From kosova at jps.net Wed Jul 26 20:01:04 2000 From: kosova at jps.net (kosova at jps.net) Date: Wed, 26 Jul 2000 17:01:04 -0700 Subject: [A-PAL] Prisoner Update Message-ID: A-PAL PRISONER UPDATE July 24, 2000 Albanian Prisoner Advocacy List -- Prisoner Pals ========================================== A-PAL STATEMENT: ========================================== Bernard Kouchner says that the ethnic hatred in Kosova is worse than Bosnia? Do such comments help the present situation? Might it be better to ask what specifics resulted in this tense stand-off between the two groups? How did such a morass of intense suspicion and confusion arise, holding Kosova in its grip for an entire year? IN KOSOVA, A WAR FOUGHT FOR HUMAN RIGHTS THEN PITTED ETHNIC GROUPS AGAINST EACH OTHER AS EACH SIDE STRUGGLED TO SEARCH FOR MISSING LOVED ONES, is caught in a political quagmire. On June 25, 1999, Milan Stojkovic, age 85, and his wife Darinka, age 78, disappeared from their home in Ferizaj and have never been seen again. During the following months, 314 other Serbs, many of them elderly, disappeared as well. On June 20, 2000, a 52 year old Albanian woman from Decan was dragged from her car and beaten by Serb police. She was traveling through Serbia unescorted to visit her son, imprisoned in Nis since last year, for the fifteen minute visit she is allowed once a month. She had already spent 200 DM on bribes for the trip when she was stopped at a checkpoint on the way home. Since she had no more money left, she was beaten by four policemen. "After two and a half years marked by heightened tension and international conflict, the fighting has stopped in Kosovo. However, many thousands of people cannot find real peace as long as the fate of their family members remains unknown. Regrettably neither the plight of detainees nor of missing persons was specifically addressed in the agreement that ended the 78 day conflict between NATO and the FRY or in the subsequent UN Security Council Resolution 1244." (ICRC Update, June 27, 2000). The military-technical agreement signed at Kumanovo last June was not a peace agreement. It did not settle the legal status of Kosova. It did not authorize the protection of human rights as a primary regional goal. It contained no language regarding how missing Serb bodies were to be recovered. It contained no language about the release of the 2,000 Albanian prisoners. There was no mention of the Geneva Conventions or international human rights protection, or who would be authorized to search for prisoners and missing. So today, there is no one to safely escort the 52 year old woman to visit her imprisoned son for fifteen minutes per month. There is no one in charge of fully disclosing information on the Serb missing in Kosova. A war that nineteen NATO nations fought for human rights has created a legal vacuum that pits distraught family members of each ethnic group against each other in their on-going struggle to locate missing or imprisoned family members. Perhaps the damaging chaos that continues to reign in Kosova today came about in part because, last June, the NATO allies were so concerned about preventing injuries to their own soldiers that they forgot that the people on the ground in Kosova were going to need both immediate protection from reprisals and authorized assistance to retrieve loved ones when the war ended. Not one NATO nation has acknowledged this oversight. Instead, the media and the Western governments have blamed the lack of disclosure on "vengeful, lawless Albanians," or "secretive, brutal Serbs." Instead, it has taken one year for the ICRC, the only group authorized to investigate, to publish its list of missing. The list is available at www.familylinks.icrc.org. "The ICRC considers that it is the responsibility of the authorities to spare no effort in seeking to provide answers. In February, 2000, the organization officially submitted the names of the missing it had so far gathered to the authorities in Belgrade and to UNMIK and Kosova Albanian leaders with the urgent request that they provide any information they might have that would shed light on the fate of individuals as quickly as possible. Regrettably, no firm information on any cases has so far been forthcoming." (June 27, 2000, ICRC Update) In an act of deplorable irresponsibility, UN1244 enacted by the Security Council created an unjust semi-peace in Kosova. Even one year later, the UN has failed to enact a law that would place full disclosure of missing and detained under meaningful international jurisdiction. Needless to say, this resulted in the two sides on the ground treating the thousands of missing and detained as ideological scoring points instead of human beings with guaranteed international human rights. Finally, there are faint glimmers of hope that that may be changing. Acknowledging that, let us still remember: THERE ARE STILL 1,077 ALBANIANS HELD IN SERB JAILS. THERE ARE 340 MISSING SERBS AND OVER 2,300 MISSING