[A-PAL] A-PAL Newsletter, No. 006

[kosova at jps.net]

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.

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A-PAL STATEMENT:
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	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.

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THIS WEEK’S TOPICS:
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* 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

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QUOTES OF THE WEEK:
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	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. <http://www.khao.org/appkosova/app_online.htm>

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WEEK’S REQUESTED ACTION:
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	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.

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FULL REPORTS AND ARTICLES BEGIN HERE:
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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

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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.

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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

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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

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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/

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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: <president at whitehouse.gov>
* Secretary of State Albright: <secretary at state.gov>
* EP Foreign Minister Xavier Solana and Chris Patten
* Sant Egidio, Mario Giro: <segidio.info at flashnet.it>
* UNHCHR: Mary Robinson, Luca Lupoli <llupoli.hchr at unog.ch>
* Ambassador Holbrooke: <webmaster_usun at state.gov>
* EP Green Party:Per Gahrton, Bart Staes <bstaes at europarl.eu.int> and
Portuguese Presidency of EC
* Kofi Annan <perry-carpenter at un.org>
* Amnesty International EU: <gjuen at aieu.be>
* Spence Spencer, State Department Human Rights: Tel + 202-647-1576
* Tony Blair, UK: <akelly at no10.gsi.net>
* Jacques Chirac: <fraun at undp.org>
* Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs: <mfa at olvit.ru>
* Claudia Roth: <claudia.roth at mdb.bundestag.dbp.de>

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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