From kosova at jps.net Wed Jun 7 11:32:33 2000 From: kosova at jps.net (kosova at jps.net) Date: Wed, 7 Jun 2000 08:32:33 -0700 Subject: [A-PAL] A-PAL Newsletter, No. 025 Message-ID: Welcome to Albanian Prisoner Advocacy List -- Prisoner Pals Newsletter, No. 025, June 05, 2000 This report highlights the developments on the prisoner issue for the week of May 28, 2000. ========================================== A-PAL STATEMENT: ========================================== June, 2000 begins with further ethnic tensions and violence in Kosova. Despite the many grave injustices Kosovars have experienced at the hands of the Serb military police, paramilitaries, and army during this century, everyday citizens must now pull together and vocally condemn the random acts of revenge and murder being committed against the Serb minority. Albanians must demonstrate to the world that they are ready to be part of a just society, not a society that condones or ignores ethnically motivated murder. No matter how justified the Albanians feel these acts of retribution to be, the basis of lawfulness is that each person is innocent until proven guilty and that all people are equal before the law. Albanians must understand that outsiders are disturbed with these murders and that support for Albanian claims for independence are directly influenced by this lawless violence. Despite the inherent unfairness in this, Albanians must understand that these random murders that happened since June, 1999, are being equated in the minds of Western politicians with the century-long Serb policies of ethnic cleansing and colonization of Kosova. As a result, support for Kosova has decreased in Washington DC and in Brussels. Each Albanian parent, grandparent, schoolteacher, must take a stand against violence. Efforts to free the remaining 950 identified prisoners are gravely undermined by the Albanian tolerance of the murders occurring in Kosova. As supporters of human rights and lawful democracy, A-PAL members condemn all acts of violence and urge Kosovar leaders to take concrete steps to bring a stop to these actions. Our efforts and hopes at obtaining equality for Kosova are being hurt every day. Sadly, it may take years for the Albanians to regain the trust and respect of the international community after demonstrating tolerance for these number of murders. That said, Albanians are not solely responsible for the lawless confusion that persists at the present time. The Kumanovo military-technical agreement prepared by the United States and NATO last June was not a peace plan. It has left the people of Kosova without a constitution, without representation, with no police force or judicial system. Worst of all, it has left Kosovars without a future. Not even fellow Serbs in Montenegro want to be tied to Serbia, so why should Kosova be deprived of liberty and self-determination? The reason is not really an argument about sovereignty; the reason is the failure of the West and regional leaders to create a stable, long-term peace plan for Kosova, one that reflects the needs and dreams of her people as well as the OSCE guarantees of protection of human rights. It is the West that continues to force Milosevic down the Kosovars' throats, that refuses to arrest war criminals, that refuses to hold a "Dayton" conference on Kosova and Montenegro, to help people who dream of democracy move into the next millennium with the rest of Europe instead of backwards again into brutality and repression. Otherwise, why was the NATO war fought? To prolong the regional dominance of a criminal regime? It is the West who keeps war criminals free and allows the imprisonment and torture of thousands of innocent Albanians. Not until all sides - Serbian people themselves, NATO and the West, Kosovar Albanians - put the principles of justice foremost and act to enforce laws on all sides will the situation begin to move forward towards peace and away from war. ========================================== WEEK?S TOPICS: ========================================== * THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE PUBLISHING SOCIETY: Unresolved Issue - Serbia's prisoners imperil Kosovo peace * ICRC: Yugoslavia/Kosovo: The missing - a lasting wound * KOSOVAPRESS: 23 prisoners released from Serbia jails * KOSOVAPRESS: Kosova Albanian sentenced to 10 years in prison * KOSOVAPRESS: Serb community of Rahovec asks Albanians forgiveness for crimes * AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE: Solana pinpoints Milosevic as key problem in Balkans * AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE: Editor jailed for urging war crimes trial of Yugoslav minister * WASHINGTON POST: Albright Meets With Montenegro Head * WASHINGTON POST: Serb Police Detain 40 Activists * SINGAPORE PRESS HOLDINGS: Milosevic's grip in Serbia ========================================== QUOTES OF THE WEEK: ========================================== June 01: "It's really a disgrace that [the Serbs] were allowed to leave with thousands of prisoners who are really hostages," says Louis Sell, a former American diplomat who heads the Kosovo office of the International Crisis Group, an independent research organization. "While these people were languishing in jail, they just weren't on the screen. But it's poisoning the atmosphere here." June 01: "This is like a new bombardment of Kosovo, by Serbian forces," says Halil Matoshi, a magazine editor who spent eight months in a Serbian prison. "With this case, the problems between Serbs and Albanians will grow worse and worse." ========================================== FULL REPORTS AND ARTICLES BEGIN HERE: ========================================== THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE PUBLISHING SOCIETY Unresolved Issue - Serbia's prisoners imperil Kosovo peace June 01, 2000 Long sentences given to 143 Kosovar Albanians last week spark fresh outrage, claims of Western indifference. Richard Mertens Special to The Christian Science Monitor PRISTINA, YUGOSLAVIA While hundreds of thousands of ethnic Albanian refugees were preparing to return to Kosovo last year at the end of NATO's three-month bombing campaign, Islam Gashi was headed in the other direction, deeper into Serbia and farther from home. Serbian police arrested Mr. Gashi, a retired miner, at his home in Kosovo's capital, Pristina, last May. They beat him with truncheons, he says, and took him to a prison outside the city. Two-and-a-half weeks later, just two days before NATO-led troops entered the province, they transferred him from Kosovo to a prison in Serbia proper, as they did with thousands of other detainees. There he sat for 10-1/2 months, never charged with a crime, while his family tried to win his release. In April, they finally succeeded. Gashi's son Enver says they paid a Serbian lawyer 30,000 German marks ($14,300) to buy his freedom. The International Committee of the Red Cross, which had brought Gashi soap, towels, and other articles in prison, provided a jeep ride back to Kosovo. He was pale and had lost weight, and sorry that his freedom had cost so much. But he was glad to be out all the same. "Now I'm feeling a little bit alive again," he says. Gashi knows he is one of the fortunate ones. More than 1,200 Kosovar Albanians detained before and during the NATO bombing campaign remain in Serbian prisons. While many have never been charged with any offense, others were sentenced to long prison terms on the basis of what human rights advocates consider flimsy evidence. (http://www.csmonitor.com/durable/2000/06/01/csmimg/p7s1g1.jpg) FREEDOM'S PRICE: Islam Gashi (left) is back with his wife, Vahide, in Kosovo, after 10 months in a Serbian jail. His family paid for his release. RICHARD MERTENS Their imprisonment not only has brought pain to their families, it has worsened relations between Kosovo's minority Serbs and majority ethnic Albanians, and left Albanians increasingly frustrated with the West. Kosovo technically remains part of Serbia, which is the dominant partner in Yugoslavia. "Without a solution to this problem, it's impossible to have peace and stability in Kosovo," says Kosovare Kelmendi, a lawyer for the Humanitarian Law Center in Pristina. "Right now it's the main issue in Kosovo. They are our people. We want them here." Mass trial yields convictions The problem flared up again last week, when a Serbian court sentenced 143 ethnic Albanians, including a teenage boy, to prison terms ranging from seven to 13 years. The prisoners were convicted of terrorism in Yugoslavia's largest-ever mass trial. Western officials condemned the verdicts, and Amnesty International, the New York-based human rights group, called them "blatantly unfair." From Kosovars, the move provoked fresh outrage. "This is like a new bombardment of Kosovo, by Serbian forces," says Halil Matoshi, a magazine editor who spent eight months in a Serbian prison. "With this case, the problems between Serbs and Albanians will grow worse and worse." By the end of the NATO bombing campaign last June, Serbian police held more than 2,000 ethnic Albanians in Kosovo. Some had been in custody for years, but most were detained during the 18-month armed struggle between Serbian security forces and the Kosovo Liberation Army, the ethnic Albanian rebel group. The Serbs accused the prisoners of supporting the KLA, but Albanians say most were innocent civilians. Not on NATO's radar To the United States and its allies, ending the war was more important than resolving the fate of the prisoners. The issue was left out of both the peace agreement between NATO and Yugoslav commanders and the United Nations resolution that authorized the international takeover of Kosovo. Many observers see this as a fundamental mistake. "It's really a disgrace that [the Serbs] were allowed to leave with thousands of prisoners who are really hostages," says Louis Sell, a former American diplomat who heads the Kosovo office of the International Crisis Group, an independent research organization. "While these people were languishing in jail, they just weren't on the screen. But it's poisoning the atmosphere here." Many Western officials have publicly criticized Yugoslavia for its treatment of ethnic Albanian prisoners. Bernard Kouchner, the UN's top official in Kosovo, says he has written "hundreds of letters" to Belgrade, with few results. Ethnic Albanians, meanwhile, have become increasingly critical of what they see as Western indifference. In April, the biggest in a series of protests virtually shut down the center of Pristina for three days. After the latest sentences, Western officials tried to sound reassuring. A special UN envoy is being appointed to deal with Belgrade, not only on the detainee issue but also on the 3,500 people still missing from the war and presumed dead. But many remain skeptical. "What can an envoy do, especially one from the UN?" Mr. Sell asks. "That's not to say they shouldn't try. But he or she will have a very tough row to hoe." One of those sentenced last week was Mirxhin Zhubi. The verdict caught his fianc?e, Mirlinda Batalli, by surprise. "I thought he would be released on Monday and we would be married in the summer," she says. "Now I don't know how long he will be in prison." The anguish of loved ones is only a part of the intense emotion that the issue evokes in Kosovar Albanians. Holding up Serb returns "We are still not