ALBANIANS. PLEASE - CONTINUE YOUR ADVOCACY WORK. YOU ARE HELPING! ========================================== HEADLINES: ========================================== * LAWYERS COMMITTEE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS: Media Alert - LCHR Hails Serbia's Supreme Court Reversal of Humanitarian Doctor's Conviction as an Important Precedent * IWPR'S BALKAN CRISIS REPORT, NO. 152, Kosovo Serb Divisions Intensify * ICRC: The issue of people unaccounted for as a result of the Kosovo crisis * HLC CAMPAIGN:Resistance in the judiciary * UNMIK: 1st Anniversary Backgrounder - Missing and Detained Persons * CDHRF Prishtine: REPORT no. 501 on the situation of human rights and freedoms in Kosova from June 11 until June 18, 2000 ========================================== FULL REPORTS AND ARTICLES BEGIN HERE: ========================================== Lawyers Committee for Human Rights MEDIA ALERT LCHR Hails Serbia's Supreme Court Reversal of Humanitarian Doctor's Conviction as an Important Precedent Lower Court Should Throw out Case Given Scant Evidence June 07, 2000 New York, June 7, 2000-The Lawyer Committee welcomes the Serbian Supreme Court's decision to overturn the terrorism conviction of Dr. Flora Brovina. On June 6, the Court reversed the verdict of the trial court in Nis and sent the case back. The lower court can either dismiss the case or order a new trial. The trial of Dr. Brovina, a Kosovar Albanian pediatrician and poet, attracted international attention. She was sentenced in September to 12 years in prison after a court convicted her of providing assistance to the KLA guerrillas. The Supreme Court's order leaves it up to the trial court to decide the next steps. "Unless the prosecution can present some new evidence of wrongdoing, the court should simply dismiss the charges for lack of sufficient evidence," explained Robert O. Varenik, Director of LCHR's Protection Program. "Pending the final decision, the trial court should also grant bail to Dr. Brovina, who has been detained since April 1999," added Varenik. Earlier this year, the Lawyers Committee criticized the criminal proceedings against Dr. Brovina in a letter to the Serbian Supreme Court in which it outlined significant violations of international law triggered by the Dr. Brovina's trial. In particular, the Committee highlighted the prosecutor's decision to change the indictment the last day of trial in order to present Dr. Brovina's alleged confession, procured after eighteen 14-hour interrogation sessions during which she was denied access to counsel, food, water, and medical attention for a crippling angina condition. The court record contains nothing to corroborate the confession, and the trial court never addressed Dr. Brovina's testimony that she was coerced. Dr. Brovina also testified that she never read the document she was forced to sign. Dr. Brovina is one of more than a thousand Kosovar Albanians transferred by retreating Serb forces from Kosovo to Serbia at the conclusion of the NATO bombing last June. International rights groups, UN administrators and many members of the U.S. Congress have called for international action on behalf of these prisoners, whose ongoing trials are marred by substantial and procedural irregularities. There are also reports that releases are secured only by ransoms paid by family members. "The Supreme Court's decision is a welcome step. But the problem goes beyond this case, and both Serbia and the international community need to address the fate of hundreds of people still imprisoned after being rounded up during the war," said Varenik. "The status of these prisoners was left out of the final peace accord between NATO and the Belgrade government of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia." For more information, visit: http://www.lchr.org/ngo/l2lmain.htm http://www.lchr.org/feature/kosovo/kosovofeature.htm ========================================== IWPR'S BALKAN CRISIS REPORT, NO. 152, Kosovo Serb Divisions Intensify June 30, 2000 The Serb National Council decision to rejoin Kosovo's joint institutions has deepened divisions among the minority's leaders. By Llazar Semini in Pristina The Serb National Council, SNC, voted by a large majority this week to re-enter Kosovo's United Nations led inter-ethnic institutions, heightening divisions between the community's moderate and hard-line leaders. The council withdrew from the joint institutions two weeks ago in protest at the escalating violence against the Serbian community. Serbian Orthodox priest and SNC spokesman, Father Sava Jancic, said the UN mission in Kosovo, UNMIK had not served the Serbian community well, but conceded, "we cannot live on rhetoric and criticism, we have to make a constructive contribution." The move is likely to widen the rift between the Serbian community's moderate leaders based around Bishop Artemije and the more Belgrade-orientated leaders in Mitrovice and central Kosovo. The central Kosovo executive