[A-PAL] A-PAL Newsletter, No. 024

[kosova at jps.net]

Welcome to Albanian Prisoner Advocacy List -- Prisoner Pals Newsletter,
No. 024, May 29, 2000

This report highlights the developments on the prisoner issue for the period
of May 14-27, 2000.

==========================================
A-PAL STATEMENT:
==========================================
Highlights of the Week:

* 143 Kosovar Albanians were sentenced this week in the largest mass trial
ever held in Serbia. Trial condemned as unfair, without evidence. Total
sentencing: 1, 632 years!
* In a narrow vote on whether to finance keeping troops in Kosova, US
Congress shows its minimal interest in pursuing justice in the region at a
critical time.
* Dr. Flora Brovina's lawyers deliver a two hour appeal to the Serb Supreme
Court on May 16th.
* 200 OTPOR movement members were arrested last week. Labeled a terrorist
organization.
* Serbia on the verge of instating a state of emergency to suppress
opposition and media
* UN Envoy Karl Bildt urges the West to face the reality that preserving the
sovereignty of Yugoslavia at this point is a decision that will  continue to
create war and upheaval in the region.

Statement:

"For evil to flourish, good people must do nothing."

	The Milosevic regime must end sometime soon, hopefully through free
elections and not by violence. International leaders have placated this
illegal regime long enough. Young Serbs now want the same rights and
freedoms enjoyed by other Europeans, the chance to live a hopeful and
productive life.  A chance they do not have. This week's narrow vote in the
US Congress to pull US forces out of Kosova in July, 2001, was a shocking
example of the very worst kind of Beltway politics and back-biting, a way of
inflicting revenge on a lame-duck president, ignoring the need for stability
and peace for millions in the former Yugoslavia. At the same time, Russia
gave Milosevic a $102 million dollar loan, figuring that this week, American
politicians would not object. He was right.
	For the US Congress to issue a restrictive vote like this at this critical
time for both Kosova and Serbia, as people in both areas struggle to create
democratic rule, shows the utter lack of foreign policy principles and the
arrogant isolationism of mainstream American politics. Instead of stepping
forward and commenting on the disgraceful mass trial of the 143 Gjakova
residents who received a total of 1,632 years in prison, the appeal of Dr.
Brovina's lawyers on May 16, the closing of Studio B and Radio B2 in
Belgrade, the labeling of Serb Bishop Artemje as a "traitor" and OTPOR as a
"terrorist" organization, the American Congress remained silent, allowing
the slide towards ongoing violence in Serbia to increase. The supposed "good
people" are doing nothing. They are remaining silent. So is the U.N Security
Council, despite their recent visit to Kosova and their promises to help the
Albanian prisoners.
	Meanwhile, the propaganda machine of the repression under the auspices of
Yugoslav Information Minister Goran Matic,  has accused the OSCE and the
International Federation of Journalists of being "terrorist organizations
committing crimes against the state of Yugoslavia!" This is the same crime
the 143 Gjakova citizens were accused of. OSCE and OTPOR are accused of
terrorist acts as was Dr. Brovina and Albin Kurti.  So what's next in this
absurd game? Will the judges of Serbia now conduct a mass trial against
OSCE? Why not? It would fit in nicely with the nihilistic machinations of
the current regime, a regime the U.N. and the West and Russia are determined
to continue to support, each for their own purposes.
	The last U.S. Ambassador to Yugoslavia, Warren Zimmerman, who was recalled
in 1991, said, "The only way to end repression in Yugoslavia is to support
internal efforts at democracy." Wasn't this the goal of U.S. policy in the
region? We must insist that justice prevail for there to be real peace in
Kosova, Bosnia, Montenegro, and Serbia. Otherwise, there will be more wars.
	Support OTPOR's efforts, and the efforts of human rights lawyers, and
journalists. Demand free elections as an alternative to civil war. Do not
abandon those without military power. This is when they need your support
the most. Do not dismiss the situation, justifying your inaction by saying
that 'the opposition is as bad as the regime.' Remember what Elie Weisel
said about those who didn't speak out against the persecution of Jews, Roma
and others in the Holocaust: "It was not the brutality of our enemies, but
the silence of our friends that hurt us most."

