From kosova at jps.net Tue Sep 12 22:49:39 2000 From: kosova at jps.net (kosova at jps.net) Date: Tue, 12 Sep 2000 19:49:39 -0700 Subject: [A-PAL] A-PAL Newsletter, No. 026 Message-ID: Welcome to Albanian Prisoner Advocacy List -- Prisoner Pals Newsletter, No. 026, September 11, 2000 ========================================== A-PAL STATEMENT: ========================================== One year ago, in late September, Shukrie Rexha at the Association of Political Prisoners, organized a hunger strike by Kosovar families who had members in Serb prisons. The strike was in front of the UN administration building. At that time, there wasn't an accurate list of names or even numbers of prisoners available. At that hunger strike, together, we began the petition advocating the release of prisoners. Eventually we collected 75,000 signatures. We opened the Albanian Prisoner website [www.khao.org/appkosova.htm] in October, 1999, following with weekly newsletters soon after. Within weeks, minors were released, with many thanks to the efforts of Natasa Kandic and Teki Bokshi. Mr. Bokshi, a lawyer at HLC, was kidnapped and held for 80,000 DM ransom. Now Ms. Kandic's freedom and rights are in jeopardy. Now she needs OUR help. Continued international pressure helped efforts to FINALLY secure the appointment of a UN Envoy to investigate those deprived of liberty from the conflict in Kosova. Pressure on Serb judges to uphold the constitutional law of Yugoslavia also helped overturn the conviction of Dr. Flora Brovina. She is now scheduled for retrial in Nis this month with a judge formerly from Prishtina. Once again, she NEEDS our help. Support the DISMISSAL of her case. At long last, ICRC has begun to arrange family visits for Albanian families to Serb prisons. Hopefully, this internationally guaranteed access will improve the dreadful living conditions of the prisoners until they are released. At this time, there are 911 remaining Albanian prisoners - STILL in Serb prisons. Still without basic human rights. Still detained illegally. Still being convicted for sentences of up to 20 years without a fair trial, without evidence, degraded and tortured. And STILL released by ransom of between 8,000 and 40,000 DM. What will it take for us to learn? What will it take for us to recognize inhumane suffering? What will it take for us to act upon injustice done to OTHERS? If these newsletters haven't influenced YOU thus far, what will? THE TIME TO ACT IS NOW. RELEASE THE KOSOVAR POLITICAL PRISONERS FROM SERBIA NOW! WE CANNOT STOP APPLYING PRESSURE TO SECURE THEIR RELEASE. YOU ARE BEING HEARD!! PROGRESS IS BEING MADE IN CREATING A SYSTEM THAT WILL RELEASE ALL THE PRISONERS. BEGIN/MAINTAIN YOUR ADVOCACY WORK. Our voice is their only hope to see light and freedom. Please, speak up on their behalf. ========================================== WEEK?S REQUESTED ACTION: ========================================== Write to Javier Solana, Secretary-General of the Council of the European Union / High Representative for the Common Foreign and Security Policy. Email: public.info at consilium.eu.int Address: The High Representative JL-50-50-DH-09 Rue de la Loi 175 B-1048 Brussels ISIS Europe Rue St?vin 115 1000 Brussels Belgium. Tel: +32 2 2307446 Fax: +32 2 2306113 Website: www.fhit.org/isis/ Also, write to the UN Security Council, insisting that the special envoy move quickly and be given all NECESSARY JURISDICTION to resolve this situation. Please mention that there are over 900 remaining prisoners. Thank them for their efforts so far. Ask that they continue in every possible way to press for the release of the prisoners and a restoration of their rights and liberties. Members of the UN Security Council through December, 2000 are: * United States of America: usaun at undp.org * Canada: canada at un.int * United Kingdom: uk at un.int * Ukraine: ukrun at undp.org * Tunisia: tunun at undp.org * Russian Federation: rusun at un.int * Malaysia: mysun at undp.org * Netherlands: netherlands at un.int * Jamaica: jamaica at un.int * France: france at un.int * China: chinun at undp.org * Canada: canada at un.int * Bangladesh: bangladesh at un.int * Argentina: argentina at un.int Secretary Albright e-mail: secretary at state.gov Al Gore e-mail: townhall at gorenet.com George W. Bush e-mail: georgewbush at georgewbush.com ========================================== CURRENT RELATED ARTICLES ========================================== UN SPECIAL ENVOY APPOINTED FOR PERSONS DEPRIVED OF LIBERTY FROM THE KOSOVO CONFLICT APPOINTED BY MARY ROBINSON, UNHCHR. Special envoy for detainees in Yugoslavia appointed 14:33 NEW YORK, Friday - The United Nations high commissioner for human rights, Mary Robinson, has appointed Swedish Ambassador Henrik Amneus her special envoy for foreign nationals arrested in Yugoslavia. Robinson told media today that she considered the matter of foreign detainees extremely serious. These, she said, included people who were arrested, detained or missing, whatever their nationality. ========================================== ICRC NEWS 6 September 2000 Federal Republic of Yugoslavia: ICRC organizes family visits to detainees There were emotional scenes in Nis Prison in Serbia last week as wives and mothers were briefly reunited with their detained relatives as a result of an initiative taken by the ICRC. The group of 21 women from towns and villages throughout Kosovo were brought by the ICRC to the prison, where they had the chance to spend one hour with their loved ones and give each of them a package containing basic necessities. For most of the women, it was the first time they had seen their husbands and sons since they were arrested. A similar event had taken place two days earlier when two persons from Serbia proper were taken by the ICRC to visit their relatives held in the Bondsteel detention facility in Kosovo. The visits were arranged by the ICRC after obtaining the necessary authorizations from the competent authorities. Because contact with family members is vital to the welfare of detainees, the ICRC plans to organize more such visits in the