board of the SNC expelled Rada Trajkovic, Randjel Nojkic, and Dusan Ristic for supporting the council's decision, while president of the SNC board, Dragan Velic, was replaced. A meeting has been called to vote on withdrawing from the body. Leader of the Mitrovice SNC, Marko Jancic, said Artemije, together with UNMIK chief, Bernard Kouchner, and local Albanian leaders, were "destroying the Serb state." Members of the local board are said to be preparing to vote on whether Artemije should continue to represent the interests of the Kosovo Serbs. Senior SNC member, Momcilo Trajkovic, who opposed the council's decision, has sought to diffuse the mounting row by proposing a roundtable to bring together representatives of the Kosovo Serbs, the united opposition in Serbia and the Belgrade authorities. "The break-up of the Kosovo SNC is in no one's interest," he said. The international community, meanwhile, welcomed the SNC decision. Kouchner said, "This courageous action will allow the Kosovo Serb representatives to once again play their rightful role in building a peaceful, democratic and tolerant Kosovo." Considerable international pressure had been brought to bear on the Serbian community representatives to re-enter the joint institutions. Serb leaders were invited to a meeting with the UN Security Council - a move which infuriated leaders from the ethnic Albanian community who received no such invitation. Special representative of US President Bill Clinton, James O'Brien, visited Kosovo last week and is believed to have been instrumental in drawing the SNC back into the administration. The success, however, has been only partial. The Serbian representatives have agreed to participate for three months, but only as observers. Kosovo's Albanian leaders have criticised the limited scale of Serb involvement as insincere and have urged them to participate fully in the joint institutions. UNMIK and the SNC, meanwhile, signed an agreement on June 29, which establishes a special security task force, combining members of UNMIK police and KFOR, to protect the Serbian community. Bishop Artemije, who has been working on the agreement since January, said it would "improve the situation in Kosovo." Other provisions in the agreement include measures to boost the numbers of Serbs in the Kosovo police force, the appointment of an international prosecutor and two international judges to all district courts, the speeding up of proceedings against those accused of ethnically related crimes, and the creation of a special court to try cases of ethnic crime. The document agrees to give equal priority to Albanian prisoners in Serbian jails and kidnapped Serbs. A joint committee is to focus on this issue as well as the problem of securing the return of Serbian refugees to the province. Over 100,000 Kosovo Serbs - virtually half of the province's pre-war Serbian population - fled their homes following the withdrawal of Yugoslav forces and the subsequent escalation in Albanian extremist violence. Those Serbs who remain in the province now live in heavily guarded communities, patrolled day and night by KFOR troops. Yet incidents of ethnic violence are reported every day. The security situation in the province is still clearly far from ideal. So polarised is Kosovo that Bishop Artemije and his moderate coleagues could find it very difficult to make a success of their decision to participate once again in the joint administration. The persistent and often violent anti-Serb feeling within the Albanian community, UNMIK's continued problems in imposing law and order and Belgrade's lingering influence over the Serbian community's more radical leaders, particularly in northern Mitrovice, do not bode well for the future. Artemije's colleague, Father Sava, said of pro-Belgrade Kosovo Serbs, "We shall remain alone at the monastery if the support for Milosevic and his policy continues and we do not find another alternative". Llazar Semini is IWPR's Kosova Project Manager in Pristina. ========================================== ICRC The issue of people unaccounted for as a result of the Kosovo crisis June 27, 2000 Update No. 24/2000 on ICRC activities in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia REX/OPS 00/42 - SN/100 Geneva, 27 June 2000 I. What happened to over 3,000 people still missing ? Their families have a right to know After two-and-a-half years marked by heightened tension and international conflict, the fighting has stopped in Kosovo. However, many thousands of people cannot find real peace for as long as the fate of their family members remains unknown. While the international focus is on reconstruction, security and political issues, families in both Kosovo and elsewhere in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY) remain anxious for news of their relatives, their anguish undiminished as time goes by. They find it impossible to come to terms with their loss and rebuild their lives in a fundamental way while the