[A-PAL] A-PAL Newsletter, No. 023

[kosova at jps.net]

Welcome to Albanian Prisoner Advocacy List -- Prisoner Pals Newsletter,
No. 023, May 15, 2000

This report highlights the developments on the prisoner issue for the week
of May 07, 2000.

==========================================
A-PAL STATEMENT:
==========================================
     Further brutality and arrests against media, lawyers, demonstrators,
and NGO workers are now everyday signs of the level of ever-increasing
repression in Serbia. We hope that A-PAL readers will note that EVERYONE IS
EQUAL UNDER THE LAW. A Ministry of Justice system that is willing to condone
or ignore illegal behavior in its arrests, detentions, torture, and trials
of ethnic Albanians from Kosova has also, by the same token, tolerated or
cooperated with beating, unlawful arrests, and even assassinations if those
are their political orders. There are still laws in Yugoslavia that prohibit
torture and brutality, that allow people the right to assemble, to have free
speech and a fair trial.
   Recently the UN Security Council visited Kosova. They noticed everywhere
they went that the number one need in the region is to establish the rule of
law and justice. They have allowed these vital core values to deteriorate
grievously over the past year - by not sending enough police to Kosova, by
not implementing law and order in a protectorate with no jails or trials.
   That, then, is not a Protectorate if basic human rights are not
protected.  It is a Disrespectorate.
   The four hundred murders of Serb civilians should have been acted upon
immediately. The disappearance of the 2,000 Albanian prisoners should have
been acted upon immediately. This year's crackdown on the Serb media should
have drawn an immediate response from the UN and EU. Those who have
perpetrated war crimes and are indicted should be arrested immediately.

==========================================
WEEK OF MAY 07, 2000 TOPICS:
==========================================
* UNITED NATIONS: KTC Adopts a Major Political Statement on Tolerance
* UNMIK: Commission for identifying missing persons endorsed
* KFOR: Commander Endorses KTC Commitments
* VIP 1765: Constant Exchange of Prisoners On Kosovo Border With Serbia
Proper
* Washington File:  U.S. Wants Special U.N. Envoy for Missing, Detainees in
Kosovo
* FREEB92 DAILY NEWS: Albanians again in court in Nis
* Radio 21: Serb National Council supports proposal to release Albanians
* INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE OF THE RED CROSS: Missing persons from the Kosovo
crisis
* RADIO 21: Latest Events
* ABC NEWS: Kosovo Albanians deny Serb charges in mass trial
* AIM: Anniversary of Flora Brovina's Arrest
* HUMANITARIAN LAW CENTER COMMUNIQUE: Trial Of Djakovica Group Resumes
* AFP: 144 Kosovo Albanians accused of terrorism deny charges
* KOSOVAPRESS: Five Albanian prisoners released from Serbia jails
* KOSOVAPRESS: Continues the trial of 140 Albanian prisoners from Gjakova
* HUMANITARIAN LAW CENTER COMMUNIQUE: Four Kosovo Albanians released
* KOSOVAPRESS: It is released one prisoner
* FREEB92 DAILY NEWS: Police arrest young Otpor activist in Arilje
* FREEB92 DAILY NEWS: Protest rally in Pozarevac tomorrow
* HUMANITARIAN LAW CENTER COMMUNIQUE: HLC Attorneys Questioned By Police
* REUTERS: Serb activists freed before opposition rally
* HUMANITARIAN LAW CENTER COMMUNIQUE: Detained Otpor Activists Released and
then Re-Arrested
* Agence France-Presse: First Kosovo warcrimes trial to start June 6 amid
hunger strike pressure
* GRUPA484: OTPOR's Reactions on being called a Terrorist Organization
* GROUP 484: Serbia, violated Constitutional and Legal standards

==========================================
QUOTES OF THE WEEK:
==========================================
     Bangladesh Ambassador Anwarul Karim Chowdhury, head of the Security
Council Mission to Kosovo, May 11: "As has been mentioned repeatedly in our
report, the healing of the wounds and the process of reconciliation would
take a long time, but the international community cannot afford to relent,"
Chowdhury stressed. "It has invested in Kosovo in a big and positive way and
it cannot afford to fail."
     Halil Guta, May 8: "I am innocent before justice and before God, but
war is like a flood - it engulfs everything."

==========================================
WEEK’S REQUESTED ACTION:
==========================================
	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/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.
	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. 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

==========================================
FULL REPORTS AND ARTICLES BEGIN HERE:
==========================================

UNITED NATIONS INTERIM ADMINISTRATION
MISSION IN KOSOVO

Press Release
May 10, 2000

KTC Adopts a Major Political Statement on Tolerance

The Kosovo Transitional Council today adopted the following statement:

	"The Kosovo Transitional Council demands of the authorities of the FRY the
unconditional handover to the UNMIK authorities of all Kosovo Albanians and
member of other Kosovo communities held in Serbian prisons and other
detention facilities.
	"The Kosovo Transitional Council demands that the Government of the FRY
grant immediate access for the International Committee of the Red Cross to
all detention facilities in Serbia where Kosovo Albanians and members of
other Kosovo communities are held.
	"The Kosovo Transitional Council demands that the Government of the FRY
make available to UNMIK all information related to Kosovo Albanians and
members of other Kosovo communities who went missing during the past
conflict.
	"The Kosovo Transitional Council requests that all Albanian and Serb
political leaders in Kosovo, along with KFOR, UNMIK, ICTY, ICRC, and all
people of good will in Kosovo and outside Kosovo, cooperate in establishing
the fate of persons of the Albanian, Serbian, Roma, Bosniac, Turkish,
Ashkali, and Egyptian communities who went missing or may have been
kidnapped before, during and after the conflict.
	"Individuals and organizations, in Kosovo and outside Kosovo, who can
provide information on the fate of missing or kidnapped persons of all
communities are urged to channel that information to the UNMIK authorities,
through any appropriate channel.
	"The Kosovo Transitional Council calls on the relevant United Nations
bodies to appoint a special envoy for detainees and missing persons at the
earliest date.
	"All Members of the Kosovo Transitional Council and, in particular, the
Serb Members of the Council, express their strongest condemnation of the
crimes, repression and discrimination suffered by the Kosovo Albanian
community and other communities in the past, and call for the perpetrators
of such crimes to be brought to justice.
	"All Members of the Kosovo Transitional Council and, in particular, the
Kosovo Albanian Members of the Council, express their strongest condemnation
of the crimes and violent acts against the Serb and other communities, which
occurred in post-conflict Kosovo, and call for the perpetrators of such
crimes to be brought to justice. They call on all individuals and
communities in Kosovo to refrain from the use of
violence, and to solve all disputes through peaceful means.
	"All Members of the Kosovo Transitional Council express their serious
concern for the present situation of the Serb community and minorities in
Kosovo, and for the limitations on the exercise of their fundamental rights,
and undertake to do their utmost for improving the situation, in cooperation
with UNMIK.
	"All Members of the Kosovo Transitional Council recognize the right of
immediate voluntary return of members of all communities.
	"All Members of the Kosovo Transitional Council recognize the right of
members of all communities to participate freely in the institutions of
Kosovo, and in the institution building process."