==========================================
WEEK’S TOPICS:
==========================================
* BBC: Serb terrorism court jails 143
* AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE: Belgrade makes "serious threats" to OSCE official
* HUMANITARIAN LAW CENTER COMMUNIQUE: Judicial Precedent - TV Show Admitted
As Evidence
* REUTERS: Serbian Supreme Court Hears Kosovo Doctor's Appeal
* ICRC: Fact Sheet
* FREE B92: Kosovo war crimes trial adjourned
* RFERL: Why Did Moscow Host Indicted War Criminal?
* AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL: 'Rubber stamp' Justice in Nis
* AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE: Judge in Milosevic home town sacked for backing
opposition
* REUTERS: Serbian court jails three Kosovo Albanians
* U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE: Regime Crackdown on Independent Media in Serbia
* AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE: Rain dampens protest as Serbians urge Milosevic to
kill himself

==========================================
QUOTES OF THE WEEK:
==========================================
	Serbian security forces took hundreds of Kosovo Albanian prisoners with
them when they pulled out of the province last year. Mr Petronijevic said
the court's decision was unanimous.  Paraffin tests had established beyond
reasonable doubt that those sentenced had used weapons, he said.  "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," he said.
	Peki Boksi, the defendants' lawyer, said: "This is a purely political
decision, which certainly won't help ease the tension in Kosovo." "This will
make the situation more difficult for us struggling for human rights," he
told Reuters. "This will play into the hands of the extremists."
	Momcilo Trajkovic of the Serb Resistance Movement of Kosovo:  "The
continued maintenance of Milosevic's regime is merely the road to further
fragmentation of the country (Yugoslavia) that is already torn apart."

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

BBC
Serb terrorism court jails 143

May 22, 2000

The court said the accused were KLA members

A Serbian court has jailed 143 ethnic Albanians for taking part in attacks
against the Belgrade security forces.
     The group, all of whom denied the charges, were jailed for terms
ranging from seven to 13 years.
     Judge Goran Petronijevic said the accused had "committed the criminal
act of terrorism" during the Nato air campaign against Serb forces in Kosovo
last year.
     The group was accused of forming a unit of the separatist Kosovo
Liberation Army (KLA) in the western Kosovo town of Djakovica in April 1999,
and of attacking Serb forces.
     The trial, which opened on 18 April in the southern Serbian city of
Nis, was the biggest of its kind to be held in Yugoslavia.
     The judge sentenced
49 of the accused to 13 years imprisonment
51 to 12 years
20 to 10 years
11 to nine years
10 to seven years
and two juveniles to seven years in juvenile detention.

     The prosecution said that the men took part in three attacks against
Serb forces in April and May 1999.
     An army officer, a soldier and a policeman died in the attacks and five
policemen were seriously injured, the court was told.
     But human rights lawyers said the defendants were picked up arbitrarily
during a sweep of Djakovica by Serb forces.

Forensic tests

Serbian security forces took hundreds of Kosovo Albanian prisoners with them
when they pulled out of the province last year.
     Mr Petronijevic said the court's decision was unanimous.
     Paraffin tests had established beyond reasonable doubt that those
sentenced had used weapons, he said.
     "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," he said.
     Peki Boksi, the defendants' lawyer, said: "This is a purely political
decision, which certainly won't help ease the tension in Kosovo."
     "This will make the situation more difficult for us struggling for
human rights," he told Reuters. "This will play into the hands of the
extremists."
     Another lawyer, Oliver Lazarevic, said all the defendants should have
been released due to a lack of evidence.
     About 900 ethnic Albanians from Ksovo are still in jail in Serbia
awaiting trial.
     Several thousand Albanians who disappeared during the operations of
Serb forces are still missing.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/europe/newsid_759000/759048.stm

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

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Belgrade makes "serious threats" to OSCE official