uncertainty prevails. For the ICRC, tackling the humanitarian issue of missing persons is a major priority in Kosovo and elsewhere in the FRY today. Regrettably, neither the plight of detainees nor of missing persons was specifically addressed in the agreement that ended the 78-day conflict between NATO and the FRY, signed in Kumanovo in June 1999, or the subsequent UN Security Council Resolution 1244. The lead role in tackling the issue of missing persons and defending the rights of their families thus fell to the ICRC, on the basis of its internationally recognized mandate. Its status as a neutral and impartial intermediary and trusted presence throughout the country have enabled the ICRC, unlike most other organizations, to work on all sides and have facilitated access to vital information. In addition, the ICRC is able to rely on the worldwide network of National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies which are indispensable local partners in gathering data and locating people. Directly from families, the ICRC collected more than 4,800 names of persons reported missing. With the authorities in Belgrade, it managed to negotiate access to people notified as still being in detention following the Kosovo crisis. In this way, the ICRC was able to shed light on the fate of 1,306 of those missing. Only a few of them were found alive and free, while the mortal remains of 200 of the missing were found in mass graves. The 3,368 people still reported as missing are mostly Kosovo Albanians, but also include some 400 Serbs, more than 100 Roma and people from other communities. Some 16% disappeared before the conflict between FRY/NATO, while some 10% have gone missing since KFOR troops poured into Kosovo last June. II. A further step in the quest for truth: the ICRC's "Book of the Missing" In its latest initiative, on 7 June the ICRC published a 200-page book listing the 3,368 names collected from families from all communities in Kosovo between January 1998 and mid-May 2000. It shows the names both alphabetically and in chronological order of disappearance and has been presented at press conferences in Pristina, Belgrade and Geneva. The Book of the Missing should by no means be understood to mark the end of a process. Rather, it is a milestone in a search which the ICRC intends to carry on until the families' need to know has been satisfied. Its purpose is to: 1. Serve as a tool for gathering more information that may help to shed light on the fate of the missing, from the general public, the authorities and those who took part in the hostilities; 2. Impress on the general public that humanitarian problems by far outlast the duration of armed conflict; 3. and to remind the authorities on all sides of their obligation under international humanitarian law to provide answers to the families. The book will be available for consultation in all Red Cross offices in the region. In Kosovo itself, it will also be accessible in the offices of the civil administration and the main humanitarian agencies. In addition, the list may be consulted on an ICRC website (www.familylinks.icrc.org). The ICRC published a similar book after the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina which list the names of some 18,000 people, most of whom remain unaccounted for. III. ICRC measures to date and in the future 1. Visits to detainees In contexts of tension and armed conflict, the ICRC visits prisons to keep track of the detainees, ensure that they have decent material and psychological conditions of detention and are treated humanely, and that they are able to keep in touch with their families through Red Cross messages. The ICRC had been visiting Kosovo Albanian prisoners held by the Serbian authorities before the 1999 crisis but had to stop visiting during the conflict between NATO and the FRY. The ICRC resumed its visits afterwards and by July 1999 it had registered 1,922 detainees, whose families were immediately informed. By mid-May, some 850 detainees had been released, with the ICRC still visiting 1,245 detainees. It will continue these visits for as long as prisoners are held in the FRY. Similarly, it will continue to provide transport back to Kosovo, at the request of the authorities, for those who are released (750 of the detainees released to date have been escorted home in this way). In Kosovo the ICRC has access to all those detained by KFOR and the UNMIK police. It currently visits 68 people. 2. Approaches to the authorities concerned The ICRC considers that it is the responsibility of the authorities concerned to spare no effort in seeking to provide answers. On 21/22 February 2000 the organization officially submitted to the authorities in Belgrade and to UNMIK and Kosovo Albanian leaders in Pristina the names of the missing people it had so far gathered, with the urgent request that they provide any information they may have which would shed light on the fate of individuals as quickly as possible. Regrettably, no firm information on any of the cases has so far been forthcoming. The ICRC will maintain its dialogue with the authorities on all sides and urge them to take all necessary steps to ascertain the fate of persons who disappeared in areas under their authority. 