	Only one member, Mr. Gjergj Dedaj, of the Liberal Party of Kosovo (PLK),
declined to endorse the statement.
	The KTC also received the regular security briefing from KFOR and UNMIK
Police.

http://www.un.org/peace/kosovo/press/templ.pr.238.html

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

UN INTERIM ADMINISTRATION MISSION IN KOSOVO (UNMIK)
Commission for identifying missing persons endorsed


May 09, 2000

	The Interim Administrative Council (IAC) today endorsed the setting up of a
commission which will play a key role in identifying missing persons who
died during the recent conflict. The Victim Recovery and Identification
Commission (VRIC), which will be inaugurated on Thursday, will recover,
identify and dispose of the remains of bodies of war victims, in
coordination with the exhumation and investigation work by the International
Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.

http://www.un.org/peace/kosovo/news/update.htm


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

KFOR
Commander Endorses KTC Commitments

May 11, 2000

     The Commander of KFOR, Lieutenant-General Juan Ortuno, strongly
endorses the commitments made by all members of the Kosovo Transitional
Council during yesterday's session. Both Serb and Albanian members denounced
past and present crimes and called for perpetrators to be brought to
justice.
     All Serb members of the Council expressed their strongest condemnation
of the crimes, the repression and the discrimination suffered by the
Albanians and other communities in the past.
     For their part, all Albanian members strongly condemned crimes and
violence against Serb and other communities which have occurred in
post-conflict Kosovo. They further called on all citizens and communities to
refrain from violence, and to solve all disputes peacefully.
     "These enlightened commitments by the leaders of Kosovo's
administration are most vital for the rebuilding process," says the
Commander. "I wholeheartedly add my voice, and the influence of every KFOR
peacekeeper, to the call for an immediate end to the destructive cycle of
revenge and violence against fellow citizens.
     "As I said during my recent press conference, the focus of the world is
on Kosovo. The international community of nations is fully engaged in the
creation of a democratic future and all the citizens must work together to
foster co-existence and tolerance."

http://www.kforonline.com/news/updates/nu_11may00.htm

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

VIP 1765
Constant Exchange of Prisoners On Kosovo Border With Serbia Proper

May 10, 2000

	Jonathan Williamson, spokesman for the British KFOR contingent in Podujevo,
said that there is a constant exchange of prisoners underway in Merdare, the
border crossing between Serbia proper and Kosovo, Blic says on Wednesday.
	On the average, three Albanians and three Serbs are released a week,
Williamson said and added that the price for the release of an Albanian is
arranged by Serbian lawyers and the prisoners' families.
	The families give the Serbian lawyers 3,000 to 75,000 DEM for the release
of their family members, he said.
	Williamson said that 102 Albanians were released in March, 145 in April and
15 in May.

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

Washington File
U.S. Wants Special U.N. Envoy for Missing, Detainees in Kosovo

May 11, 2000

(Supports Security Council mission recommendation) (1,200)
By Judy Aita
Washington File United Nations Correspondent

United Nations -- The United States is strongly supporting Security Council
efforts to have a special envoy appointed to focus on the problem of
detainees and missing persons in Kosovo.
     U.S. Ambassador James Cunningham underscored the need for the
appointment of the envoy during a May 11 Security Council session discussing
the report of a Council special mission to Kosovo last month.      In its
report to the Council, the eight-member mission said it found strong support
in all of Kosovo's ethnic community for a special envoy to deal with the
painful issue of missing persons and detainees.
     "This is an emotional and sensitive issue that is blocking progress on
inter-ethnic reconciliation. It needs to be addressed on an urgent basis,"
said Cunningham, who is U.S. deputy permanent representative to the U.N.
     Bangladesh Ambassador Anwarul Karim Chowdhury, head of the Security
Council Mission to Kosovo, said that "the issue of missing persons and
detainees has emerged as one of the major impediments to reconciliation and
peaceful coexistence. This issue was highlighted in the mission's meeting
with the families and communities who had been going through the agony for
months."
     "The situation in Kosovo is extremely complex" as is the task of the
U.N. Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) in implementing  the
Council's mandate, Chowdhury said. "The Security Council could not have
envisaged such wide-ranging involvement of the United Nations in Kosovo when
it adopted Resolution 1244. Every day brings in a new challenge or a
resurfacing of the one tackled earlier."
     The ambassador said that a return to normalcy is gradually taking place
in Kosovo, economic activities are slowly picking up, and there is a sense
that the ethnic communities want to live in peace together; but the security
situation poses "a major threat and continuing challenge" to UNMIK and KFOR.
     "The mission made use of every possible opportunity to send a strong
message to the ethnic communities to reject all violence, to promote
stability, safety and security, and to cooperate fully with UNMIK in the
implementation of Resolution 1244. We are pleased to say the mission's
message was taken seriously and with a full understanding that a
multi-ethnic society presents the best hope for the people of Kosovo," he
said.
     "As has been mentioned repeatedly in our report, the healing of the
wounds and the process of reconciliation would take a long time, but the
international community cannot afford to relent," Chowdhury stressed. "It
has invested in Kosovo in a big and positive way and it cannot afford to
fail."
     The mission visited Kosovo from April 27 to 29, meeting with key people
in UNMIK, the NATO-led peacekeeping force known as KFOR, and the various
ethnic communities in the province. The eight ambassadors crisscrossed
Kosovo from Mitrovica to Prizren, from Gnjilane to Djakovica, with Pristina
as their base.
     In addition to Chowdhury, other members of the mission were Ambassador
Arnoldo Listre of Argentina; Ambassador Michel Duval of Canada; Ambassador
Shen Guofang of China; Ambassador M. Patricia Durrant of Jamaica; Ambassador
Hasmy Agam of Malaysia; Ambassador Sergey Lavrov of Russia; and Ambassador
Volodymyr Yel'chenko of Ukraine.
     Cunningham said it was "good that members of the Council were able to
walk the ground and see firsthand [U.N. Special Representative Bernard]
Kouchner in action, the hard task and challenges that UNMIK faces, the
effects of the violence and devastation inflicted by Belgrade in Kosovo, and
understand more fully the problems which now exist."
     "We hope the visit also helped make more apparent the disingenuousness
of speaking of Belgrade's interest in cooperation in support of UNMIK's
mission," Cunningham said.
     The U.S. ambassador backed the mission's "unqualified praise" for
Kouchner who, he said, "has done a truly outstanding job leading UNMIK in
the most difficult of circumstances."
     Noting that the mission characterized the situation in Kosovo as
"improving but extremely difficult," Cunningham said that "sustained
attention and ample resources of the international community will be needed
in order to implement fully Resolution 1244. It is clear that UNMIK has set
the right goals for the immediate future – consolidation of the rule of law
and further work on the interim political framework."
     In his remarks to the Council, Cunningham highlighted some of the
security, political, and economic concerns. He said the United States
believes the mission's report makes important recommendations on security.
"Additional international judges and resources for the judicial sector will
help make fair trials and effective criminal prosecution the rule rather
than the exception in all of Kosovo."
     "UNMIK has done an impressive job of balancing its law-and-order
function with its responsibility to create a local Kosovo police service.
These efforts must be expedited," Cunningham said.
     Kosovo must move expeditiously to autonomous self-government under
institutions designed to protect the interests of everyone, he said.
     "Municipal elections are an important first step. These elections must
go ahead as scheduled this fall," the ambassador said, noting that the
United States will continue to support voter registration projects.
     "Reports that members of the Serb community are registering for these
elections against the wishes of some of their leaders suggests that UNMIK
should redouble its efforts to encourage participation by all groups in
these elections," Cunningham added.
     Economic reform is also crucial, he said. "It will support those
leaders in Kosovo willing to speak out against violence and to reject the
politics of ethnic hatred. "
     "By clarifying the difficult issue of property ownership and adopting
strong and sustainable macro-economic policies, UNMIK will help to bring
prosperity to Kosovo and strengthen its own administrative structure.
Economic revitalization will help reinforce programs aimed at promoting the
return of refugees and displaced persons, an understandable priority for the
Kosovo Serb community," Cunningham said.
     In its written report to the Council, the special mission said that
despite a steady improvement in the overall level of violence and
criminality, attacks against minorities continue and special measures of
protection must constantly be maintained.
     Inadequate physical, social and economic security remains a major
concern, the report said. "Lack of freedom of movement, access to education,
health care, social services and employment hampers the return of internally
displaced persons -- primarily Serbs and the Roma -- and significantly
impedes the integration of ethnic minorities into public life."
     The lack of an effective and unbiased rule of law in Kosovo was a
recurring theme at many of the mission's meetings, the report said. The
mission supported UNMIK's intention to recruit international judges and
prosecutors to work alongside locals to help redress "the perceived culture
of impunity which currently undermines the judicial system."
     The report also noted that UNMIK has only been deployed for 10 months
and there should be "realistic expectations" of what can be achieved in such
a short time. "Healing the wounds inflicted by the conflict will take time.
Reconciliation is a long and protracted process and the international
community must be patient and persistent."