May 22, 2000

VIENNA, May 22 (AFP) - A senior OSCE rights official accused Belgrade Monday
of making "serious threats" against him and accusing him of terrorism by
supporting independent media in Yugoslavia.
     Freimut Duve, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe
(OSCE)'s Representative on Freedom of the Media, said the threats were made
in a letter by Yugoslav Information Minister Goran Matic.
     The letter from Matic was also sent to Aidan White, secretary-general
of the International Federation of Journalists.
     "In that letter, Goran Matic makes serious threats against both the
Secretary-General of a leading media NGO and a professional union and the
head of an OSCE Institution," he said.
     Duve and White were notably accused of being accomplices to a crime and
were warned that they should "not forget that sooner or later justice will
be served."
     The letter accused them of "terrorism and a crime against a sovereign
state" by supporting independent media in Yugoslavia, and warned that in
Belgrade "we have a long memory."
     Duve called on Yugoslav Foreign Minister Zivadin Jovanovic to
disassociate himself from Matic's comments.
     "The OSCE representative asked the foreign minister to inform him as
soon as possible if he differed with the threats made by a cabinet
minister," he said in a statement.

Story from AFP  Copyright 2000 by Agence France-Presse  (via ClariNet)
http://www.clari.net/hot/wed/cw/Qyugo-osce.RkHd_AyM.html

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

HUMANITARIAN LAW CENTER COMMUNIQUE
Judicial Precedent - TV Show Admitted As Evidence

May 22, 2000

The trial of five ethnic Albanians students of Belgrade University who are
charged with terrorism and seditious conspiracy continued before the
Belgrade District Court on 18 May.  At the motion of the prosecution, the
court admitted as evidence a Serbian Television current affairs show aired
in May 1999 in which Petrit and Driton Berisha and Driton Meca admit to
organizing and preparing acts of terrorism in Belgrade.  The defendants were
in police detention at the time the show was filmed. The panel, presided by
Judge Vladan Slijepcevic, thus contravened the Criminal Procedure Code whose
Article 83 stipulates that all reports and information gathered in the
pre-trial stage must be removed from the record before the indictment is
filed.  Furthermore, the depiction of the defendants as "terrorists" in the
show was a drastic violation of the presumption of innocence until proved
guilty by a court of law, a principle guaranteed by the FR Yugoslavia
constitution, national legislation and international standards of a fair
trial.
     The defense contested the admissibility of the show, pointing out that
the defendants made the self-incriminating statements after being subjected
to torture for days and, before the filming, were threatened with being shot
unless they confessed to preparing terrorist acts in Belgrade.  Such actions
by the State Security officials, the defense underscored, constitute a
violation of Article 65 of the Criminal Procedure Code, which defines them
as the criminal offense of extraction of statements.  The court nonetheless
viewed the show, after which the defendants reiterated that police beat and
threatened them, deprived them of food, subjected them to long periods of
interrogation without breaks and fake execution by shooting squad to force
the confessions from them.
     Before adjourning until 2 June, the court accepted a defense proposal
to call as a witness Simo Gajin, the editor of the current affairs program
on which the show was aired, to explain how the show was made.  As the names
of the reporter and cameraman were not featured on the credits, the defense
has grounds to believe that the "interview" was filmed by the police who
then gave the tape to Serbian Television for broadcasting.
     Petrit and Driton Berisha, Driton Meca, Shkodran Derguti and Isam
Abdulahu were arrested in mid-May last year while the state of war was in
force.  Their defense counsel are Ivan Jankovic, Djordje Djurisic and  Rajko
Danilovic who were engaged  by the Humanitarian Law Center, and Radomir
Pesic, Husnija Bitic and Bojan Resavac, lawyers retained by the families of
the accused students.

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

REUTERS
Serbian Supreme Court Hears Kosovo Doctor's Appeal

May 17, 2000

BELGRADE, May 17, 2000 -- (Reuters) Serbia's Supreme Court on Tuesday
examined the appeal of a Kosovo Albanian humanitarian doctor and poet for
release from a 12-year jail sentence on terrorism charges, defense lawyers
said.
     "A five-member panel of judges presided over by Judge Tomislav Sekulic
heard for over two hours the case of Flora Brovina and the appeals," Husnija
Bitic, one of six lawyers who had filed appeals, told Reuters by telephone.
     Brovina was convicted of associating with and helping Kosovo Albanian
separatist guerrillas step up their fight against Serbian security forces
during NATO's air war on Yugoslavia.
     She denied the charges, saying her work was purely humanitarian. Both
international and Serbian human rights groups as well as Kosovo Albanians
have called for Brovina's release, saying there was no evidence to justify
her sentence.
     Bitic said he expected the Supreme Court to rule later on Tuesday, and
that the decision would be conveyed to a lower court in the southern city of
Nis that sentenced Brovina.
     "This could take at least a month to reach us," Bitic said.
     "(The court) could confirm the sentence, cancel it and ask for a new
trial or alter the sentence (to)... either acquittal or reduction," Bitic
said. He added that if Brovina was acquitted, she would be released the next
day.