free until they are here," Ms. Batalli declares angrily. The implications of this anger became clear this spring as Serb leaders and American officials began to discuss how to bring back Serbs who fled Kosovo last summer. Many ethnic Albanian leaders have said they cannot support Serb returns without progress on bringing back the detainees. Meanwhile, the families of prisoners are doing what they can to secure the release of their loved ones. Albanian officials say most of the 870 prisoners freed in the past year were ransomed for sums ranging from a few thousand dollars to more than 10 times that amount. The transactions are made through Serbian lawyers on the Kosovo border. Gashi's family sold a piece of land to raise the money for his freedom. Since his return, he has regained some weight, although the scars on his face, which he says are from beatings, have not yet healed. Gashi says he thinks often of the men he left behind. "I hope God will help them," he says. (c) Copyright 2000 The Christian Science Publishing Society. http://www.csmonitor.com/durable/2000/06/01/f-p7s1.shtml ========================================== ICRC Yugoslavia/Kosovo: The missing - a lasting wound May 31, 2000 The ICRC in Pristina and Belgrade is holding a series of events to explain how it goes about finding out what happened to the thousands of people who went missing during the Kosovo conflict. Open-house days at ICRC offices and special meetings with representatives of the families from the various communities affected are being organized to explain a process in which the ICRC is recognized by all the authorities concerned as having a leading role. The events will culminate in the publication of a book, in June, containing the names of 3,376 persons reported to the ICRC as having disappeared between January 1998 and mid-May 2000, most of them said by their families to have been detained or abducted. On 21 and 22 February last, the ICRC officially informed the relevant authorities in Belgrade and Pristina of the names of missing people that it had so far gathered, urgently requesting that they provide any information they may have. "The 'Book of the Missing' is another step - and an important one - in our work to find out what has happened to people who have disappeared," said Andreas Wigger, who heads ICRC operations in the Balkans at the organization's headquarters. There were families in all communities who had no way of knowing what happened to their loved ones, he went on. This was an open wound, and while much international attention was being focused on reconstruction, security and political issues, it was vital to reassure those families that their anguish had not been forgotten." Further information: Suzanne Berger, ICRC Geneva, tel. ++ 41 79 2173237 Nic Sommer, ICRC Pristina, tel. ++ 381 38 501 517 For any information you may need on Thursday 1 June (holiday) or on the weekend of 3 - 4 June, please call the press officer on duty Suzanne Berger, on (mobile) 41 79 217 32 37 http://www.reliefweb.int/w/rwb.nsf/480fa8736b88bbc3c12564f6004c8ad5/703a160d b04c921dc12568f0004f4da2?OpenDocument ========================================== KOSOVAPRESS 23 prisoners released from Serbia jails May 31, 2000 Prishtin?, May 31 (Kosovapress) - Serb officials on Tuesday freed 23 ethnic Albanians just outside of Kosova in the largest single release of such prisoners in weeks, the International Committee of the Red Cross said. The prisoners, including two women, walked from Serbia to Kosova across the Merdare border. They were accompanied by Red Cross officials, who took them to meet family members in the Kosova capital, Prishtina. It was unclear whether the prisoners had been tried and sentenced, or had been awaiting trial. Serb troops arrested hundreds of ethnic Albanians while in Kosova, and transferred them to the dominant Yugoslav province of Serbia when NATO bombs drove them to withdraw nearly a year ago. Ethnic Albanians have repeatedly demonstrated for the prisoners' release, and promised no peace in Kosova until they were all freed. So far, 911 prisoners have been released, but 1,188 remain imprisoned by Serbia President Slobodan Millosheviq's government. http://www.kosovapress.com/english/maj/31_5_2000_.htm ========================================== KOSOVAPRESS Kosova Albanian sentenced to 10 years in prison May 31, 2000 Nish, May 31 (Kosovapress) - An ethnic Albanian from Kosova was accused for terrorism Tuesday and sentenced to 10 years in prison for attacks on Serbian police and soldiers. Six others were sentenced to one year each on charges of aiding rebels of the KLA, but were released to account for time served in pretrial custody. The court in Nish, found Abaz Mujota, 28, guilty of "terrorism and conspiracy to act against the state''. Mujota, a native of Fusha e Vog?l village near the provincial capital Prishtina, allegedly joined the former KLA rebels in May 1999 to fight for Kosova's independence from Serbia. The court maintained Mujota had taken part in attacks on Serbian police and Serbia army units deployed at the time in Kosova. After Serb forces withdrew last June from Kosova, now run by NATO and a UN peace mission, Belgrade authorities transferred ethnic Albanian prisoners from the southern province to jails elsewhere in Serbia. Many have since been released, but scores have also been handed prison sentences of up to 15 years. Six other Kosova Albanians, apprehended May 22, 1999, were found guilty of giving the KLA food, holding guard duty outside rebel strongholds and in the case of two women doing the rebels' laundry. ========================================== KOSOVAPRESS Serb community of Rahovec asks Albanians forgiveness