(The Washington File is a product of the Office of International
Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site:
http://usinfo.state.gov)

http://usinfo.state.gov/cgi-bin/washfile/display.pl?p=/products/washfile/geo
g/eu&f=00051104.wwe&t=/products/washfile/newsitem.shtml

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

FREEB92 DAILY NEWS
Albanians again in court in Nis

May 08, 2000

NIS, Monday - The hearing of conspiracy charges against 145 Kosovo Albanians
continued today in the Nis Municipal Court. Ten of the 145 residents of the
Kosovo town of Djakovica today pleaded not guilty. Ninety of the defendants
have so far given statements that they had not left their houses on the day
the offences are alleged to have occurred.
     One of the lawyers appearing for the Albanian defendants, Mustafa
Radonjici, told the court today that he and another lawyer, Teki Bosko, were
last night detained by police and their documents checked. Radonjici
demanded that they be given protection by the court and that the Ministry of
Justice urge police to desist from harassing lawyers defending the
Albanians.

http://www.freeb92.net/archive/e/

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

Radio 21
Serb National Council supports proposal to release Albanians

May 09, 2000

	The Serb National Council of Kosova supported the proposal to release
Albanians from Serbian prisons. The Serbian Council suggested that Albanian
prisoners should be handed to the UN civilian mission in Kosova. The Serbian
Archbishop, Artemije, said there are 1200 disappeared Serbs in Kosova. The
Albanians claim that more than 1200 Albanians are still being held in
Serbian prisons while around 5000 are considered as disappeared persons.
	Meanwhile the International Red Cross Organisation says 5 Albanians are
released from Serbian prisons today. The released prisoners are from
Skenderaj.

Copyright © Radio 21 1998-1999 office at radio21.net
http://www.radio21.net/english/e9_5_00a.htm

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

INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE OF THE RED CROSS
Missing persons from the Kosovo crisis : ICRC response

May 09, 2000

     The fighting may have stopped in Kosovo, but many thousands of people
cannot find real peace whilst the fate of their family members remains
unknown. For the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC),  tackling
the humanitarian issue of missing persons is one its most important
operational priorities in Kosovo and elsewhere in the Federal Republic of
Yugoslavia (FRY) today.
     Regrettably, neither the plight of detainees nor of missing persons was
specifically addressed in the agreement signed in Kumanovo between NATO and
the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia or the subsequent UN Security Council
Resolution 1244 of June 1999. Nevertheless, the ICRC, on the basis of its
internationally-recognised mandate, assumed a lead role on the issue of
missing persons and successfully negotiated in Belgrade access to the
detainees the authorities notified as being still in detention following the
Kosovo crisis.
     At the time of writing, more than 4,800 names of missing persons had
been collected directly from families; over 1,500 of whose fate the ICRC has
been able to clarify, mainly through its detention visits (see table below
for detailed breakdown). The majority of the remaining around 3,300 still
reported as missing are Kosovo Albanians, but they also importantly include
Serbs, Roma and people from other communities.
     Families visiting ICRC offices both in Kosovo and elsewhere in FRY
anxious for news of their relatives is a daily occurrence; it is clear that
the anguish in no way diminishes but increases as time goes by. They find it
impossible to rebuild their lives in a fundamental way whilst the
uncertainty prevails.
     The ICRC's commitment is aimed exclusively at trying to help families
in their quest to know the truth. It is and will remain active in using all
the means available to provide answers; through dialogue with the concerned
authorities in Belgrade and Pristina, through following up credible and
reliable information on-the-ground and cooperating with other organisations
active on the issue through a coordination group it has established and
chairs (UNMIK and the international police, OSCE, OHCHR, ICMP and others).
     On February 21 & 22, 2000, the ICRC officially submitted to the
authorities in Belgrade and 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 for the sake of the families.
     This step was part of an ongoing operational process which began in
earnest with the massive return of refugees to Kosovo in June, 1999. After
helping to bring tens of thousands of people who had temporarily lost
contact with their relatives back in touch, the ICRC was able to begin to
establish just how many people remained unaccounted for.
     ICRC teams were mobilised in all of its offices in Kosovo to
systematically visit towns and villages to encourage families to come
forward with the information of missing relatives. Most of the names
gathered were from Kosovo Albanians reporting that their family members had
been arrested, but in Kosovo and also elsewhere in FRY the ICRC was also
gathering information from hundreds of families of Serbian, Roma and other
communities who were reporting that their relatives had been abducted by the
Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) or civilians.
     At the same time, the authorities in Belgrade notified and allowed
access to around 1700 detainees which not only enabled the ICRC to clarify
the fate of some of the tracing cases it had gathered, but was a source of
considerable comfort to families on the outside.

The scale of the problem

So far, as from May 4 2000, the ICRC has gathered and recorded the following
information on missing persons:

Persons reported as unaccounted for during the Kosovo crisis 01.01.98 to
04.05.2000

Total number of persons unaccounted for:                  4,848
Total number of persons whose fate has been clarified:    1,525
of which:
 confirmed dead                                             151
 confirmed alive                                          1,374
of which:
 visited in prison                                        1,306
Total number of persons that remain unaccounted for:      3,323
of which:
 persons reportedly arrested by the Yugoslav Armed
and Security Forces or abducted by Serb civilians:        1,968
 persons reportedly abducted by the Kosovo Liberation
Army or Kosovo Albanian civilians:                          366
 persons for whom there is no information on whereabouts:   989

Visits to people currently detained in relation to the Kosovo crisis
04.05.2000

Kovovo

Persons visited in KFOR places of detention: 54

FRY

Persons visited in places of detention in FRY (Serbia and Montenegro): 1249
Persons released by the authorities and transported by the ICRC to Kosovo:
750

Measures taken by the ICRC

    Visits to detainees: while the ICRC had been visiting Kosovo Albanian
prisoners held by the Serbian authorities for many years before the current
crisis, these visits had to be broken off during the conflict between NATO
and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia in 1999 for security reasons. In June
1999 the ICRC was able to negotiate the resumption of these visits and by
July it had registered some 1'700 detainees, whose families were immediately
informed. Further visits have been taking place continuously since then
which have enabled ICRC to establish the fate of around 1'300 people
reported missing.
     Approaches to the authorities concerned: repeated efforts were made
during the internal conflict between the Serbian security forces and the
KLA, through KLA field personnel and their political counterparts, to try to
establish the fate of some 150 Serb civilians whose families had reported
them abducted. Similar approaches on behalf of Kosovo Albanians were
conducted with the authorities in Belgrade. Further efforts have been made
at a local level since the ending of hostilities in Kosovo. Regrettably, no
firm information on the plight of the 150 people, and the others reported
since, has so far been forthcoming.
     Tracing in the field: extensive efforts have been made by ICRC field
teams in towns and villages throughout Kosovo to urge the population to come
forward with information. A system of "tracing by event" was introduced, in
which details were gathered of people who disappeared or were allegedly
detained/abducted at the same time. Based on the ICRC's experience in Bosnia
& Herzegovina, this could help provide additional information leading to the
clarification of cases. Families were also invited to notify their missing
relatives to the ICRC or the Yugoslav Red Cross in FRY.
     Co-ordination with other agencies: the ICRC has been officially
recognised as the lead agency in the question of missing persons in Kosovo,
and has established a co-ordination group with other organisations to share
information. It strongly encourages the continuation of the exhumation and
identification process begun last year and has a good working relationship
with those involved.