LAWYER ESCORTED TO COURT

Bitic, who was badly beaten in his Belgrade apartment a month ago and had to
be escorted to the hearing by his son, declined to further speculate on the
outcome.
     His colleagues believed the beating was linked to his accusations that
Belgrade lawyers took bribes from families of Kosovo Albanian prisoners to
secure their release.
     Brovina, sentenced late last year, is one of some 1,300 Kosovo
Albanians still in Serbian jails after being picked up during last year's
NATO air strikes, which were carried out to stop Serbian repression of
Kosovo's majority population.
     Some 750 prisoners have been released.
     Separately on Tuesday in Nis, testimony in a mass trial of 143 ethnic
Albanians accused of taking part in attacks against Serbian security forces
during the NATO air strikes ended and a verdict was expected next week.
     The defendants were charged with forming a unit of the ethnic Albanian
Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) in the western Kosovo town of Djakovica in
April 1999.
     They have denied the charges, which had them involved in three attacks
against Serbian forces. Some of the charges carry a penalty of up to 15
years.
     Defence lawyer Teki Bokshi said he was pessimistic. "The atmosphere at
the trial was like that, so that I had to conclude they would be convicted,"
he told Reuters. "All witnesses were policemen, even the experts worked for
police."
     He said it was possible the defendants would be sentenced to a total of
more than 1,000 years. "Had the court been independent and objective it
would have to release them all..."

(C)2000 Copyright Reuters Limited.

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

ICRC
Fact Sheet : ICRC in Belgrade

May 15, 2000

The ICRC has been permanently present in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
since 1991. During the NATO campaign, it maintained its expatriate presence
and continually worked to alleviate the suffering of the affected
population. In that period, the ICRC set up joint offices with the Yugoslav
Red Cross in Belgrade, Novi Sad, Nis and Kraljevo in order to be closer to
the people in need and more efficient in providing humanitarian assistance.
These offices, together with an additional one opened in Kragujevac, are
nowadays the bases from which the ICRC and the YRC are working, together
with the national societies of the Red Cross from Germany, Japan, Denmark,
Finland, Sweden, Italy, Belgium, Canada and Switzerland, on assisting the
people in Serbia proper.
	In Kosovo, the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is engaged
in a wide-ranging operation to provide emergency and longer-term help for
the victims of the conflicts in Kosovo. People throughout the province
benefit from these programmes, which include protection issues (missing
persons, detainees, minority groups), assistance to the vulnerable, support
for the health sector, psycho-social programmes, food aid, reconstruction of
homes and schools, mine action and support for the local Red Cross. National
Red Cross/Red Crescent Societies from nearly 20 countries are involved,
along with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent
Societies. Movement activities are coordinated and supported by the ICRC.

(...)

159 ex-detainees transferred to their homes following their release

As part of its activities, the ICRC transfers to their homes people who were
detained in relation to the Kosovo conflict, upon their release. In April,
the ICRC helped 159 of these people get reunited with their families in
Kosovo.

Association of families of missing persons set up in Belgrade

The families of people who went missing in Kosovo in 1998 and 1999 formed
and registered their association in early March. The ICRC has been in close
contact with these families not only because of its mandate in the tracing
of the missing, but also in order to help the families cope with their
anguish. To that effect, the ICRC has supported the association of the
families of the missing in setting up its own office in Belgrade, and is in
the process of doing the same in Nis and Kraljevo.

(...)

Working for the families of the Missing

Thousands of families in all communities continue to bear the emotional
scars of the conflict because they remain without news of the fate of their
loved ones. As lead agency for the question of missing persons related to
Kosovo crisis, the ICRC maintains a dialogue with authorities in Pristina
and Belgrade, coordinates with other organisations concerned and carries out
tracing in the field to try to find answers.
     The ICRC's concern is purely humanitarian and its activities are
centred on providing support to help the families cope with their burden of
grief and uncertainty.