3. Tracing in the field Extensive efforts have been made by ICRC field teams in towns and villages t hroughout Kosovo to urge the population to come forward with information. A system of "tracing by event" was introduced, involving the gathering of details about the circumstances in which people disappeared or were allegedly detained/abducted. Based on the ICRC's experience in other contexts, this could help provide additional information leading to the clarification of cases. Families have also been invited to notify their missing relatives to the ICRC or the Yugoslav Red Cross in the FRY. The ICRC will continue to register new information and subsequently submit it to the authorities concerned, and will follow up allegations of arrest and abduction. 4. Coordination with other agencies The ICRC has been officially recognized as the lead agency in the question of missing persons in Kosovo, and has established a coordination group with other organizations (such as UNMIK, the international police, OSCE, and the International Commission on Missing Persons) to share information. By the end of 1999 forensic experts of the International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia had recovered 2,108 bodies from mass graves around the region. The teams have just resumed their work after the winter break and have so far excavated 92 sites out of a total of 440 known graves. The ICRC strongly encourages the continuation of the identification process. 5. Support for families The ICRC is reviewing ways in which it can better help the families shoulder their burden of grief and uncertainty, for example through fostering the creation of family associations, through psycho-social support and by referrals to legal or other practical advice. The ICRC is aware of the unique responsibility it carries in being accessible to the families both in Kosovo and elsewhere in the FRY: its exclusive commitment is towards the families and their needs. http://www.reliefweb.int/w/rwb.nsf/480fa8736b88bbc3c12564f6004c8ad5/93405d66 4c52a030c125690b0046db09?OpenDocument ========================================== HLC CAMPAIGN RESISTANCE TO FEAR Resistance in the judiciary May 18, 2000 The Humanitarian Law Center calls on judges and prosecutors to work in accordance with the law and the Constitution and thus resist political pressures and threats of dismissal unless they carry out the political orders of the authorities. Such resistance exists in the judiciary. Resistance to the intensified repression against the citizens of Serbia and political pressures, and adherence to the rule of law has been demonstrated by Djordje Rankovic and Bosko Papovic, investigating judges of the Pozarevac Municipal Court, Jovan Stanojevic, the Pozarevac public prosecutor and five of his deputies, and Stanimir Radosavljevic, military prosecutor in Nis. On 15 May, President of the Pozarevac Municipal Court Vukasin Stanisavljevic suspended investigating judge Djordje Rankovic, and President of the Pozarevac District Court Slobodan Coguric suspended investigating judge Bosko Papovic. Both were suspended after Balsa Govedarica, the President of the Serbian Supreme Court, asked the Serbian Parliament to relieve them of office. Acting against the law and the Serbian Constitution, the Supreme Court President asked Parliament to dismiss Rankovic on political grounds, namely because of his participation in an opposition rally in Pozarevac on 9 May. The suspended judge reacted by stating that the rally was held after work hours and that by taking part in it he was exercising his legally and constitutionally guaranteed right to freedom of public assembly and expression. The Serbian Supreme Court President asked Parliament to dismiss Judge Bosko Papovic because he disagreed with the decision of a panel of judges presided by the President of the Pozarevac District Court, Slobodan Coguric, to institute a judicial investigation into three activists of the Otpor (Resistance) movement in Pozarevac. As the competent investigating judge, Papovic had assessed that the Pozarevac Police Department had failed to provide evidence to believe that the three activists had attempted to murder two members of the Yugoslav Left party during a fight with two Otpor activists in Pozarevac on 2 May, and that there were therefore no grounds for an investigation and their detention. The panel, however, overruled his decision, issued a 30-day detention order and instituted an investigation into the three activists for attempted murder. Jovan Stanojevic, the Pozarevac district prosecutor, on 10 May tendered his resignation in protest against the unlawful actions of the Leskovac District Court in the case of the three