serbian President Milan Milutinovic or Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic. His wife said today that he had been transferred to an unheated underground cell, with water running down the walls from a nearby river. Arsenijevic, who suffered a broken jaw among other injuries while being arrested and interrogated in Belgrade last year, has been examined by doctors who report that he must remain in the prison hospital because of multiple health conditions including a kidney haematoma and internal bleeding. A neurologist's report indicates that he has developed claustrophobia after an allergic reaction to penicillin and should not be held in poorly lit, confined spaces. http://www.freeb92.net/archive/e/ ========================================== FREEB92 DAILY NEWS NGO demands release of minor January 18, 2000 BELGRADE, Tuesday - The Belgrade-based Fund for Humanitarian Law has appealed to the Serbian Justice Ministry to release a child from Sremska Mitrovica prison. Istog Bekimu has been in custody for several months without appearing before a court. The Fund points out that detention of a minor is illegal and that no charges have been laid. Bekimu was arrested on order of the Serbian police under wartime criminal regulations. http://www.freeb92.net/archive/e/ ========================================== HUMANITARIAN LAW CENTER BELGRADE PRESS RELEASE Natasa Kandic and Bajram Kelmendi Honored 1999 Award for Human Rights Defenders by the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights October 20, 1999 New York: Natasa Kandic, Director of the Belgrade-based Humanitarian Law Center received yesterday the 1999 Human Rights Award established by the New-York based international organization Lawyers Committee for Human Rights. Ms. Kandic received the prize in her and in the name of the late Kosovo Albanian lawyer Bajram Keljmendi, who was together with his two sons killed by Serbian police on March 25, 1999, at the beginning on the NATO intervention in Kosovo. "I am very much pleased to be here" * said Natasa Kandic in the acceptance speech yesterday evening in New York, in front of some 700 representatives of international human rights organizations and corporate America - "And I am very proud to receive this award in my and in the name of my late colleague and friend Bajram Kelmendi. But I am not pleased by the fact that there are still up to two thousand ethnic Albanian political prisoners in Serbian prisons. And I am not happy that I am the only Serb who feels safe in Kosovo today." Throughout the war in Kosovo, Ms. Kandic did the seemingly impossible, shuttling back and forth between Belgrade and the shattered province, she provided a lifeline of information to the outside world about the massive violations being committed by police, paramilitary units, and Yugoslav Army troops. The evidence she gathered will be vital to the preparation of indictments by the International Criminal Court for the Former Yugoslavia in the Hague. At 3:30 a.m. on March 25, the first night of NATO bombing, Ms. Kandic received a phone call from a friend in Kosovo to say that police had broken down the door of the family?s apartment and taken away her husband and two sons at gunpoint. Bajram Kelmandi, 62, was Kosovo?s leading human rights lawyer, an ethnic Albanian who was well-known in Europe for his courageous defense of critics of the Milosevic government and victims of Serbian violence. The bodies of the three men were found the next day, dumped by the roadside just outside Pristina. Today, Natasa Kandic continues her work in Kosovo. As well as urging her