People deprived of their freedom

Since June 99 ICRC teams based in Belgrade have visited some 2,000 people
arrested in Kosovo and held in detention in Serbia proper. ICRC is the only
organisation with such comprehensive access to detainees.  The purpose of
the visits is to ensure that psychological and material conditions of
detention are adequate and to enable the detainees to maintain contact with
their families by means of Red Cross messages.
     Since June 99 ICRC has helped over 730 persons to return home after
their release in Serbia (159 in April alone). In Kosovo ICRC visits people
detained by KFOR and UNMIK police and penal management services.

(...)

http://www.reliefweb.int/w/rwb.nsf/480fa8736b88bbc3c12564f6004c8ad5/1933de38
d7393c56852568e00052e484?OpenDocument

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

FREE B92
Kosovo war crimes trial adjourned

May 15, 2000

GNJILANE, Monday - The first war crime trial to take place in Kosovo was
adjourned in the District Court in Gnjilane this morning. The court, which
has only Albanian judges, is hearing charges of murdering one person and
ordering the murder of another against 21-year-old Serb Milos Jokic. Jokic
has also been accused of genocide. It is alleged that he led a nine-member
Serbian paramilitary unit which terrorised ethnic Albanians in the east of
Kosovo during last year's NATO bombing.

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

RFERL
Why Did Moscow Host Indicted War Criminal?

Southeastern Europe
May 16, 2000

A spokesman for Carla Del Ponte, who is the Hague-based war crimes
tribunal's chief prosecutor, said on 15 May that she is "alarmed" by reports
that Yugoslav Defense Minister Dragoljub Ojdanic recently visited Moscow
(see "RFE/RL Newsline," 15 May 2000). The spokesman added: "It's likely the
prosecutor will enquire directly of the Russian embassy in The Hague whether
the reports are accurate and why the Russian authorities did not take any
steps to arrest a person under indictment by the tribunal.... To my
knowledge, this is the first time any of the individuals indicted last 26
May...have traveled outside Yugoslavia since the indictment. This is a
remarkable occurrence," Reuters reported.
	Meanwhile, Yugoslav Foreign Minister Zivadin Jovanovic arrived in Moscow on
15 May. Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov said the next day that his
talks with Jovanovic about Kosova "will enable us to continue helping to
achieve a settlement of the problem and to stabilize the situation in the
entire Balkan region." PM

(...)

http://www.rferl.org/newsline/4-see.html

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

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
‘Rubber stamp’ Justice in Nis

May 23, 2000

Federal Republic of Yugoslavia: ‘Rubber stamp’ justice in Nis -- 143 ethnic
Albanians sentenced to between seven and 13 yearsí jail.
	A bureaucrat’s rubber stamp rather than a judge’s gavel appears to have
been used to dispense justice in Nis,  Amnesty International said as 143
Kosovo Albanians were sentenced to between seven and 13 years’ imprisonment
in a blatantly unfair trial.
	The organization called today for a retrial, and for a new examination of
the evidence.
	“The presumption of innocence of each of the accused was not respected,”
Amnesty International said. The judge is reported to have told the
defendants that ‘it is impossible to determine your individual guilt, but
that is not necessary’.
	The 143 men, one of whom was a minor at the time of his arrest, were
convicted of being members of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), terrorism
and attacking Serbian police.
	Little attempt was made during the trial to establish individual guilt on
the part of the accused. The key prosecution evidence, a forensic report
whose scientific reliability is in question, simply lists the names of 155
men without detailing findings relating to any individual.
	 The accuracy of the ‘paraffin glove’ test for gunpowder, intended to show
whether the subject has handled arms, has been widely challenged by forensic
experts, and is known to produce a ‘positive’ reading in circumstances where
materials other than gunpowder have been handled.
	At the trial itself expert witnesses confirmed that the test is not wholly
reliable and that the tests had been carried out in a ‘shortened procedure’.
Doubts were also raised about the exact tests used and the qualifications of
those who had carried them out.
	Despite all these concerns the court accepted the results as evidence. The
judge is reported to have admitted that there may have been shortcomings in
the tests, but decided to accept them nonetheless, since they were
‘conducted in wartime conditions’.
	Although the indictment listed three separate attacks on police in the
Kosovo town of Djakovica (Gjakova) on 10 April, 7 and 9 May 1999, little
attempt was made at the trial to connect the accused with all or any one of
the attacks. Amnesty International is concerned that the right of the
accused to call witnesses in their defence may have been violated by the
court, which refused defence requests to introduce witness evidence from
members of the Yugoslav
army who had been present in Djakovica. Those who spoke in their own defence
at the Nis trial denied being members of the KLA, and pointed out that
during the NATO bombing a heavy police and army presence meant that they had
little chance to move freely.