Otpor activists, and said he would ask the Serbian Parliament to relieve him of office. Resignations were tendered also by five of Stanojevic's deputies. Journalist Miroslav Filipovic was arrested and charged by police with espionage and dissemination of false reports. He was released from custody on 12 May when Stanimir Radosavljevic, the military prosecutor in Nis, said he would not be filing for an investigation into Filipovic within the time-period set by law. ========================================== UNMIK 1st Anniversary Backgrounder - Missing and Detained Persons June 05, 2000 Within days of the arrival of the first UNMIK officials in June, the Kosovo Albanian people put before the international community what was to remain throughout the year their most pressing issue: the determination of the fate of several thousand Kosovars who were not present to enjoy celebrations. Demonstrations and protest councils demanding news on the fate of the missing formed immediately and continued throughout the year with several thousands blocking the streets of Pristina on 28 April. The most vocal were from Djakovica/Djakova in central Kosovo, scene of some of the most vicious fighting and now a town with an alleged 1,000-1,500 missing residents. The International Committee for the Red Cross, which has the lead role in the issue of detained and missing persons, reports that 3,338 persons from Kosovo remain officially missing. This figure includes people from all ethnic backgrounds, among them Kosovo Serbs, estimated as several hundred, who after the end of the air war became victims of revenge. SRSG Bernard Kouchner has embraced the cause of the missing and detained as an issue central to establishing a peaceful, democratic and forward-looking Kosovo and an obstacle to resolving inter-community tensions and therefore the return of Kosovo Serbs. Dr. Kouchner has lobbied across Europe and in New York, urging governments to press Belgrade for information and action. His proposal that a high-level Special Envoy for the Missing and Detained be named is about to be realized, and with an appointment expected in the near future. UNMIK's work on the missing and detained began early in the mission. One of the first acts of the Kosovo Transitional Council, created by UNMIK in July 1999, was to form a sub-commission on Missing and Detained Persons. This has met twice a month throughout the year under the auspices of the KTC and the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. Its main quest has been information on missing and detained. A KTC working group on the missing and detained was to produce a major report on the issue this week. The missing To get accurate and humane information on the missing persons who are possibly dead, UNMIK established a Victims Recovery and Identification Commission (VRIC) on 30 April 2000. It is to take the lead on identifying missing persons who died during, before and after the recent conflict. The VRIC identifies human remains, issues death certificates, notifies the families, assists with appropriate burials, and also provides the families with psychological assistance. So far, the VRIC has returned the remains of 13 victims to families. However, identification of this year's exhumations will mainly be done in the autumn of 2000. The VRIC works closely with investigators from the International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia (ICTY), who are currently in their second season of examining the 529 known mass grave sites in Kosovo. The ICTY exhumed 195 sites last year, which yielded 2,108 bodies. This year it has set itself a formidable target of examining all the remaining 300 sites before the onset of winter 2000. The detained Regarding detained persons, the ICRC reports that as of 5 June 2000, 1,185 Kosovo Albanians remained in detention in Serbian prisons, with 914 having been released since June 1999. The detained include 30 people over 65, nine who are 18 years old or younger and seven women. While media and the Helsinki Committee of Sandzak, Serbia, have claimed Kosovo Albanians are also running detention centers holding Serbs, UNMIK Police and KFOR have been unable to verify such reports. UNMIK's position has been from the beginning that all Kosovo Albanians detained during the conflict and held in other parts of Yugoslavia should be returned to Kosovo. On 10 May 2000, the Kosovo Transitional Council issued a major statement on tolerance, which began with the demand to the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia for the "unconditional handover" to UNMIK authorities of all Kosovo Albanians and members of other Kosovo communities held in Serbian prisons and other detention facilities, as well as information on Kosovo Albanians and members of other Kosovo communities who went missing during the past conflict. Belgrade has not responded to this, although there has been a continuous trickle of detainees released over the past year, some as a result