for crimes May 20, 2000 Prishtin?, May 20 (Kosovapress) - According to the ATA news we got announced that the Serb community of Rahovec asks the Albanian population of this city forgiveness for all the crimes the Serb people have committed to them. The report entitled "General pardon", bearing the date April 2000, signed by Sllavisha Kolashinac as head of this community, says: The Serb community of Rahovec feels ashamed of what the Serb people have done to the Albanian population of this commune. We assume responsibility for the criminal acts of our people if we as individuals have committed these acts. It is the desire and hope for the future that we again create normal friendly relations with the Albanian population of Rahovec and ask from them to accept our sincere forgiveness for the acts of our fellow citizens". The Council hails the expression of the feeling of forgiveness of a part of the Serb minority in Kosova for the crimes their fellow citizens, either soldiers, policemen or paramilitaries, have committed against Albanians. http://www.kosovapress.com/english/maj/20_5_2000_1.htm ========================================== AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE Solana pinpoints Milosevic as key problem in Balkans May 20, 2000 ANCONA, Italy, May 20 (AFP) - Javier Solana, the EU's security and foreign policy chief, on Saturday accused Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic of being an impediment to stability and prosperity. Speaking at a two-day conference of countries bordering on the Adriatic sea, Solana said there would be "no lasting peace in the region, nor generalized stability for so long as that regime rules in Serbia." "Most of the threats to our common security, stability and prosperity in this region are now compounded in the situation of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, and more particularly of Serbia," Solana said. "Most of the root causes of the region's problems still have the same name and address: that of Slobodan Milosevic," he added. Solana was NATO secretary general during the Kosovo conflict. Belgrade, whose strongman is widely seen as responsible for years of bloodshed and unrest in the Balkans, was not invited to the meeting, which was set to conclude later Saturday. But Montenegro, which along with Serbia makes up the rump Yugoslavia and is headed by pro-reform President Milo Djukanovic, had observer status. Djukanovic has infuriated Milosevic by pursuing a policy of rapprochement with the West at a time when Serbia is isolated over its hardline policies in Bosnia, Croatia and Kosovo. Italian Foreign Minister Lamberto Dini told the conference that the Balkans crisis made cooperation between countries in the Adriatic region all the more important. The meeting was also attended by Italian Prime Minister Giuliano Amato and the foreign ministers of Albania, Bosnia, Croatia, Greece and Slovenia, European commission president Romano Prodi and representatives of other countries. Croatian Foreign Minister Tonino Picula said his country would be "delighted if democratic changes occur in Serbia, which continues to represent a potential threat to general stability in the region." Picula welcomed Montenegro's attendance at the conference. While regretting that the Adriatic Sea, which separates Italy from the Balkans, had become an area of tension and lawlessness, Prodi said that Europe was prepared to bring the two sides closer together. Participants at the meeting, which opened Friday, also discussed ways of fighting organized crime. Italy's junior foreign minister Umberto Ranieri said "trafficking in people for sexual purposes and smuggling" was the most serious form of organized crime affecting the region. Economic cooperation was another item on the conference agenda in this Adriatic port city. During the conference, Croatia and Italy signed an agreement on military cooperation covering the training of troops. Conference participants adopted the so-called Ancona Declaration, designed to create an "area of peace, stability and growing prosperity" through economic and cultural cooperation and tourism. A new Adriatic and Ionian Sea council is to convene regularly at the ministerial and European Commission levels to discuss a variety of issues, notably illegal activities such as smuggling of people and drugs. Story from AFP / Ljubomir Milosan Copyright 2000 by Agence France-Presse (via ClariNet) http://www.clari.net/hot/wed/az/Qitaly-crime.RmJ-_AyI.html ========================================== AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE Editor jailed for urging war crimes trial of Yugoslav minister June 03, 2000 BELGRADE, June 3 (AFP) - A woman newspaper editor has been jailed for three months for writing that Yugoslavia's deputy prime minister should be handed over to the UN war crimes tribunal, which has issued a warrant for his arrest, a report said Saturday. Dusica Radulovic, editor of the daily Borske Novine in the Serbian town of Bor, had written in an article that deputy premier Nicola Sainovic "should go to The Hague." News of the sentence was broadcast by the independent radio station B2-92, broadcasting by satellite. The station went temporarily off the air last month when police took over control of leading independent television station Studio B, whose airwaves B2-92 had been using. The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) has indicted Sainovic on war crimes charges in Kosovo. The indictment was published in May of last year, together with those against President Slobodan Milosevic and three other top-rank Yugoslav officials. Miroslav Radulvoc, husband of the imprisoned newspaper editor, told the radio he