Background
The men were among thousands arrested in Kosovo by Serbian police during the
attacks by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) on the Federal
Republic of Yugoslavia. More than 2,000 Kosovo Albanians were moved to
prisons in Serbia at the end of the NATO attacks as the Serbian police and
the army withdrew. One thousand or more remain in prison, some still
awaiting trial. Between 2,000 and 3,000 Kosovo Albanians remain missing;
many have ‘disappeared’ at the hands of the Serbian police or paramilitary
units.

ENDS.../

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

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Judge in Milosevic home town sacked for backing opposition

May 12, 2000

BELGRADE, May 12 (AFP) - A Yugoslav judge has been sacked for joining and
another resigned for joining an opposition protest in home town of President
Slobodan Milosevic, a newspaper reported Friday.
     Another judge in the Pozarevac district court, Bosko Papovic, refused
to pursue prosecutors' charges against activists from the opposition group
Otpor, or Resistance, who were detained early this week, the daily Blic
said.
     Blic said Djordje Rankovic, a magistrate and deputy president in the
Pozarevac municipal court, was sacked after taking part in an opposition
gathering in the town.
     Rankovic confirmed to the daily that he had joined several hundred
anti-regime supporters who protested in Pozarevac on Tuesday despite the
last-minute cancellation of an opposition rally there following a police
blockade of the town.
     Papovic for his part refused to handle the case against two Otpor
activists accused of attempted murder following a brawl with staff at a
Pozarevac discotheque owned by Milosevic's son, Marko.
     Prosecutors demanded the pair be held for 30 days pending an
investigation, but Papovic said there was no evidence against the two, Blic
said, adding that the judge would ask to retire later this month.
     Human rights groups have complained that judicial officials often come
under pressure from the Milosevic government concerning political cases.
     The Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia said in December 1999
that dismissal procedures had been launched against more than 40 jurists who
Judges' Society in a bid to protect judges from the regime's political
pressure.

Story from AFP  Copyright 2000 by Agence France-Presse (via ClariNet)
http://www.clari.net/hot/wed/bp/Qyugo-opposition-justice.RBwq_AyC.html

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

REUTERS
Serbian court jails three Kosovo Albanians

May 19, 2000

BELGRADE, May 18 (Reuters) - A Serbian district court has sentenced three
Kosovo Albanians to prison terms ranging from two to eight years for
terrorist activities, state news agency Tanjug reported on Thursday.
     The trial was held in the district court in the southern Serbian town
of Leskovac.
     Ramiz Djacaj, 30, from the village of Rasic near Pec in Kosovo, was
sentenced to eight years for the criminal act of terrorism, the report said.
     Mustafa Djacaj, 49, and Leonardo Krasnici, 23, from the same village,
received three-and-a-half and two-year prison sentences respectively for "as
sociation for the purpose of hostile activity against Serbia and
Yugoslavia", Tanjug said.
     It said all three had been members of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA)
which fought Serb forces in 1998 and 1999.
     According to the prosecution, Ramiz Djacaj took part in two attacks on
Serb police -- in Rasic in July 1997 and in Boksic in August 1998.
     NATO launched air strikes against Yugoslavia in March 1999 to drive
Serb forces out of Kosovo and halt Belgrade's oppression of the province's
ethnic Albanian majority.
     Serbian authorities have said there are around 965 Kosovo Albanians in
prison in Serbia.
     The International Committee of the Red Cross estimates that some 1,300
ethnic Albanians are still held in Serbian jails. NATO air strikes ended in
June last year.
     International human rights groups have called on Serbian authorities to
free the detainees.