Further action to be taken

     Support for families: 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 FRY: its sole
responsibility is towards the families and their needs.
     Continued field work: aware that other families might not yet have come
forward with information on their missing relatives, the ICRC will continue
to register new information and subsequently submit it to the authorities
concerned, and will follow up on allegations of arrest or abduction.
     Visits to detainees: visits to detainees in FRY will continue for as
long as prisoners are held. Similarly, ICRC will continue to provide
transport back to Kosovo for those who are released (the great majority of
the around 850 detainees released have been escorted home in this way). In
Kosovo ICRC has access to persons detained by KFOR and the UNMIK police. In
all cases the purpose of the visits is the same: the try to ensure that the
prisoners have decent material and psychological conditions of detention,
that they are treated humanely, and to enable them to keep in contact with
their families through Red Cross messages.
     Contacts with the authorities: having submitted to the authorities the
information it has gathered so far, the ICRC will continue to maintain
dialogue with them on the issue and urge them to take all steps to establish
the fate of persons who disappeared in areas under their authority. The ICRC
considers that it is the responsibility of the concerned authorities to
spare no effort in seeking to provide answers.

http://www.reliefweb.int/w/rwb.nsf/480fa8736b88bbc3c12564f6004c8ad5/9d6d150c
8ab576bbc12568da005019ff?OpenDocument

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

RADIO 21
Latest Events

	The Council for Defense of Human Rights and Freedoms in Prishtina said two
dead bodies were found in a garden in village of Acareva today. These two
male Albanians civilians were killed by Serb forces during last year. Until
today they were considered as disappeared persons.
	A demonstration to protest against the Serbian regime which keeps thousands
of Albanians in prison was held today in Peja. After the protest around 30
people started a 24 hours hunger strike.

http://www.radio21.net/english/e8_5_00a.htm

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

ABC NEWS
Kosovo Albanians deny Serb charges in mass trial

May 08, 2000

BELGRADE, May 8 (Reuters) - Kosovo Albanians on trial in Serbia on Monday
denied charges of taking part in attacks against Serb forces during last
year's NATO air strikes on Yugoslavia, Belgrade media reported.
     The 25 defendants who testified before the court in the southern city
of Nis were part of a group of 143 Kosovo Albanians accused of "association
with the aim of hostile activity linked to terrorism." The penalty carries a
maximum 15-year sentence.
     So far 125 defendants have testified in the biggest mass trial ever
held in Yugoslavia. All have denied the charges.
     Halil Guta, one of the defendants, told the court his brother and
cousin were killed by NATO attacks on the prison in Dubrava, near the
western Kosovo town of Istok.
     Guta described the NATO attacks as "criminal."
     "I am innocent before justice and before God, but war is like a flood -
it engulfs everything," Guta said, adding he himself had been injured in the
bombing.
     The group is accused of forming a unit of the separatist Kosovo
Liberation Army (KLA) in the western Kosovo town of  Djakovica in April
1999, which was involved in attacks on Serb  forces.
     The prosecution charge sheet said the men took part in three
attacks against Serb forces in April and May 1999, in which a  policeman and
an army officer were killed, one soldier was  fatally wounded and six
policemen seriously wounded.
     Human rights lawyers have said the defendants were picked up
arbitrarily during a sweep of Djakovica by Serb forces that  began a day
after fighting with the KLA had ended and the  guerrillas had taken to the
hills.
     One of the defence lawyers, Mustafa Radonjici, called on the  judge for
protection and on the Justice Ministry to stop the  police from harassing
defence lawyers.
     He told the court that he and a colleague were taken to the police
station on Sunday night for identification, but then released. He added that
police had earlier also carried out identity checks of defence lawyers at
the reception of the hotel  where they were staying.
     The trial, which opened on April 18, resumes on Tuesday.
     NATO began its 11-week bombing campaign against Yugoslavia  in March
1999 to halt Serb repression in the majority ethnic  Albanian province of
Kosovo.

Copyright ©2000 ABC News Internet Ventures.

http://abcnews.go.com/wire/World/reuters20000508_3344.html

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

AIM
Anniversary of Flora Brovina's Arrest

May 10, 2000

Prisoner Despite Unproved Guilt

AIM Podgorica, 2 may, 2000
(By AIM correspondent from Belgrade)

