[A-PAL] A-PAL Anniversary Report

[kosova at jps.net]

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.

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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.

###

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Albanian Prisoner Advocacy List -- Prisoner Pals Newsletter
Anniversary Report, June 09, 2000