himself had recently been sentenced to a six-month suspended sentence for publishing a photomontage of President Milosevic. Serbia's independent and opposition-controlled media have been the target of a harsh official crackdown. A private radio station in Hungary, Tilos Radio, has agreed to broadcast news in Serbian from station B2-92 five times a day on FM. Hungarian Foreign Minister Janos Martonyi hailed Tilos Radio's "exemplary support" for B2-92, which has been able to broadcast only by Internet or satellite since the Yugoslav government raided Studio B's premises which also housed the radio facilities. Story from AFP Copyright 2000 by Agence France-Presse (via ClariNet) http://www.clari.net/hot/wed/ac/Qyugo-media.RoYK_Au3.html ========================================== WASHINGTON POST Albright Meets With Montenegro Head The Associated Press June 03, 2000 BERLIN -- Secretary of State Madeleine Albright met Saturday with President Milo Djukanovic of Montenegro, signaling U.S. support for the smaller of the two republics that make up Yugoslavia. Albright offered her sympathy for the slaying of Goran Zugic, the national security adviser in the independence-minded republic, a senior U.S. official said. It was the first slaying of a prominent Montenegrin official after a series of high-profile killings in Serbia, and Rifat Rastoder, a deputy speaker of Montenegro's parliament, has accused the Yugoslav government of complicity. Djukanovic is at odds with Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic and is seeking autonomy or outright independence from Belgrade. Albright and Djukanovic also discussed Yugoslav actions against the media and the general situation in the area, the State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said. ? Copyright 2000 The Associated Press http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/aponline/20000603/aponline080831_000.ht m ========================================== WASHINGTON POST Serb Police Detain 40 Activists The Associated Press June 03, 2000 BELGRADE, Yugoslavia -- Serbian police detained 40 opposition activists, including an 11-year-old, in intensified raids on opponents of President Slobodan Milosevic, the independent Beta news agency reported today. The arrests took place in several towns across Serbia, mostly targeting activists of the increasingly popular anti-Milosevic organization Otpor, or Resistance, who are now being routinely arrested whenever seen carrying the organization's symbol - a clenched fist ? or merely for putting up posters calling for resistance to the regime. The largest single group arrested Friday was in the town of Smederevska Palanka, 35 miles southeast of Belgrade, where police pushed 20 Otpor activists into police vans and interrogated them for two hours at a police station. The 11-year-old was arrested in Ivanjica, in south-central Serbia, for waving a flag with the Otpor sign. The Beta report said police also questioned the boy's father who defended his son's support for the opposition. Milosevic's government has declared Otpor a "terrorist" group and prosecutes its members, saying Otpor has not been registered as an organization. The authorities, however, have rejected all applications by Otpor leaders to be officially registered as a group. At least three members of two leading opposition parties, the Democrats and Serbian Renewal Movement, were also arrested in two other towns in Serbia. Leaflets and posters of Otpor and the opposition parties found with the activists were confiscated in nearly all cases. Homes of several activists were also thoroughly searched by the police in what has become a daily routine in cracking down on dissent. ? Copyright 2000 The Associated Press http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/aponline/20000603/aponline082156_000.ht m ========================================== SINGAPORE PRESS HOLDINGS Milosevic's grip in Serbia May 31, 2000 By LOUISE BRANSON IN WASHINGTON SOME frightening and brutal things have been happening in Serbia in the year since Nato -- led by the US -- condemned Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic as a Hitler figure for his brutality against Albanians in Kosovo and bombed his forces into submission. For one, there have been dozens of mysterious killings of prominent people on the streets, Chicago gangster-style: The head of Yugoslav airlines, a defence minister, senior police officials, the notorious warlord Arkan, to name but a few. Former Soviet leader Josef Stalin used to eliminate those who rose to positions where they could threaten him. Is this then Mr Milosevic's way -- imitating Stalin -- of preventing a threat from within the ruling elite? And at the same time, promoting an atmosphere of fear and insecurity? Most Serbs believe, though it is impossible to prove, that Mr Milosevic is behind the killing. Particularly of people like Arkan, who could have provided useful information pertinent to Mr Milosevic's indictment at the Hague War Crimes Tribunal. Then there has been the increasingly brutal crackdown on dissent. After months of harassing the few small independent media outlets -- imposing massive fines, withholding newsprint, imprisoning journalists -- Milosevic's police seized outright the main opposition TV station and radio transmitter. ORWELLIAN MEDIA MOST Serbs -- with few resources and struggling on average incomes of less than US$50 (S$86) a month -- have TV sets and radios that can only receive the Orwellian official media. Mr Milosevic, using classic Stalinist tactics, has long succeeded in smearing and discrediting main opposition figures like Mr Vuk Draskovic and Mr Zoran Djindjic. The official media portrays them