(c) 2000 Reuters Limited.
http://news.ft.com/ft/gx.cgi/ftc?pagename=View&c=Article&cid=FT4K57M5F8C&liv
e=true&tagid=ZZZPB7GUA0C&reuters=true

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

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Regime Crackdown on Independent Media in Serbia

U.S. Department of State
Washington, D.C.
Office of the Spokesman

May 17, 2000

STATEMENT BY RICHARD BOUCHER, SPOKESMAN

REGIME CRACKDOWN ON INDEPENDENT MEDIA IN SERBIA

The Belgrade regime's move today to silence Serbia's independent media
represents a major step in efforts to preserve Milosevic's dictatorship.
This night-time police raid smacks of desperate, Bolshevik oppression.
     The United States strongly condemns the Belgrade regime's crackdown on
the independent press and the democratic opposition in Serbia. Next week,
Secretary of State Madeleine Albright will consult our allies in Europe to
determine what joint actions we will take in response to this blatant attack
on the independent media. She will also meet with foreign ministers of
states neighboring Serbia to coordinate further responses.
     Today, we will add six judges and prosecutors who have taken repressive
actions against independent media to our visa ban list and will ask the EU
to do the same. We will continue to monitor and add other names to the list.
We will also immediately add family members of several top officials of the
regime to our visa ban list and encourage the EU to do the same.
     We will continue to review further actions to take to demonstrate our
support for the independent media and people of Serbia. We understand that
citizens of Serbia have said they will protest the government's action.
Their courage and activism should be a signal to those around the Milosevic
family that the people of Serbia have grown tired of the regime and its
repression.

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

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Rain dampens protest as Serbians urge Milosevic to kill himself

May 20, 2000

BELGRADE, May 20 (AFP) - Driving rain kept many Serbian demonstrators
indoors Saturday, but a hardcore of up to 1,000 anti-government protesters
took to the streets urging President Slobodan Milosevic to take his own
life.
     In the fourth day of protests against the seizure of an opposition-run
TV station by Milosevic's regime, opposition supporters gathered in the
centre of the capital chanting "Save Serbia and kill yourself, Slobodan!"
     Just 400 metres (yards) away, at least 200 riot police with batons and
shields, surrounded the building Studio B's studios.
     Others were positioned on the corners of nearby streets, in a bid to
prevent any approach by the protesters to the media building.
     Another two buses and several vans full of riot police were parked near
the Saint Marco church about 500 meters away.
     No incidents were reported during or after the end of the protest, as
with Friday's 5,000-strong demonstration, in contrast to the first days of
rallies, which were marked by brutal police crackdowns on opposition
supporters in which dozens of people were injured.
     Serbian government forces effectively closed down opposition
broadcasting from Studio B TV on Wednesday, which until then been controlled
by the opposition Serbian Renewal Movement of Vuk Draskovic.
     The new editorial Studio B team, appointed by the government, reported
that Saturday's protest was cancelled "due to rain."
     Draskovic, who on Friday announced that the Serbian opposition team
would travel to Moscow next week, did not address the crowd Saturday.
     But he told reporters that he hoped Russia would demand from Belgrade
only what it had been doing itself.
     "I believe a strong message would be sent to return Studio B to its
town and people, to stop the terror against the opposition and to start
quickly a dialogue between the authorities and the opposition," Draskovic
said.
     Such "dialogue" should result with "an accord over conditions for
democratic elections in the country at all levels, halt to any violence and
terror and establishing of peace in the country," Draskovic said.
     The opposition has been pushing since January for national and federal
elections, currently scheduled for 2001 and 2002 respectively, to take place
along with local and federal polls this year.
     Milosevic's government has dismissed these demands, a move which has
provoked a serious outcry from the opposition.
     Meanwhile in the northern town of Novi Sad, more than 1,000 marched
along the central streets, with no incidents reported during the protest.
     Rallies were also held in several other towns in Serbia, and were set
to continue on Sunday.

Story from AFP   Copyright 2000 by Agence France-Presse (via ClariNet)
http://www.clari.net/hot/wed/bo/Qyugo-media-rally.ROlh_AyK.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. 024