fellow Serbs to acknowledge the truth about the atrocities that were committed in their name, she is busy documenting and denouncing revenge killings by Albanians, and criticizing the failure of the UN Mission in Kosovo to speed up access to legal representation by detainees * whatever their ethnic origin. The prestigious Lawyers Committee to Protect Human Rights award is every year given "to human rights defenders who have fought relentlessly to protect the rights of others in the face of great personal risk, and even death". Together with Natasa Kandic and late Bajram Kelmendi, the prize is this year awarded to Pakistani lawyers and women rights defenders Hina Jilani and Asma Jahangir, as well as to Chilean lawyer Jose Zalaquett who fought for protection of political prisoners during the Gen. Augusto Pinoche ?s rule. ========================================== KOSOVAPRESS Today, students will have protests January 19, 2000 Prishtin?, January 19 (Kosovapress) Today, exactly at noon (12:00) in front of the students restaurant in Prishtina there will be protests organized by Union of Students, the main goal of this protest is about the situation in Mitrovica and the release of political prisoners. All the students are invited to participate at this protest. http://www.kosovapress.com/english/janar/19_1_2000_1.htm ========================================== GRUPA484 Arrested: Activists from the Resistance! January 18, 2000 Krusevac--The police arrested 5 activists of from the RESISTANCE! on Tuesday January 18, 2000 at 4 a.m. in the morning. Srdjan Milivojevic, on of the students arrested, said that they were arrested because they were hanging posters for RESISTANCE! in the morning and therefore disturbed the peace and public order. The treatment of the arrested activists was correct, but all of the RESISTANCE! posters that had been printed but not yet put up, were confiscated. The arrested activists were set free after a police hearing, but during the afternoon, the police were after Srdjan Milivojevic in order to arrest him again. Contact person Srdjan Milivojevic 381 63 602 - 036 OTPOR office Belgrade +38111 638-171 ========================================== GRUPA484 Serbia, news from prisons January 19, 2000 Dear friends, I would like to inform you about what is happening with Bogoljub Arsenijevic Maki, painter from Valjevo, leader of the Civic Resistance - Valjevo, and organizer of the anti-regime demonstrations in Valjevo in July, 1999. One month after the demonstrations he was arrested, heavily beaten by the police. On the unfair trail, where all the policemen who were testifying against him had contradictory testimonies, he was sentenced to 3 years in prison. Group 484 sent you the reports from those trials. Until now, he was serving his sentence in the prison hospital because of his bad health caused by the police beating. For the New Year, he sent a message to all well-intentional people and organizations who are trying to set him free from the prison, not to ask mercy for him from President Milosevic, because he would be ashamed if set free by the biggest criminal in Serbia. Today, he was moved from the prison hospital into an solitary confinement cell, underground, with bad lighting, water falling down the walls and no heating in the cell, with no explanation why the moved him. In such a way, the repression is getting stronger for the other people with similar intentions. Best wishes, for Jelena Santic, Dragana Gavrilovic ========================================== SPECIAL to the VOICE OF AMERICA Kosova Prisoners By: Isuf Hajrizi January 22, 2000 