     Among the few Asian and African dictatorships and undemocratic regimes,
Serbia bears the title of the country in which lives the best known
political prisoner in the world. More than a year has passed since the
arrest and almost six months since the imprisonment of the physician,
fighter for human, primarily women's rights, strong opponent to repression
of the Serbian regime against Kosovo Albanians and poetess Flora Brovina,
whose liberation is demanded by unions of writers and physicians from Paris
to Washington. This fifty-year old woman also differs from numerous Kosovo
Albanians arrested and imprisoned on the eve, during and after NATO bombing
of Yugoslavia because she is sentenced to the draconian punishment - twelve
years of hard labour.
     The case of Dr. Flora Brovina, arrested on 20 April 1999 in front of
her apartment in Pristina, has reached the Supreme Court of Serbia. At its
session scheduled for 16 May, the Supreme Court could decide to set her
free. Although, as claimed by Biljana Kovacevic-Vuco, president of Yugoslav
Committee of Lawyers for Human Rights, alleged guilt of Dr. Brovina has not
been proved, "there is little, almost no chance that the court will break
free of political control and do the just thing – reach the decision to free
her of all charges". Officially Brovina is sentenced to 12 years in prison
for having "committed the criminal act of association for the purpose of
hostile activities in connection with the criminal act of terrorism
committed at the time of direct threat of war and during the war", for which
the mildest prescribed punishment is ten years in prison. Lawyer
Kovacevic-Vuco has a different opinion about the reasons for her arrest and
sentence in prison: "Brovina was sentenced because she has done nothing. She
was an enemy of the Serbian regime because she was an activist of a
humanitarian organisation and because she is a poetess. She destroys the
stereotype about the Albanians as the inferior race, as a large number of
inhabitants of Serbia think".
     "I am one of the best known humanitarians from Kosovo, I have
sacrificed my health in order to offer aid to children and women. If I were
free today, I would still have what to do and I would help those who are
threatened", were the final words of this poetess and pediatrician, who had
founded the League of Albanian Women, at the hearing at the court in Nis
when her sentence was pronounced. A few days ago, at a discussion organised
by Belgrade Centre for Cultural Decontamination on the occasion of the
anniversary of the arrest of Ms. Brovina, Vojin Dimitrijevic, president of
the Belgrade Centre for Human Rights, declared that Dr Brovina, had she been
free, would have been in Kosovo now "where she would have raised her voice
against the Albanians, members of her ethnic group, because of violence
against the Serbs and other non-Albanian inhabitants of the southern Serbian
province".
     Serbian courts saw and evaluated activities of Brovina quite
differently. Dr. Brovina was accused of having founded the League with
another thirty odd women "with the task to organise hostile demonstrations,
collecting food and drugs for separatist Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) and
planning of terrorist acts". She is also indicted for having been minister
of health in parallel government of Kosovo Albanians and that she maintained
contacts with high commanding structures of KLA.
     Brovina listened calmly to all these accusations. She did not show
emotions even when the subdued sobbing of her sisters was heard in the
courtroom. The police quickly took the defendant from the courtroom, not
allowing her any contact with her husband, sisters and friends who had come
to the trial.
     Along with two postponements of her trial, from her arrest to this day,
Brovina's health has further deteriorated, which was not a sign for the
authorities at least not to transfer her from one prison to another. Dr.
Brovina was first taken to Lipljan from where she was evacuated on 10 June
together with other prisoners during withdrawal of Yugoslav security forces
from Kosovo. She arrived in Pozarevac prison with her health seriously
damaged because she suffers from a serious case of angina pectoris which
threatened to get even worse because in the beginning she did not receive
adequate therapy, nor was she given the necessary drugs. Her right side was
paralysed and there were moments when she lost her faculty of speech. Her
health began to improve only after prison authorities permitted her lawyers
and husband who visited her in the prison in Pozarevac to bring her drugs,
so by the time for the trial her health was comparatively stable. From
Pozarevac she was transferred to the prison in Nis on 10 November, after the
Supreme Court authorised the district court in Nis to take care of the cases
once resolved by the court in Pristina. To the question of judge Marina
Milanovic, who is from Kosovo herself, whether she had complaints about the
treatment, Flora Brovina answered: "The treatment was correct, they beat me
on the head only once".
     Gradimir Nalic from the Committee of Lawyers for Human Rights believes
that treatment of Brovina was not correct. According to his words, she was
interrogated eighteen times, but not always in prison. After exhausting
questioning, often without food and drink, "Brovina said herself that she
would admit anything, even that she was a giraffe", says Nalic. While still
in Lipljan she signed a statement which, according to claims of her lawyer
Husnija Bitic, she had not previously read, nor had anyone else. "They told
her to sign what she had stated. Brovina was convinced that she was signing
her own words", declared Bitic. She could not have even dreamt that she
would sign her own sentence, because her statement in the form of a
photocopy which should not be recognised by the court was used as main
evidence of the prosecution based on which the sentence was pronounced. The
prosecution insisted on having Brovina's statement read in court, which
despite opposition of her lawyers, she agreed to. Soon after reading had
begun, Brovina shook her head and interrupted the prosecutor: "I have never
said that, these are not my words".
     To accusations that she had founded a polyclinic where terrorists,
members of KLA, had been treated, and that she had provided clothing for the
terrorists, Brovina answered that during the war (NATO bombing) she had been
seriously sick and with one hand paralysed and that she had not worked even
at her own private clinic. As evidence that Brovina's League had knitted
sweaters for KLA wool confiscated at a warehouse in Pristina was used.
Brovina explained that her organisation had received the wool from an
English humanitarian organisation called Oxpham. "This was a part of the
project in which women, traumatised by the conflict in Kosovo, would gather
and knit - as a kind of therapy", said lawyer Bitic. "Half of the yarn was
given to the women, and half would be given back to Oxpham which distributed
ready-made knitted articles as humanitarian aid. Brovina had cooperated in
this project with other similar organisations from Pristina", says Bitic.
     At the moment when Belgrade regime and the courts are, probably as part
of some secret agreement, releasing a large number of the Albanians from
prison, the local fighters for human rights assume that there will be no
such generosity when Brovina is concerned. What causes the greatest concern
in this story is the fact that majority of opposition parties and even
non-governmental organisations are passing her arrest and pronouncing of the
draconian punishment in silence. The ones who raised their voices are the
Helsinki Committee for Human Rights, the Humanitarian Law Fund and a number
of lawyers gathered around the Committee of Lawyers for Human Rights, the
parallel union of writers of Serbia, but the Chamber of Physicians and the
official Union of Writers were silent. Biljana Kovacevic-Vuco stresses that
the opposition, democratic parties in Serbia, estimating that it was not
politically opportune to fight for Brovina, decided to be shamefully silent.
At that moment petitions for her liberation are signed by writers, poets,
physicians and journalists from all over the world, and while in prison,
Brovina received a few eminent international literary awards. According to
the words of her lawyers, Brovina is the victim of the regime in Belgrade
"which has ruined everything it has touched, even the judiciary". "In this
crime one participates silently, voluntarily, out of cowardice", this is how
Vojin Dimitrijevic defines the whole matter.

Vladimir Milovanovic
(AIM)
http://www.aimpress.org/dyn/trae/archive/data/200005/00510-001-trae-pod.htm

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

HUMANITARIAN LAW CENTER COMMUNIQUE
Trial Of Djakovica Group Resumes

May 09, 2000

	The trial of 145 Kosovo Albanians from Djakovica, who are charged with
seditious conspiracy and acts of terrorism during a state of war, resumed
before the District Court in Nis.  The court questioned another 26
defendants: Adnan Hadzibeciri, Fatos Deva, Florent Rudi, Imri Ahmeti, Fisnik
Zavelji, Driton Aliaga, Besnik Mejzini, Behar Koshi, Halil Guta, Adrijatik
Vokshi, Naser Shunjaku, Mustafa Ukaj, Adnan Koshi, Imer Guta, Arbnor Koshi,
Perparim Zajnulahu, Fatimir Tafarshiku, Lulzim Qerimi, Feriz Bozdaraj, Luan
Dzeka, Menduh Duraku, Adrijatik Pula, Bekim Lota, Ferat Lujani, Agim
Muhadzeri and Dukadjin Pula.  Altogether 105 defendants have been heard
since the trial opened on 18 April. All 25 defendants made statements
identical to those they gave during the investigatory proceedings: that they
and their families left their homes on orders from the police and military
who were conducting searches of houses in their  neighborhood.  Police
arrested some 300 Djakovica Albanians either in their homes or on the
streets on 7, 8 and 10 May. The defendants said the situation in Djakovica
at the time was so uncertain that none of them dared leave their homes.  In
addition, police and soldiers were quartered in many Albanian houses and
controlled all movements by civilians.
	The indictment against the Djakovica Group cites three separate incidents
on 10 April and 7 and 9 May 1999 in which the defendants allegedly carried
out terrorist attacks on members of the police force and army and in which a
police officer and two soldiers were killed and several others wounded.  The
court did not question the defendants about these incidents but generally
about their activities from the beginning of the NATO intervention.
	When all the defendants are heard, the court will consider the evidence
presented by the prosecution and defense.  The trial is expected to close on
Friday, 12 May when Judge Goran Petronijevic is to pronounce judgement after
hearing the closing arguments of the prosecution and defense.

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

AFP
144 Kosovo Albanians accused of terrorism deny charges

NIS, Yugoslavia
May 10, 2000

     All 144 Kosovo Albanians accused of terrorism denied all charges on
Wednesday of taking part in attacks against Belgrade government forces
during the 1999 NATO air strikes.
     The Kosovar Albanians are accused of "participating in and organizing
terrorist and enemy activities" against Belgrade security forces in the
Serbian province in April 1999.
     The prosecution said the men had taken part in three attacks on Serb
forces in April and May 1999, during which a police officer and two soldiers
were killed, and two soldiers and five police seriously wounded. The trial
is the largest of its kind to take place in Yugoslavia.
     If convicted, the defendants, all from the southern Kosovo town of
Djakovica, could face jail sentences of up to 20 years.
     During Wednesday's hearing, Darinka Rakovic, mother of a soldier killed
in Djakovica attacks last May, said she had no "direct information about the
death of her son," but insisted: "I demand that the law pronounce the
maximum possible sentence."
     On Tuesday, one of the defendants, Halil Gutaj, told the judge he
himself had been injured in last year's bombing, adding that he was
"innocent both before the law and before God."
     At the start of the trial, Gradimir Nalic, one of the team of defence
lawyers, said the prosecution "had no evidence which could lead to the
individually established guilt of any of the defendants."
     The trial, which started on April 18, was set to continue on Thursday
with evidence by prosecution witnesses.
     Accusations of terrorist activities imply that the men are suspected by
Belgrade of being former members of the separatist Kosovo  Liberation Army,
which fought Serbian security forces in the province before being officially
demilitarized when Kosovo came under UN administration.
     The defendants were among more than 2,000 Kosovar Albanians transferred
to Serbian prisons as Belgrade forces withdrew from the province.
     Serbian Justice Minister Dragoljub Jankovic said last month that 979
prisoners brought from Kosovo were still being held in Serbian prisons.
     All but 15 or 20 of them were ethnic Albanians, he said.
     About 500 have been released so far, but more than 250 have received
heavy prison sentences in trials criticized by international human rights
groups.