of court proceedings and others allegedly as a result of bribes or fines paid. Although not present in Serbia proper, UNMIK contacts non-governmental organizations to monitor trials and to be a link with families here in Kosovo. SRSG Bernard Kouchner has stayed in close touch with the issue, as well as with the families of the missing and detained since his arrival in July 1999. On 25 May, the day after the sentencing in the Nis District Court of 143 Kosovo Albanians, he returned to Djakovica to express his outrage and to renew his commitment to securing the release of those imprisoned. UNMIK would continue to advance the cause of the missing and to reject the notion of collective guilt that seemed to have prevailed in that trial, he pledged. http://www.un.org/peace/kosovo/pages/twelvemonths/missing.html ========================================== CDHRF Prishtine REPORT no. 501 on the situation of human rights and freedoms in Kosova from June 11 until June 18, 2000 The killing of Xhafer Behrami and his son Baki, as well as the wounding of Faruk Xhafer Behrami from the village of Kotorr near Sk?nderaj brought back memories of the past and caused insecurity among the Albanians in this region. According to Jetullah Behrami, a relative of the killed (who happened to be with them while returning from the forest-where they had gone to collect wood), the crime was perpetrated by a group of Serbs from Zubin-Potok, who were led by Milan Gjuriq, a driver at the hospital in Mitrovica, which is administered by Serbs. The other killing, that in the village of Lepia near Lypjan, in which Zlatko Deliq and Bojan Filipoviq were killed in a mine explosion whereas, Borko Filipoviq was severely wounded - all 3 from the village of Preoc near Prishtina, caused insecurity and showed that criminals continue to act with impunity in Kosova and by doing so help the forces that are against the stabilization of the situation and seek chaos and anarchy. The provocations and threats as were those of the Russian soldiers in Kijeva near Malisheva "we will kill 101 Albanians for each killed Russian soldier" remind us of the bitter and tragic events from the past. All this happened in the verge of the KFOR operation of searching for weapons in the Drenica region, which can also bring back bitter memories on the actions of the Yugoslav forces in the 50's of the 20th century. The seizure of weapons from the civilian population is necessary to spare the people from tragedies similar to the ones, which happened this week. Yet, such actions, in only one part of Kosova (exclusively inhabited by Albanians), in times when immediately in its vicinity, in the northern part of Mitrovica and Kosova, armed Serbian civilians and paramilitaries walk almost freely through towns and villages, remind us not only of the past but also cause fear and insecurity, which can hinder the stabilization of the situation in Kosova (as people may regard this action as biased and cause doubts with regard to its objectives). Otherwise, in the presence of KFOR and the international community, which guarantee peace and security in Kosova for all its citizens, the keeping of weapons is not only unnecessary but also represents a threat to the citizens themselves. This can be proved by the numerous killings, murder attempts, and woundings, which happened during this week - with or without a political motivation. (...) Trials - On June 14, the district court in Kraleva (Serbia) sentenced: Sk?nder Sadiku from the village of Gjyteti (Dubovc) near Vushtrri to 2 years and 4 months of imprisonment and Sejdi Lahu (67) from Galica near Vushtrri to 2 years. (...) The prisoners DRENAS: On June 9, the following were released from the prison in Pozharevc (Serbia): Hamit Xhemajli from Abria e Ep?rme, Bekim Uka from Dodona (Gradica), Brahim Xhekaj from Grykas (T?rdec), Qamil Kastrati from Polluzha and Bujar Kukaj from Q?ndresa (T?rstenik). FERIZAJ: On June 13, the following were released from the prison in Pozharevc: Ibrahim Maloku (45), Sami Haziri (35) and Shefki Muhadini (48) - from Dramjak; Ruzhdi Selmani (37) from Ujnishta (Lloshkobarja) and Musli Haxha from Micsokol (Slivova). All the above mentioned were arrested by the Serbian forces during the NATO air campaign. BESIANA (PODUJEVA): On June 13, the following were released from the prisons in Serbia: Ismet Ibrahimi from Besiana, Selim Veliu from Bardhash (Bradash), Bajram Zebica from Letan and Basri Zhitia from Lugaja (Lluga). KA?ANIK: On June 13, Selim Pajazit Loku (1953) from Hani i Elezit, who was arrested by VJ soldiers in March 1999, was released from the prison in Pozharevc. ========================================== Additional updates of the Kosovar political prisoners, including those sentenced, missing and released, may be found at: http://www.khao.org/appkosova.htm Archives of the A-PAL Newsletters may be found at: http://www.khao.org/appkosova/newsletter/archive.htm Albanian Prisoner Advocacy List -- Prisoner Pals Update