INTRO: N? per?ndim po shtohen z?rat p?r problemin e pazgjidhur t? t? burgosur?ve shqip?tar t? Kosov?s q? mbahen n? Serbi. Jav?n e kaluar n? Uashington u mbajt n? diskutim p?r hartimin e nj? strategjie p?r t?u b?r? trysni qeverive per?ndimore q? t? merren m? seriozisht me k?t? problem, kurse sot u botua edhe nj? shkrim n? gazet?n amerikane Washington Post, n? t? clin u b?het thirrje Shteteve t? Bashkuara dhe Bashkimit Evropjen p?r veprim. Kolegu yn? Isuf Hajrizi, bisedoi me nj?rin nga autor?t e shkrimit n? fjal?. TAPE:3:15 MIN TEXT: Nj? nga temat q? analist?t mendojn? se e rrezikon misionin e NATO-s dhe t? Kombeve t? Bashkuara n? Kosov? ?sht? edhe fati i i mij?ra t? burgosurve politik? q? mbahen n? Serbi. Edhe pse lufta ka p?rfunduar, p?r familjet e t? burgosur?ve dh?mbja dhe llahtari i luft?s ende jan? plag? t? hapura, q? shum? njer?z mendojn? se, p?rveq agonis? p?rsonale t? k?tyre familjeve i zbeh shanset q? nj? paqe e mir?fillt? t? zer? vend. Kurt Bassuener, bashk?drejtor i K?shillit p?r Veprim n? Ballkan ?sht? i mendimit se arsyeja pse k?ta t? burgosur ende mbahen n? burgje rrjedh nga mungesa e vullnetit t? komunitetit nd?rkomb?tar p?r t?u marr? me k?t? ??shtje. ///Bassuener Act/// Arsyeja pse k?ta njer?z mbahen n? burg ?sht? p?r shkak t? harres?s apo t? vullnetit politik n? fund t? luft?s p?r t? insistuar n? lirimin e tyre. T? gjitha dokumentet para Rambujes? duke p?rfshir? edhe Rambujen? e kan? theksuar qart? anmnestin? p?r lirimin e t? burgosur?ve. Shtetet e Bashkuara duhet t? inicojn? nj? rezolut? e cila do t? b?nte thirrje p?r lirimin e k?tyre t? burgosur?ve dhe ata t?i dor?zohen K-Forit dhe Organizat?s p?r t? drejtat e njeriut t? Kombeve t? Bashkauare q? t? ata t? ndahen nga kriminel?t e mundsh?m ordiner?. Z. Bassuener ?sht? i mendimit se edhe kriminel?t ordiner?, po q? se ka t? till? n? mesin e t? burgosur?ve shqip?rtar n? Serbi, duhet t? gjykohen nga institucionet e NATO-s dhe OKB-s? dhe jo nga gjykat?sit serb?. Nj? arsye tjet?r se pse bashk?sia nd?rkomb?tare duhet t? merret me k?t? ??shtje, sipas Bassuener dhe kolegut t? tij Eric Witte, q? ?sht? edhe bashk?autor i shkrimit n? Washington Post, ka t? b?j? me uljen e krimit n? Kosov? dhe mund?sin? e bashk?hejetes?s nj? dit? midis shqip?t?ve dhe serb?ve ??shtje kjo m? r?nd?si p?r misionin nd?rkomb?tar n? Kosov?. P?r aktivist?t e t? drejtave t? njeriut, shumica e t? burgosur?ve mbahen n? burg pa kurr?far? akuze. I till? ?sht? edhe Albin Kurti, nj?ri nga udh?heq?sit e student?ve, i cili m? von? iu bashkangjit zyr?s s? p?rfaq?suesit t? Ushtris? ?lirimtare t? Kosov?s. S?rish Z. Bassuener: ///Bassuener Act/// Ai ?sht? n? nj? pozit? t? v?shtir?, por p?r fat t? mir? ai ?sht? relativisht i njohur sikurse edhe Flora Brovina, mir?po jan? mij?ra t? tjer? q? nuk jan? dhe kjo e v?shtir?son situat?n. Ne qe e njohim Albinin po p?rpiqemi q? ta p?rcjellim p?r s? af?rmi rastin e tij duke b?r? thirrje p?r lirimin e tij t? menj?hersh?m. Alice Mead, autore e disa librave p?r Kosov?n dhe themeluese e Shoqat?s p?r t? burgosurit politik n? Kosov?, ?sht? ve?anerisht e shqet?suar p?r procedur?n e gjykimit t? njer?zve si Albini. ///Mead Act/// Jemi t? shqet?suar sepse njer?zit si Albin Kurti dhe gazetari Halil Matoshi duhet t? lirohen menj?her? sepse nuk ka kurr?far? baza p?r mbajtjen e tyre n? burg. Q? t? dy k?ta jan? keqtrajtuar n? burg. Rasti i tyre ?sht? tipik i shumic?s s? rasteve t? atyre q? jan? arrestuar gjat? fushat?s s? bombardimave. Kund?r k?tyre njer?zve nuk ka kurrfar provash p?r ndonj? krim dhe se ata asnj?he? nuk jan? nxjerr para gjyqit dhe se po mbahen n? burg t? pa akuzuar p?r ndonj? aktivitet kriminal. Dhe