Copyright © 2000 AFP

http://sg.dailynews.yahoo.com/headlines/world/afp/article.html?s=singapore/h
eadlines/000510/world/afp/144_Kosovo_Albanians_accused_of_terrorism_deny_cha
rges.html

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

KOSOVAPRESS
Five Albanian prisoners released from Serbia jails

May 09, 2000

Prishtinë, May 9 (Kosovapress) - According to some reports by the RCIC,
today five Albanian prisoners were released from Kraleva prison. They came
to Kosova accompanied by the Red Cross of International Community. All the
prisoners are from the municipal of Skenderaj.

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

KOSOVAPRESS
Continues the trial of 140 Albanian prisoners from Gjakova

May 09, 2000

Gjakovë, May 9 (Kosovapress) - Taday at the Supreme Court in Nish continues
the trial of 140 Albanians from Gjakova. They have been detained last year
by the military serb forces, as it is known they are charged as many other
Albanians for their terrorism. They are accused that they took part or were
members of KLA, and they have attacked the police and military forces even
against the Albanians who were loyal to the Yugoslav regime. The accused
have denied about their accusation which is conducted by regime serb.

http://www.kosovapress.com/english/maj/9_5_2000_1.htm

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

HUMANITARIAN LAW CENTER COMMUNIQUE
Four Kosovo Albanians released

May 09, 2000

	On 8 May, the District Court in Kraljevo found Agim, Kasim and Mustafa
Ahmetaj and Nazuf Deljiljaj guilty of seditous conspiracy and sentenced the
three Ahmetaj brothers to 18 months in prison and Deljiljaj to 19 months.
Immediately after sentencing, the four Kosovo Albanians, all from Rezala
village in Srbica Township, were discharged on account of jail credit as
they had been in custody since their arrest on 24 September 1998.
	The Ahmetaj brothers and Deljilaj were accused of membership in the Kosovo
Liberation Army and of opening fire on several occasions on members of the
Serbian police force in the Srbica area.  A police officer was slightly
wounded in one such attack on 23 May 1998. At the trial, the four defendants
denied having committed the criminal offenses they were charged with.  Their
defense counsel, including a Humanitarian Law Center staff attorney, moved
for acquital because of lack of evidence.  The only evidence presented by
the prosecution was a police report on the fighting in Srbica Township
during September 1998 in which the defendants were not mentioned, and the
results of the “paraffin glove” test, a crude investigatory technique which
is considered unreliable.
	The prosecutor amended the initial indictment of terrorism and charged the
defendants with the lesser offense of seditious conspiracy of which they
were convicted.

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

KOSOVAPRESS
It is released one prisoner

May 12, 2000

Skënderaj, May 12 (Kosovapress) - On May 9, from the prison of Kragujevci
was released a prisonr Nehat Dervishi from the village Leqina of Skënderaj.
He was arrested last year from serbian police and charged on one year prison
by the prosecution court in Novi Pazar. He stayed there for the time being
charged. He said that there is left one more Albanian prisoner from village
Prekalla of Istog municipality.

http://www.kosovapress.com/english/maj/12_5_2000_1.htm

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

FREEB92 DAILY NEWS
Police arrest young Otpor activist in Arilje

May 07, 2000

ARILJE, Sunday - Police arrested a young Otpor activist in the town of
Arilje near Belgrade today. The arrest followed a local protest rally
organised by Otpor at which the questions; "Who killed Slavko Curuvija?" and
"Where is Radojko Lukovic?" were written next to the Otpor symbol. Slavko
Curuvije was the editor in chief of daily Dnevni telegraf murdered last year
and Radojko Lukovic is one of the Otpor members arrested in Pozarevac last
week.

http://www.freeb92.net/archive/e/

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

FREEB92 DAILY NEWS
Protest rally in Pozarevac tomorrow

May 08, 2000

POZAREVAC, Monday - Thousands of people are expected to protest in Yugoslav
President Slobodan Milosevic's home town of Pozarevac tomorrow over the
arrest of three student activists on attempted murder charges last week. The
three members of the student movement Otpor were arrested after being beaten
by members of the Yugoslav United Left outside a cafe in the central Serbian
town last week.
     The leaders of all Serbian opposition parties are expected to appear at
tomorrow's rally under the slogan "Stop the Terror".
     An opposition member of the Serbian Parliament from Pozarevac, Zivadin
Jotic, told media today that the joint opposition will have tight security
measures in place tomorrow. He added that despite the tense atmosphere in
the town, no violence is expected.
     Up-to-the-minute news on the rally will be available on the Free B92
website tomorrow. The address is www.freeb92.net

http://www.freeb92.net/archive/e/

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

HUMANITARIAN LAW CENTER COMMUNIQUE
HLC Attorneys Questioned By Police

May 09, 2000

	Teki Bokshi and Mustafa Radoniqi, attorneys on the staff of the
Humanitarian Law Center (HLC) offices in Kosovo, were taken in by police in
Nis for the second time since the opening of the trial of the so-called
“Djakovica Group.”  Boskhi and Radoniqi were picked up by three uniformed
officers at the Ambasador Hotel in Nis half an hour after midnight on 8 May
and taken in a police van to the police station, allegedly for an identity
check.  Another attorney on the defense team, Dragan Zonic, who was also
staying at the hotel, was not disturbed. The two attorneys were questioned
about the reasons for their stay in Nis, their papers were checked and half
an hour later they were driven back to the hotel.
	Bokshi and Radoniqi are among the lawyers who are defending a group of 145
Kosovo Albanians from Djakovica whose trial opened in Nis on 18 April after
they had spent a year in custody.  They are the only ethnic Albanian lawyers
defending Kosovo Albanians before courts in Serbia. They have been detained
and questioned by police several times when crossing from Kosovo into
Serbia. In December 1999, Bokshi was kidnapped and held for ransom. Though
the HLC reported the abduction to the Belgrade police and gave information
that could have led to the abductors, the police have not yet announced the
results of the investigation.
	The HLC attorneys requested the panel of judges presided by Judge Goran
Petronijevic to protect them from the police harassment since it hinders
them in their defense of the accused. The HLC urges the Serbian Ministry of
Justice to ensure normal conditions for the work of lawyers acting as
defense counsel before the Nis District Court and to see to it that police
cease obstructing them.

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

REUTERS
Serb activists freed before opposition rally

May 08, 2000

BELGRADE, Yugoslavia (Reuters) -- Serb authorities freed three
anti-government activists on Monday but the opposition said it was going
ahead with a rally in protest at their alleged beatings.
     The opposition will mass on Tuesday in the eastern Serbian town of
Pozarevac, the home town of Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, where
they were arrested last week.
     Opposition news media have been hit by a series of fines for their
accounts of the incident.
     They say associates of Milosevic's powerful son Marko beat up the three
members of the Otpor (Resistance) movement in a Pozarevac cafe and police
then arrested them.
     The authorities said they detained the three on suspicion of attempted
murder.
     Two were released from a Belgrade prison after a court hearing on
Monday. They left prison with visible head scabs and facial bruises. One of
them, Radojko Lukovic, said he had been treated well in prison.
     The third man was freed in Pozarevac, the independent Beta news agency
said.
     Their lawyer, Borivoje Borovic, said legal proceedings against them had
been halted for now, but did not elaborate.
     Opposition officials pressed ahead with plans for the rally, hoping for
a repeat of the success of last month's anti-Milosevic demonstration in
Belgrade which drew 100,000 people.
     Meho Omerovic of the Social Democracy party, one of the organizers,
said the releases had not affected opposition plans.
     "Violence and terror are not only taking place in Pozarevac and not
only against Otpor....The rally will take place, same place, same motto:
Stop to terror, for free elections," he said.
     Vladan Batic, coordinator of the Alliance for Change opposition
grouping, forecast a big turnout.
     "It is a tradition here that the greater the pressure against
something, the greater the interest among the people, and more of them will
come," Batic told a news conference.