regularly as ""agents'' and ""spies'' for, Nato, an alliance disliked by most Serbs because it dropped bombs on them last summer. But most ordinary Serbs have, anyway, lost their faith in the main opposition parties which suffer the ""Balkan malady'' of being unable to put aside personal bickering for a larger cause. The hopeless state of the opposition was evident last weekend at demonstrations in Belgrade. Less than 15,000 showed up. If the ""grown up'' opposition is all but impotent, however, a new credible threat has now emerged: An energetic grassroots student organisation known as Otpor (Resistance), which has little but derision for its opposition elders. Using the symbol of fists raised in defiance, it is calling for widespread civil disobedience. Mr Milosevic's fear of Otpor is evident. Some 700 of its members have been jailed. And Mr Milosevic closed down the universities a week early to prevent outbreaks of unrest. His officials are busy drafting new ""anti-terrorist'' laws allowing 60-day detentions without charges. Independent foreign organisations which had been helping build a civil society are also to be banned. Mr Milosevic -- known as the ""Invisible Man'' because he is never seen on the streets of Belgrade -- has good reason to be afraid of the wrath of his repressed people. He has many enemies in Serbia who would kill him given half a chance. Setting foot outside Serbia could mean a trip to the Hague court. He has a single aim: To preserve his power. He is gambling that he can hang on like a European Saddam Hussein. He has told visitors that he can see out the Clinton administration and that a new Gore or Bush administration will be too distracted to pay him much attention. Some international developments are already playing his way. HARD-LINE STAND THE US wants to continue a hard line towards Mr Milosevic. But many Europeans believe constructive engagement would better serve regional stability. Some sanctions, including a ban on flights, are already crumbling. In addition, the Russians under their new leader Vladmir Putin have just extended US$102 million in credits and provided oil. The Russians, thumbing their nose at Nato, also, officially, received one of the men indicted with Mr Milosevic by the Hague tribunal. So, what is to be done? Do the forces which pounded Mr Milosevic's Serbia last year, in the name of moral rectitude, have a duty to see the punishment through, and remove this nasty dictator? But with Serbia off the front pages and America distracted by presidential politics, there seems little chance that will happen. Which means that Mr Milosevic seems destined to continue to wreak havoc. Without international intervention, he could push his country into civil war, particularly since his forces are goading the junior republic of Montenegro. One thing is for certain: He will never go quietly or through the ballot box. Nor, if he has his way, very soon. [The Washington-based writer has covered Yugoslavian issues and developments for a number of years in Belgrade. She has also co-authored a book on Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic. She contributed this article to The Straits Times.] The Straits Times Copyright ? 2000 Singapore Press Holdings. http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/opinion/opin2_0531.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 http://www.khao.org/appkosova/appkosova-report0041.htm Very useful statistics and update from ICRC on missing persons from Kosova can be found at: http://www.reliefweb.int/w/rwb.nsf/480fa8736b88bbc3c12564f6004c8ad5/60c532db df49f6878525688f006f80d4?OpenDocument Archives of the A-PAL Newsletters may be found at: http://www.khao.org/appkosova.htm Albanian Prisoner Advocacy List -- Prisoner Pals Newsletter, No. 025 From kosova at jps.net Sat Jun 10 18:04:06 2000 From: kosova at jps.net (kosova at jps.net) Date: Sat, 10 Jun 2000 15:04:06 -0700 Subject: [A-PAL] A-PAL Anniversary Report Message-ID: Welcome to Albanian Prisoner Advocacy List -- Prisoner Pals Newsletter A-PAL ANNIVERSARY REPORT June 09, 2000 Association Of Political Prisoners Kosova Action Network THE WAR IS NOT OVER UNTIL THE PRISONERS COME HOME -- Jaime Shea, NATO spokesperson, 02/05/00 On June 10, 1999, over 2,000 Albanians were illegally taken to Serb prisons. Tragically, nearly one thousand are still there a year later. This action was the result of both the United States Administration's desire to end the NATO bombing as quickly as possible and the on-going failure of the West to create a comprehensive, just peace plan for Kosova that would protect the rights of all the people in Kosova. A-PAL takes this opportunity of the one year anniversary to look back at the prisoner issue since January, 2000. The continuing illegal detention of the remaining 950 Albanians in Serbia is a disconcerting comment on the failure of the West to implement a just peace in Kosova . CALL FOR JUSTICE The International Government Organizations: OSCE, UN, NATO, EU, EP, and the U.S. MUST stand up against the Serb Ministry of Justice's abuses and INSIST on the rule of law -- Equal for ALL. Outside groups must focus on the principle of human rights throughout the region; these principles must be upheld with consequences for those who fail to do so. This urgent need was made clear during the UN Security Council members visit to Kosova. Within Serbia this means the following actions must be implemented: 1. The Immediate Release of all Albanian Prisoners 2. The Arrest of Indicted War Criminals 3. Free Elections -- Not Civil War Within Kosova this means the following actions: 1. The Adoption of the Tolerance Platform Endorsed by KTC, KFOR and Serb Kosova leaders 2. To