sipas marr?veshjes s? Konvent?s s? Gjenev?s ata do t? duhej t? liroheshin koh? m? par?, thot? zonja Meade.? Zyra e p?rfaq?suesit t? ve?ant t? Bashkimit Evropian, Javier Solana, ka premtuar se do ta ngrej? problemin e t? burgosur?ve shqiptar? n? mbledhjen e ardhshme t? K?shillit t? Ministrave t? Evrop?s. LEADOUT: Ju njoh?m me situat?n e t? burgosur?ve politik? shqip?tar? n? Serbi dhe p?rpjekjet p?r lirimin e tyre. ========================================== KOSOVA-INFO-LINE Power f?r die Association of Political Prisoners (APP) in Prishtina Januar 17, 2000 17. Januar 2000 (KIL) - "Power f?r die Association of Political Prisoners (APP) in Prishtina" k?nnte das Motto sein, um diese Menschenrechtsorganisation zu unterst?tzen. Ziel von APP ist es, die ?ffentlichkeit ?ber die Unrechtssituation der ca. 5.000 kosovarischen H?ftlinge in serbischen Gef?ngnissen zu informieren und Betroffenen juristische Unterst?tzung zu ihrer Freilassung zu geben. Dan Perez in Prishtina ist einer der internationalen Helfer, die die Arbeit von APP unterst?tzen, indem sie das Schicksal der Inhaftierten und Vermi?ten der ?ffentlichkeit zug?nglich machen. Familien der H?ftlinge ?bergaben APP Biographien und Fotos. "Sie haben Tonnen von Fotos und Biographien, aber die Informationen existieren nicht, bevor sie nicht verbreitet werden", schrieb Dan vor ein paar Tagen in einer email. "Ich bin flei?ig dabei, Biographien in den Computer zu tippen, denn alle Unterlagen sind handgeschrieben." APP plant und hat auch bereits damit begonnen, Biographien und Fotos der Inhaftierten im Internet zu ver?ffentlichen (http://www.khao.org/appkosova.htm, englisch), aber die Verh?ltnisse sind nicht die besten dieser Tage in Prishtina, um an einem Computer zu arbeiten: "Elektrizit?t ("Power") gab es gestern f?r zwei Stunden, heute waren es nur drei?ig Minuten. Manchmal k?nnen wir uns einen Generator beim Center of Defense of HR ausleihen," schrieb Dan Perez. Und es ist viel Arbeit, all die Biographien und Informationen zu digitalisieren. "Ich versuche, so viel wie m?glich zu schaffen. Aber es ist zuviel f?r eine einzelne Person - ohne "Power". Ich frage mich, ob wir nicht ein paar Helfer bekommen k?nnten. Aber dann haben wir ein anderes Problem: wir haben nur einen einzigen Computer .... ". Die Kraft einzigen kleinen Generators und ein oder zwei alte PC?s w?rden ausreichen, um schnellere Fortschritte dieser wichtigen Arbeit von APP sicherzustellen. (F?r Kosova-Info-Line Divi Beineke) http://www.kosova-info-line.de/kil/neueste_nachrichten-6498.html ========================================== KOSOVA-INFO-LINE Power for the Association of Political Prisoners (APP) in Prishtina (translation of above) January 17, 2000 "Power for the Association of Political Prisoners (APP) in Prishtina" could be the motto to support this Human Right Organisation. APP has the aim to inform the public of the unjust situation regarding the approximately 5,000 Kosovar prisoners detained in Serb prisons and to assist concerned people in advocating for their release. Dan Perez in Prishtina is one of the international helpers, who supports the work of APP bringing to public the fate of the detained and the missing. The families of prisoners forwarded biographies and images of the imprisoned to him. "They have tons of photos and bios, but the information doesn?t exist if it isn?t distributed", Dan Perez wrote in an email some days ago. "Im busy typing away bios, everything is handwritten." APP plans and has already started to publish the biographies and photos of the imprisoned in the internet (http://www.khao.org/appkosova.htm), but