[A-PAL] A-PAL Newsletter, No. 007

[kosova at jps.net]

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 Ukë 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 für 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 Häftlinge aus serbischen
Gefängnissen mit Druck der Öffentlichkeit unterstützen

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

Prishtinë, 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 Ukë 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, Ukë 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

Prishtinë, 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:   Në perëndim po shtohen zërat për problemin e pazgjidhur të të
burgosurëve shqipëtar të Kosovës që mbahen në Serbi.  Javën e kaluar në
Uashington u mbajt në diskutim për hartimin e një strategjie për t’u bërë
trysni qeverive perëndimore që të merren më seriozisht me këtë problem,
kurse sot u botua edhe një shkrim në gazetën amerikane Washington Post, në
të clin u bëhet thirrje Shteteve të Bashkuara dhe Bashkimit Evropjen për
veprim. Kolegu ynë Isuf Hajrizi,  bisedoi me njërin nga autorët e shkrimit
në fjalë.

TAPE:3:15 MIN

TEXT:  Një nga temat që analistët mendojnë se e rrezikon misionin e NATO-s
dhe të Kombeve të Bashkuara në Kosovë është edhe fati i i mijëra
të burgosurve politikë që mbahen në Serbi.  Edhe pse lufta ka përfunduar,
për familjet e të burgosurëve dhëmbja dhe llahtari i luftës ende janë plagë
të hapura, që shumë njerëz mendojnë se, përveq agonisë përsonale të këtyre
familjeve i zbeh shanset që një paqe e mirëfilltë të zerë vend.
	Kurt Bassuener, bashkëdrejtor i Këshillit për Veprim në Ballkan është i
mendimit se arsyeja pse këta të burgosur ende mbahen në burgje rrjedh nga
mungesa e vullnetit të komunitetit ndërkombëtar për t’u marrë me këtë
çështje.

	///Bassuener Act///

	Arsyeja pse këta njerëz mbahen në burg është për shkak të harresës apo të
vullnetit politik në fund të luftës për të insistuar në lirimin e tyre.  Të
gjitha dokumentet para Rambujesë duke përfshirë edhe Rambujenë e kanë
theksuar qartë anmnestinë për lirimin e të burgosurëve.  Shtetet e Bashkuara
duhet të inicojnë një rezolutë e cila do të bënte thirrje për lirimin e
këtyre të burgosurëve dhe ata t’i dorëzohen K-Forit dhe Organizatës për të
drejtat e njeriut të Kombeve të Bashkauare që të ata të ndahen nga
kriminelët e mundshëm ordinerë.
	Z. Bassuener është i mendimit se edhe kriminelët ordinerë, po që se ka të
tillë në mesin e të burgosurëve shqipërtar në Serbi, duhet të gjykohen nga
institucionet e NATO-s dhe OKB-së dhe jo nga gjykatësit serbë.  Një arsye
tjetër se pse bashkësia ndërkombëtare duhet të merret me këtë çështje, sipas
Bassuener dhe kolegut të tij Eric Witte, që është edhe bashkëautor i
shkrimit në Washington Post, ka të bëjë me uljen e krimit në Kosovë dhe
mundësinë e bashkëhejetesës një ditë midis shqipëtëve dhe serbëve çështje
kjo më rëndësi për misionin ndërkombëtar në Kosovë.
	Për aktivistët e të drejtave të njeriut, shumica e të burgosurëve mbahen në
burg pa kurrëfarë akuze.  I tillë është edhe Albin Kurti, njëri nga
udhëheqësit e studentëve, i cili më vonë iu bashkangjit zyrës së
përfaqësuesit të Ushtrisë Çlirimtare të Kosovës.  Sërish Z. Bassuener:

	///Bassuener Act///

	Ai është në një pozitë të vështirë, por për fat të mirë ai është
relativisht i njohur sikurse edhe Flora Brovina, mirëpo janë mijëra të tjerë
që nuk janë dhe kjo e vështirëson situatën.  Ne qe e njohim Albinin po
përpiqemi që ta përcjellim për së afërmi rastin e tij duke
bërë thirrje për lirimin e tij të menjëhershëm.
	Alice Mead, autore e disa librave për Kosovën dhe themeluese e Shoqatës për
të burgosurit politik në Kosovë, është veçanerisht e shqetësuar për
procedurën e gjykimit të njerëzve si Albini.

	///Mead Act///

	Jemi të shqetësuar sepse njerëzit si Albin Kurti dhe gazetari Halil Matoshi
duhet të lirohen menjëherë sepse nuk ka kurrëfarë baza për mbajtjen e tyre
në burg.  Që të dy këta janë keqtrajtuar në burg.  Rasti i tyre është tipik
i shumicës së rasteve të atyre që janë arrestuar
gjatë fushatës së bombardimave.  Kundër këtyre njerëzve nuk ka kurrfar
provash për ndonjë krim dhe se ata asnjëheë nuk janë nxjerr para gjyqit dhe
se po mbahen në burg të pa akuzuar për ndonjë aktivitet kriminal.  Dhe sipas
marrëveshjes së Konventës së Gjenevës ata do të duhej të
liroheshin kohë më parë, thotë zonja Meade.”
	Zyra e përfaqësuesit të veçant të Bashkimit Evropian, Javier Solana, ka
premtuar se do ta ngrejë problemin e të burgosurëve shqiptarë në mbledhjen e
ardhshme të Këshillit të Ministrave të Evropës.