Install Judges and Trials 3. To Aid ICRC in locating 150 missing Serbs 4. To Aid ICRC in locating over 3,000 missing Albanians 5. To Begin War Crimes Trials FAILURE TO DEMAND FOCUS ON THE PRINCIPLES OF JUSTICE WILL RESULT IN FURTHER UNNECESSARY VIOLENCE AND DESTRUCTION. SUGGESTED ACTION: Use the compiled quotations listed below to advocate for justice and equality for all those suffering illegal imprisonment in Serbia. Email to the addresses listed below. Now is the time, more than ever, to email the UN Security Council members. Emphasize that the rule of law should be the primary need and focus for all agencies and officers in the region. Violating guaranteed human rights because you were ordered to do so is no excuse for condoning illegal behavior. Not until all sides - Serbian people themselves, NATO and the West, Kosovar Albanians - put the principles of justice foremost and act to enforce laws on all sides will the situation begin to move forward towards peace and away from war. ========================================== EMAIL ADDRESSES / CONTACT INFO: ========================================== * The European Court of Human Rights, Council of Europe in Strasbourg, France: e-mail webmaster at courtl.coe.fr or telephone + 33-3-88-412018 * United States of America: usaun at undp.org * Canada: canada at un.int * United Kingdom: uk at un.int * Ukraine: ukrun at undp.org * Tunisia: tunun at undp.org * Russian Federation: rusun at un.int * Malaysia: mysun at undp.org * Netherlands: netherlands at un.int * Jamaica: jamaica at un.int * France: france at un.int * China: chinun at undp.org * Canada: canada at un.int * Bangladesh: bangladesh at un.int * Argentina: argentina at un.int * Representative Engel's office (Chairman of the Albanian Caucus): jason.steinbaum at mail.house.gov * National Albanian American Council: naacdc at aol.com * Doris Pack: Chairperson-Southeast Europe Delegation: dpack at europarl.eul.int * Emma Bonino: ebonino at agora.stm.it * Elmar Brock: Chairman Human Rights ebrok at europarl.eu.int * Bart Staes: bstaes at europarl.eu.int * Patricia McKenna: mckennap at iol.ie * Heidi Hautala: hautala at vihrealiitto.fi * Ole Krarup: ole.kraup at jur.ku.dk * Daniel Cohn-Bendit: dcohn-bendit at europarl.eu.int * Cecelia Malmstrom: cecelia at liberal.se * Hans_gert Poettering: hpoettering at europarl.eu.int * Per Gahrton: pgahrton at europarl.eu.int * Jose Pomes Ruis: pomes at abc.ibernet.com * Christina Prets: eu-buero.prets at members.at * Heidi Ruhle: hruhle at europarl.eu.int * Elisabeth Schroedter: eschroedter at europarl.eu.int * Staffan B. Linder: sbl at moderat.se * Gunilla Carlsson: gcarlsson at europarl.eu.int * Den Dover: ddover at demon.uk * Olivier Duhamel: oduhamel at europarl.eu.int * Olivier Dupuis: o.dupuis at agora.stm.it * Marialiese Flemming: mflemming at europarl.eu.int * Karl Heinz Florenz: kflorenz at europarl.eu.int * Michael Gahler: mgahler at europarl.eu.int * Vasco Graca Moura: vgm at mail.telepac.pt * Marco Pannaella: m.pannella at agora.it * Mihail Papayannakis: papagiannakis at syn.gr * Slobodan Milosevic--President of FRY- fax: 011-381-11-636-775 * Vlajko Stoijiljkovic--Minister of Int. Affairs -- 011-381-11-3617-508 * Zoran Sokolovic-- Federal Minister of Internal Affairs-- 011-381-11-361-7730 * Zivadin Jovanovic--Fed. Minister of Foreign Affairs-- 011-381-11-367-2954 ========================================== Here is a list of Ministry of Justice officials who have participated in the unfair trials and detentions of Albanians and Serbs. Please forward this list to your foreign affairs leader, the Security Council, and the EU. Ask that these people be investigated for violating or knowing of approximately 60 different international human rights laws regarding law enforcement. Urge, besides the investigation into the Dubrava massacre, an investigation into the 20,000 documented rapes of Albanian girls and women carried out by Serb forces (www.khao.org/report023.htm). Ignoring these crimes and allowing them to continue on after the war is an international disgrace. * Milomir Lazic ? Leskovac, Investigation judge * Goran Petronijevic ? Belgrade, Now presiding over the mass trial of the 145 Gjakova deportees * Dragolub Zdravkovic - Judge of Nis district court * Goran Despotovic - Presheva Municipal Court * Aleksandar Obradovic - Deputy Prosecutor in Nis * Nikola Vazura - Pozharevac District Court Judge * Dragisa Slipjepcevic - Judge in Belgrade District Court * Marina Milanovic - Judge in Nis District Court; Sentenced Dr. Flora Brovina to a 12 year prison sentence * Danica Marinkovic - Investigating Judge in Nis; Investigated Racak massacre * Stipe Marusic - Director of Pozhrevac Prison * Lubomir Cumburovic - Former Director of Prishtina and Lipjan Prisons where thousands of Albanians were brutally tortured and murdered; now at Sremska Mitrovica Prison ========================================== THE YEAR IN QUOTES: ========================================== December, 1999: Flora Brovina's husband, Ajri Begu: "It was not Flora who was put on trial, it was the medical profession. It was a trial against all brave people, humanists, who stood in the way of the regime." December, 1999: Holly Cartner, "This trial is proceeding at the whim of Serbian political authorities, not the facts of the case. This is the pattern we've seen again and again in such trials against ethnic Albanians from Kosovo. We will call on the court to resist political pressure and to judge this case on the basis of facts. This is an opportunity to re-impose the rule of law in Serbia's judicial system." January, 2000: Shukrie Rexha, Association of Political Prisoners, Prishtina: "Let us not forget our beloved ones who