the circumstances for working with computers are not the best these days in Prishtina: "Power was on for two hours yesterday, today it was on for thirty minutes in the morning. They borrow a generator sometimes from Center for Defense of HR, but not all the time", Dan Perez wrote. And it is a lot of work, to type all those biographies. "I?m trying now to get in as much as possible. But it's too much for one person with no power. I wonder if we could muster up some volunteers to type away information. But then again, we only have one computer ....". The power of only one small generator and one or two old PC?s would be sufficient to enable quicker progress of this import work by APP. ========================================== KOSOVA-INFO-LINE Freilassung kosovarischer H?ftlinge aus serbischen Gef?ngnissen mit Druck der ?ffentlichkeit unterst?tzen Serbiens sechsmonatige Festhaltefrist ist l?ngst abgelaufen / Pressemitteilung der Association of Political Prisoners (APP) Januar 16, 2000 16. Januar 2000 (KIL) - Es gibt Grund zur Hoffnung, dass ein weitgef?cherter Druck der ?ffentlichkeit zu mehr Entlassungen von albanischen H?ftlingen aus serbischen Gef?ngnissen f?hrt, stellte Natasa Kandic, die leitende Direktorin des Human Law Center (HLC), fest. Ihre Menschenrechtsorgnaisation arbeitet f?r die Befreiung all dieser Inhaftierten. Die ?berwiegende Mehrheit der H?ftlinge wird weiterhin ohne Anklage und Beweise festgehalten und eine sechsmonatige Festhaltefrist ist l?ngst abgelaufen. Dr. Flora Brovina, deren Prozess internationale Aufmerksamkeit erregte und deren harte Verurteilung zu 12 Jahren Gef?ngnis auf einem erzwungenen Gest?ndnis und einer Fotographie als Beweisen beruht, wird vermutlich am Montag den 17. Januar erneut verhandelt werden. Kandic ruft alle, die damals ?ber den Prozess berichteten, auf, auch heute auf die Ungerechtigkeit des Prozessverlaufes und den offensichtliche Mangel an Beweisen hinzuweisen. Albin Kurti, ein Studentenf?hrer, der die Demonstrationen zur Wiederer?ffnung der Universtiat von Prishtina leitete, wurde im sp?ten April 1999 verhaftet und nach mehrmaligen Folterungen im Polzizeirevier in Prishtina ins Gef?ngnis Lipjan verlegt, wo sein Vater und sein Bruder im sp?ten Mai freigelassen wurden. Albin wurde erneut verlegt, bis zur letzten Woche im Dezember 1999 in das Pozhrevac Gef?nginis. Zur Zeit wird er in Nish festgehalten, und, wie das HLC in Belgrade mitteilte, gibt es keine Beweise gegen ihn, er hatte keinen Gerichtstermin und es gibt keine Anklage. Zu diesem Zeitpunkt wird er seit acht Monaten festgehalten, die maximale Zeit von sechs Monaten wurde weit ?berschritten und sein Fall (der eigentlich gar nicht existiert) ist so schmerzlich fehlerhaft, da? er unverz?glich freigelassen werden m??te, legte Kandic dar. Sie f?gte hinzu, dass die Mehrheit der Inhaftierten weiterhin ohne jegliche formalen Anklagen in den Gef?ngnissen leidet. Auch nach juguslawischen Recht m??ten sie freigelasssen werden. Kandic glaubt, da? Albin Kurti?s Fall m?glicherweise in n?chster Zukunft erneut gepr?ft werden wird, der vermutliche Grund f?r seine Verlegung nach Nish. Natasa Kandic ruft alle Anw?lte der Menschenrechte auf, schnellstm?glich zum Schutz der zivilen Rechte von Brovina und Kurti zu handeln. (F?r Kosova-Info-Line Divi Beineke) http://www.kosova-info-line.de/kil/neueste_nachrichten-6497.html ========================================== 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 Archives of the A-PAL Newsletters may be found at: http://www.khao.org/appkosova.htm Albanian Prisoner Advocacy List -- Prisoner Pals Newsletter, No. 007