Copyright 2000 Reuters.
http://robots.cnn.com/2000/WORLD/europe/05/08/bc.yugo.opposition.reut/index.
html

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

HUMANITARIAN LAW CENTER COMMUNIQUE
Detained Otpor Activists Released and then Re-Arrested

May 09, 2000

	Momcilo Veljkovic and Radojko Lukovic, activists of the Otpor [Resistance]
organization, were re-arrested last night in Pozarevac, 12 hours after being
released from custody by the investigating judge. Natasa Bogovic and Bojan
Toncic, reporters of the non-government daily Danas, and Mile Veljkovic,
brother of Momcilo Veljkovic and a correspondent of the non-government BETA
news agency and Blic daily, were arrested together with the two Otpor
activists. Veljkovic, Lukovic and another Otpor activist, Nebojsa Sokolovic
Were first arrested on 2 May and released by the investigating judge on 8
May.  During this period, they were not allowed any contact with their
lawyers – attorneys of non-governmental organizations and others – or with
their family members.  The Yugoslav Constitution guarantees the right to a
lawyer from the moment of arrest.  Under the Criminal Procedure Code,
however, an accused has the right to a lawyer only from the time he is
brought before the investigating judge.  The three Otpor activists, as
indeed all arrested persons, were thus denied the right to defense lawyers
while in police detetion.
	The three activists were questioned by Investigating Judge Bosko  Papovic
of the Pozarevac District Court: Veljkovic in Pozarevac and Lukovic and
Sokolovic in the Belgrade Prison Hospital.  Seventy-two hour detention
orders were issued for Veljkovic and Sokolovic while police presented no
dention order to Lukovic.  Since police detention can last only 72 hours
under the Criminal Procedure Code, it ensues that Veljkovic and Sokolovic
were unlawfully held from 10 p.m. on 5 May whereas Lukovic was unlawfully
detained for the whole period from 2 to 8 May.
	It remains to be seen whether the investigating judge will order the
institution of a judicial investigation in connection with the criminal
complaint filed by Milan and Sasa Lazic, members of the Yugoslav Left (JUL)
party, who have charged the three Otpor activists with attempted murder, for
which the Criminal Code envisages a minimum penalty of five years in prison.
With regard to the previous arrest of the Otpor activists, the Pozarevac
police stated that Momcilo Veljkovic, Radojko Lukovic and Nebojsa Sokolovic
had been taken into custody on 2 May on suspicion of the attempted murder of
Sasa and Milan Lazic.  At a special session of the JUL local committee for
Pozarevac on 4 May, Ivan
Markovic, secretary of the party’s Directorate, said “a group of hooligans
with the fascist emblem of Otpor fired at Milan Lazic and injured his
brother Sasa by striking him on the head with a pistol butt.”

Questioned by the investigating judge

	When they were questioned by the investigating judge on 8 May, the three
Otpor activists still bore signs of physical injuries.  Momcilo Veljkovic
had a bleeding wound on his head.  He received medical attention only once,
immediately after his arrest on 2 May, when doctors closed the wound with
ten stitches.  Nebojsa Sokolovic had bruises around both eyes, a broken
nose, injuries on the back of his head, right ear, chest and shoulder.
Radojko Lukovic also had a broken nose and numerous cuts and swellings on
his face. The Otpor activists described to the investigating judge what
occurred on 2 May and how they were injured.  Veljkovic and Lukovic said
they entered the Pasaz Cafe about 7.30 p.m. to see Dragan  Milovanovic who
had been made to meet there with Zoran Ivanovic, Milos Lazic and Bojan
Tadic, all members of JUL and friends of Marko Milosevic. These three had
earlier too put pressure to bear on Milovanovic to join the Socialist Party
of Serbia (SPS). Veljkovic and Lukovic went up to the table at which the
group was sitting and asked their friend Milovanovic to leave with them.
Milovanovic was obviously scared and remained in the cafe with Ivanovic,
Lazic and Tadic.  At the moment Veljkovic and Lukovic came into the cafe,
Milan Lazic called to his brother Sasa who was outside in his car.  Sasa
Lazic got out brandishing a gun and made threats. He then came up to
Veljkovic and hit him on the head with the butt of the pistol.  Veljkovic
managed to grab the gun and throw it some distance away and then tried to
escape through the door.  As he was running from the cafe, he saw Marko
Milosevic getting out of a car, also with a gun in his hand.  According to
Veljkovic, Milosevic loudly encouraged his friends to continue beating the
already injured Otpor activists.  In the meantime, Milan Lazic and another
four men who were in the cafe punched and kicked Lukovic who was down on the
floor.
	Nebojsa Sokolovic, who happened to be on the street, told Ivanovic to
beating Veljkovic or he would kill him.  Ivanovic, Tadic, Milos and Sasa
Lazic reacted by setting upon Sokolovic, beating him mostly about the head
until he nearly lost consciousness.

Media fined

	The Belgrade dailies Danas and Blic, the Vreme news magazine and Studio B
Television were fined for their reporting of the attack on and arrest of the
Otpor activists. Magistrate Milica Radosavljevic of Pozarevac ordered Studio
B to pay a fine of 200,000 dinars (approximately US$ 9,000) and its editor
in chief Dragan Kojadinovic 80,000 dinars.  The misdemeanor proceedings were
instituted on the basis of charges filed by Sasa Lazic, a member of JUL and
participant in the Pasaz Cafe incident who alleged that the TV station had
inaccurately reported that “... Sasa Lazic rushed out of the Pasaz Cafe with
a pistol in his hand and hit Momcilo Veljkovic on the back of the head with
the butt.”  The summons to Studio B was served at noon and the proceedings
were held two hours later the same day.
	Magistrate Olivera Veljkovic, also of Pozarevac, on 5 May fined Blic
200,000 dinars and its editor in chief Veselin Simonovic 80,000 dinars. The
weekly Vreme  was also fined 200,000 dinars.  That same day, Studio B was
fined for the second time and ordered to pay 150,000 dinars in connection
with charges filed by Vladimir Djukic, director of the Belgrade Emergency
Medical Center, because of a 3 May report in which the station reported that
Lukovic had been taken from the Center “before he underwent all the
necessary operations,”  that “his skull is fractured, he has lost one eye
and is in a very critical condition.” According to Director Djukic, doctors
established that Lukovic’s nose was broken “and that there was no need for
any kind of emergency procedures.”

New proceedings against Otpor activists

	The Magistrate Courts in Velika Plana and Batocina have instituted
proceedings against Otpor activists for breaching the Law on the Public
Peace, that is for stencilling Otpor’s clenched fist emblem in public
places.  The proceedings are scheduled for 13 May. About 600 Otpor activists
have been brought in by police for investigatory interrogations since
September 1999.  They were questioned about Otpor leaders, the organization’
s network in Serbia, ties with opposition parties, and their political
stands.  Otpor members are frequently targets of attacks by bullies in
civilian clothes. Indications are that these are members of the Socialist
Party of Serbia and the Yugoslav
Left.