are not with us. Thousands of Albanians are being tortured in Serb prisons. they fight for life simply because they are Albanians." January, 2000: Shemsi, age 15: "I cannot forget my time in prison. I worry all the time now that the people I left behind there will die." February, 2000: Barbara Davis: UNHCHR Belgrade: "Albanians in Serb prisons are in a kind of legal vacuum. There is no one to intervene on their behalf." February, 2000: Bernard Kouchner, UNMIK head: Demanded the immediate and unconditional release of all Kosovar Albanian prisoners. February, 2000: Sonja Biserko, Helsinki Human Rights/Belgrade: "Flora Brovina faced a classic political trial. The Yugoslav authorities want to destroy the core of Albanian society's emancipation." February, 2000: Carl Bildt, UN Special Envoy to FYR: "There is no proper peace agreement for Kosova." February, 2000: US Ambassador Richard Holbrooke: "The international community is handicapped by the regime in Belgrade and the large number of war criminals still at large." February, 2000: John Menzies, Kosova Advisor, US State Dept.: "The continued detention of Albanians in Serbia remains a tragic and vexing issue for the international community." March, 2000: Albin Kurti, Nis trial: "This court has nothing to do with truth or justice. It serves the policies of the Milosevic regime." March, 2000: Rep. Eliot Engel, US House of Representatives: "Belgrade has no jurisdiction over Kosova and no authority to imprison Kosova residents." March, 2000: Rep. Christopher Smith, CSCE Comm. Chairperson: "The U.S. Administration agreed to drop the prisoner issue from the technical agreement in order to expedite the cessation of the NATO air campaign. No human rights expert was included on the team who negotiated the military technical agreement." March, 2000: "How can I be free when my soul is in prison?" D. Pllana, Prishtina family member. March, 2000: Mahmouti Bardyl, Vice-president of Kosovo's Democratic Progress Party, "We demand that the war criminals be arrested and convicted and their hostages released, which would have an immediate effect on security." April, 2000: Gradimir Nalic, one of the lawyers defending the group, said the prosecution "had no single evidence which could lead to individually established guilt of any of the defendants." April, 2000: Mehmetali Rexhepi, "The issue of the prisoners is the most sensitive wound." April, 2000: Mr. Kouchner has asked in vain for a special UN envoy to handle the prisoner issue. April, 2000: Juris Dinstbier, UNHR rapporteur for FYR: "The Flora Brovina trial and conviction are absolutely made up. Albin Kurti was convicted without any proof, in total violation of the Yugoslav legal system." April, 2000: Natasa Kandic, HLC/Belgrade: "These 145 Albanians are innocent civilians who were kidnapped from Djakovica eleven months ago." April, 2000: Suzy Blaustein, ICG senior advisor: "If human rights lay closer to the center of policy determination, many of Kosova and Serbia's problems would long since have been resolved." April, 2000: Dr. Flora Brovina: "I am a doctor and a poet. I have committed no terrorist acts." May, 2000: Bejta (released prisoner) confined himself to just a few words on his detention: "Even cows wouldn't be treated like that." May, 2000: prisoner's mother, Hajrije Limaj, age 60, Prishtina: "Even though we are freed of Serb oppression, we continue to cry." May, 2000: UN Security Council Amb. Chowdury of Bangladesh: "It is something that is burning continuously and this aspect needs special attention. The UN Security Council cannot maintain credibility if it fails to address the issue of imprisoned and missing." June, 2000: Louis Sell, ICG Kosovo office: "It's a disgrace that the Serbs were allowed to leave with thousands of prisoners who are really hostages. It's poisoning the atmosphere here." June, 2000: Kosovarja Kelmendi, HLC/Prishtina: "Without a solution to this problem, it's impossible to have peace and stability in Kosova." June, 2000: Richard Mertens, CS Monitor: "Their imprisonment not only has brought pain to the families, it has worsened relations between minority Serbs living in Kosova and majority Albanians, and it has left many Albanians increasingly frustrated with the West." June, 2000: Louis Sell, a former American diplomat who heads the Kosovo office of the International Crisis Group, "It's really a disgrace that [the Serbs] were allowed to leave with thousands of prisoners who are really hostages. While these people were languishing in jail, they just weren't on the screen. But it's poisoning the atmosphere here." June, 2000: Halil Matoshi, a magazine editor who spent eight months in a Serbian prison, "This is like a new bombardment of Kosovo, by Serbian forces," says. "With this case, the problems between Serbs and Albanians will grow worse and worse." -- MAY, 2000 Mr. Petronijevic said the court's decision was unanimous. ?Paraffin tests had established beyond reasonable doubt that those sentenced had used weapons. There might have been shortcomings in the test, but the results must be accepted as valid because they were conducted in wartime conditions. It is impossible to determine your individual guilt, but that is not necessary." ... the mass trial of the 143 Gjakova residents resulted in a total sentencing of 1,632 years in prison... -- We thank you for your support during this past year and wish immediate closure on the prisoner issue on behalf of the Albanian families; for the sake of stabilization, for the sake of peace, and for the sake of our futures, together. ### ========================================== Albanian Prisoner Advocacy List -- Prisoner Pals Newsletter Anniversary Report, June 09, 2000