LEADOUT:  Ju njohëm me situatën e të burgosurëve politikë shqipëtarë në
Serbi dhe përpjekjet për lirimin e tyre.

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

KOSOVA-INFO-LINE
Power für die Association of Political Prisoners (APP) in Prishtina

Januar 17, 2000

17. Januar 2000 (KIL) - "Power für die Association of Political Prisoners
(APP) in Prishtina" könnte das Motto sein, um diese
	Menschenrechtsorganisation zu unterstützen. Ziel von APP ist es, die
Öffentlichkeit über die Unrechtssituation der ca. 5.000 kosovarischen
Häftlinge in serbischen Gefängnissen zu informieren und Betroffenen
juristische Unterstützung zu ihrer Freilassung zu geben.
	Dan Perez in Prishtina ist einer der internationalen Helfer, die die Arbeit
von APP unterstützen, indem sie das Schicksal der Inhaftierten und Vermißten
der Öffentlichkeit zugänglich machen. Familien der Häftlinge übergaben 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 fleißig 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 veröffentlichen
(http://www.khao.org/appkosova.htm, englisch), aber die Verhältnisse sind
nicht die besten dieser Tage in Prishtina, um an einem Computer zu arbeiten:
"Elektrizität ("Power") gab es gestern für zwei Stunden, heute waren es nur
dreißig Minuten. Manchmal können 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 möglich zu schaffen. Aber es ist zuviel für eine
einzelne Person - ohne "Power". Ich frage mich, ob wir nicht ein paar Helfer
bekommen könnten. 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 würden
ausreichen, um schnellere Fortschritte dieser wichtigen Arbeit von APP
sicherzustellen.

(Für 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 Häftlinge aus serbischen Gefängnissen mit Druck
der Öffentlichkeit unterstützen

Serbiens sechsmonatige Festhaltefrist ist längst abgelaufen /
Pressemitteilung der Association of Political Prisoners (APP)

Januar 16, 2000

16. Januar 2000 (KIL) - Es gibt Grund zur Hoffnung, dass ein weitgefächerter
Druck der Öffentlichkeit zu mehr Entlassungen von albanischen Häftlingen aus
serbischen Gefängnissen führt, stellte Natasa Kandic, die leitende
Direktorin des Human Law Center (HLC), fest. Ihre Menschenrechtsorgnaisation
arbeitet für die Befreiung all dieser Inhaftierten. Die überwiegende
Mehrheit der Häftlinge wird weiterhin ohne Anklage und Beweise festgehalten
und eine sechsmonatige Festhaltefrist ist längst abgelaufen.
	Dr. Flora Brovina, deren Prozess internationale Aufmerksamkeit erregte und
deren harte Verurteilung zu 12 Jahren Gefängnis auf einem erzwungenen
Geständnis und einer Fotographie als Beweisen beruht, wird vermutlich am
Montag den 17. Januar erneut verhandelt werden.  Kandic ruft alle, die
damals über den Prozess berichteten, auf, auch heute auf die Ungerechtigkeit
des Prozessverlaufes und den offensichtliche Mangel an Beweisen hinzuweisen.
	Albin Kurti, ein Studentenführer, der die Demonstrationen zur
Wiedereröffnung der Universtiat von Prishtina leitete, wurde im späten April
1999 verhaftet und nach mehrmaligen Folterungen im Polzizeirevier in
Prishtina ins Gefängnis Lipjan verlegt, wo sein Vater und sein Bruder im
späten Mai freigelassen wurden. Albin wurde erneut verlegt, bis zur letzten
Woche im Dezember 1999 in das Pozhrevac Gefänginis. 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 überschritten und sein Fall (der eigentlich gar
nicht existiert) ist so schmerzlich fehlerhaft, daß er unverzüglich
freigelassen werden müßte, legte Kandic dar. Sie fügte hinzu, dass die
Mehrheit der Inhaftierten weiterhin ohne jegliche formalen Anklagen in den
Gefängnissen leidet.
	Auch nach juguslawischen Recht müßten sie freigelasssen werden.  Kandic
glaubt, daß Albin Kurti´s Fall möglicherweise in nächster Zukunft erneut
geprüft werden wird, der vermutliche Grund für seine Verlegung nach Nish.
	Natasa Kandic ruft alle Anwälte der Menschenrechte auf, schnellstmöglich
zum Schutz der zivilen Rechte von Brovina und Kurti zu handeln.

(Für 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