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

Agence France-Presse
First Kosovo warcrimes trial to start June 6 amid hunger strike pressure

May 12, 2000

PRISTINA, Yugoslavia, May 12 (AFP) - Kosovo's first warcrimes trial is to
start on June 6 after pressure from Serbian alleged war criminals on hunger
strike to bring their cases to court after almost a year in jail, a UN
spokeswoman said Friday.
     Many of the 40 or so alleged war criminals -- all of them Kosovo
Serbs -- have been on hunger strike in the ethnically divided northern town
of Kosovska Mitrovica since April 10, demanding their cases come to court.
     "The detainees started their protest to expedite the commencement of
the trial proceedings" said Nadia Younes, spokeswoman for the UN mission in
Kosovo (UNMIK).
     "In that connection, at the urging of UNMIK, the president of the
district court of Mitrovica has rescheduled the trials postponed last March
for security reasons" to start on June 6, she said.
     The court has not yet decided which case will be the first to go to
trial before an ethnically mixed panel of judges led by an international
magistrate to minimise the risk of ethnic bias, she said.
     The official Yugoslav agency Tanjug said this week the first case would
be that of Miroslav Vukovic, accused of genocide, whose trial had been
announced in March but postponed for security reasons.
     Younes said that trying a Serb suspect in the courthouse in the
Serb-dominated northern half of Mitrovica was potentially "dynamite" and
required special security measures.
     UNMIK police would provide extra security for the trial, she said,
while the judicial department would also ensure that Serb judges who have
been appointed but have refused to be sworn in would start working "as soon
as possible."
     There are currently 31 Serbs and five Roma refusing food in jail in
northern Mitrovica, although not all are facing war crimes charges, she
said.
     Two of the strikers have been hospitalised, while hundreds of Kosovo
Serbs have demonstrated outside the jail in a show of solidarity with the
prisoners.
     UNMIK has said it hopes to launch a special tribunal in June to deal
with war and ethnic crimes but some legal experts have expressed doubts it
will be running before the allowed year of pre-trial detention for war
crimes suspects expires.
     In the absence of a special court, the UN has agreed that trials will
go ahead in Mitrovica but with an international judge and an ethnically
mixed panel of magistrates.

Story from AFP   Copyright 2000 by Agence France-Presse (via ClariNet)
http://www.clari.net/hot/wed/ay/Qkosovo-warcrimes.Rrx6_AyC.html

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

GRUPA484
OTPOR's Reactions on being called a Terrorist Organization

May 10, 2000

	STUDENT'S RESISTANCE MOVEMENT announces that for the next seven days it
will stop all of its' activities except continuing public media pressure and
efforts, so that arrested members of this movement be freed from detention.
This decision also comes out of our concern that representatives of Serbian
regime will fulfil their frequently repeated threats or even perform certain
actions under the disguise of OTPOR's actions which could than be
interpreted as terrorist or criminal actions.
	Until the May 13th 2000, Day of National Security, STUDENT'S RESISTANCE
MOVEMENT will held "around the clock" duty in its offices all over Serbia
and it will prepare action - MASSIVE SURRENDER TO THE POLICE. Unless regime
stops with its threats and calls for public prosecution of OTPOR's members
we will organize our public surrender to the police forces in over 50 towns
all over Serbia, at exactly 12 o'clock noon on May 13th. We are a
non-violent movement and when confronted with violence whether it is
physical or verbal we will first seek the protection from an institution
that has the constitutional right to protect public order and peace and that
is, we believe, police force. Safety and public peace, freedom and democracy
are essentially ideals of OTPOR and we will demonstrate that in our actions.
	STUDENT'S RESISTANCE MOVEMENT, thus, is asking for protection and help from
every single human being in Serbia that shares the same goals. We are asking
all our friends, professors, members of the Academy, distinguished
scientists and cultural figures, representatives of political parties and
NGO organizations to join us in our office from tonight, in Knez Mihailova
49, and give us a necessary help in our efforts to confront Serbian regime's
accusations that we are fascist and terrorist organization. We are primarily
ask our friends – professors from Belgrade University and members of the
Academy of Science to give us an appropriate advice in this difficult times.
	STUDENT'S RESISTANCE MOVEMENT is asking to be received by his Holiness,
Patriarch Pavle, spiritual leader of our orthodox community who has helped
us before. His wise words are more than needed today.
	STUDENT'S RESISTANCE MOVEMENT is asking for an official reception by
Ministry of Internal Affairs of Republic of Serbia, mr. Vlajko Stojiljkovic,
so that he could be informed about non-violent nature of our movement which
is primarily concerned for creating conditions for democratic and free
elections. We will use this opportunity to provide mr. Stojiljkovic with the
complete list of our offices in Serbia and with names of our representatives
in Serbian cities as well as with documents that explain true goals of our
movement as well as with methods through which they can be achieved in
democratic and non-violent manner

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

GROUP 484
Serbia, violated Constitutional and Legal standards

May 11, 2000

Where and How Constitutional and Legal Standards were Violated

1.	In Pozarevac, on May 2nd 2000 at 7 PM, in front of the Pasage café, Milan
Lazic and other unidentified persons, tried to force Dragan Milanovic by
violence and serial threat, to sign the application form for membership in
Socialist Party of Serbia, and to resign from Student's Movement OTPOR!, by
which they committed a Criminal Act (CA) of Compulsion, article 62 of
Serbian Criminal code (SCc).
2.	On the same day and place, a fight occurred between Dragan Milanovic,
Momcilo Veljkovic, Radojko Lukovic and Nebojsa Sokolovic on one side, and
Sasa Lazic, Milos Lazic and Bojan Tadic on the other, in which aggravated
assault and battery was brought to R. Lukovic and N. Sokolovic. In view of
the described incident, it is clear that there was Criminal Act of
participating in the fight, article 55 of SCc, and officials of Ministry of
Internal Affairs (MUP) did not act equally to all participants in the fight
by using their official position and authorizations, but they arrested M.
Veljkovic, R. Lukovic and N. Sokolovic, although being informed of previous
threats to D. Milanovic, by which they committed CA of Breach of Duty, art.
242 of SCc, with CA of Violation of Citizens' Equality, art. 60 SCc.
3.	After the arrest of M. Veljkovic, R. Lukovic and N. Sokolovic, they were
kept in custody more than 72 hours, which is contrary to art. 196 paragraph
3 of Law of Criminal Proceedings  (LCP), by which the official person,
member of MUP (police) exceeded their authorizations, by which they
committed CA of Breach of Duty, art. 242 of SCc.
4.	During offering aid in the health institution, the arrested N. Lukovic
had handcuffs, which is contrary to the regulations of the Constitution of
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and Republic of Serbia about the position of
the arrested (art. 25 of FRY Constitution and art. 26 of RS Constitution),
by which the official person has committed CA of Maltreatment in Duty, art.
66 SCc.
5.	After the arrest, an unknown person unofficially disclosed a secret to
Politika (daily newspaper), found out by practicing his medical duty, by
publishing the diagnosis of the illness for one of the arrested , with a
view to belittling, which harmed the honor and reputation of M. Veljkovic,
by which that person committed CA of Unofficially Disclosing of a Secret,
art. 73 SCc, with CA of Publishing Personal and Family Data, art. 94 SCc.
6.	On May 9th 2000, members of MUP have in several places and several times
violated regulations of the Constitution of Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
and Republic of Serbia on freedom of movement guaranteed by art. 30 FRY
Constitution, and committed CA of disturbing and preventing the public
gathering, art. 76 SCc, with CA of violation of citizens' equality, art. 60
SCc.
7.	On May 9th 2000, in Novi Sad, Nis, Pozarevac and Kraljevo, the official
persons of MUP arrested several dozens of citizens not informing them of the
reasons of the arrest, and committed CA of illegal arrest, art. 63 SCc

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

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. 023