future. Meanwhile, on regular visits to 917 detainees held in 20 detention places in Serbia proper and to some 60 persons detained in Kosovo under KFOR and UNMIK authority, the ICRC monitors conditions of detention and forwards Red Cross messages between the detainees and their families. Around 22,000 such messages have been exchanged since June 1999. ========================================== Message from Ms. SHUKRIE REXHA ASSOCIATION OF POLITICAL PRISONERS, PRISHTINA 6 September 2000 about prisoners... We are waiting for the UN special envoy on persons deprived of liberty from Kosovo, Henrik Amuesen from Sweden. We hope that he and Barbara Davis of UNHCHR Belgrade will meet with us at UNMIK next week. Meanwhile, two prisoners have died in Serbia prisons: At 8/8/00 from Nish prison has came the death of Shk?lzim Zllanoga (1963), father of two children. And before, on 21/7/00 from Pozharevci prison has came death Adem Sallahu (1962). He has been arrested during the war from the column near the broad Hani i Elezit.He has been father of four children's.His family never have been to visit him in the prison. Now in Serb prisons are 911 Albanians in very bad condition. Who can help the prisoners?! I think now is deadline if we wait to return the prisoners alive. Last week I have meet Mr. Javier Solana. We have discussed about prisoners and missing persons. I continue to collect interviews from the released prisoners about the terrible conditions they experienced and the torture and violation of human rights ...I wait for all your support. Shukrie Rexha ========================================== >From the Humanitarian Law Center, Belgrade BETA news agency report Yugoslav Army News Conference Belgrade, 29 August 2000 (BETA) YA Spokesman: Natasa Kandic Should Be Sentenced Yugoslav Army (YA) spokesman Colonel Svetozar Radisic confirmed today that the Yugoslav Army would file charges against Natasa Kandic, director of the Humanitarian Law Center, because of her accusations against the YA, adding that Kandic ?should be sentenced for what she is doing.? Radisic told a news conference that legal action would be taken against Kandic because of her unfounded accusations in which she ?publicly attacked the Yugoslav Army as an institution.? Legal action against Kandic was announced by the YA General Staff on 25 August in a letter to the editor of Danas in response to the allegations she made against the YA in a text published in the newspaper the previous day and an earlier interview with the paper. In its letter, the General Staff said that unless Kandic substantiated her allegations with proof, ?something else will be involved which also entails accountability and consequences clearly defined by law.? In the text published by Danas on 24 August and headlined ?I Will Not Remain Silent About the Atrocities,? Kandic told the YA General Staff she would not pass over the suffering of Albanian civilians as well as YA soldiers she saw in Kosovo during the NATO bombing. She said she would not remain silent about the crimes in Kosovo of which she knew regardless of which side committed them. Among other things, Kandic said in the interview that the case of Kraljevo journalist Miroslav Filipovic, who was sentenced by the Military Court in Nis to seven years in prison for espionage and spreading of false reports, was really about his being the first person to ?raise the issue of the reponsibility of the Army, the Serbian forces? in Kosovo. The YA General Staff, however, assessed that Kandic used the Filipovic case to accuse ?the Army and state, denigrate the Yugoslav judicial system and cover up the crimes of the Shiptar terrorists and NATO criminals.? Colonel Radisic said today it was ?only natural? for Kandic to be taken to court. ?These allegations are so unfounded that no comment is necessary,? he said, adding that there would be no debate with Natasa Kandic and her case would go through the procedure envisaged by law. ?We consider that she has no arguments and that she should be sentenced for what she is doing,? the YA spokesman said. He added that it would not befit an institution such as the YA to enter into a polemic ?with a person who puts forth such allegations? since, he said, ?this person might be a psychiatric case.? Natasa Kandic told BETA three days ago that she had proof of her allegations based on what she saw herself and the research and investigations carried out by the HLC. ========================================== ACTION ALERT UPDATE - FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF YUGOSLAVIA 7 September 2000 Flora Brovina retrial date set SOURCE: Writers in Prison Committee (WiPC), International PEN, London **Updates IFEX alerts of 8 June, 2 May, 28 April, 1 February 2000, 15 December, 11 and 9 November, 30 August, 23 June and 30 April 1999** (WiPC/IFEX) - According to FreeB92, the independent Serbian news-agency, the Nis District Court will start new proceedings against poet, paediatrician, and women's rights activist, Flora Brovina on 14 September 2000. In June, the Serbian Supreme Court over-turned Brovina's conviction, who had been sentenced in December 1999 to twelve years in prison on charges of "terrorism", and recommended that the case be returned to the Nis District Court. International PEN considers Brovina to be held only because of her denunciation of abuses of human rights in Kosovo by Serb forces. Her conviction on charges of terrorism, the organisation believes, have been fabricated as a means of penalising her for her non-violent activities towards Kosovo independence. It welcomes the Supreme Court's decision to have the case reviewed, and continues to urge that she be freed. On 16 May, the Serbian Supreme Court heard an appeal against the twelve-year sentence against Brovina and on 7 June informed her lawyers that it had recommended that the Nis Municipal Court review the case. Brovina remains detained in Nis Prison pending the review despite requests from PEN and other international organisations that she be freed. RECOMMENDED ACTION: Send appeals to authorities: - welcoming the review of Brovina's case - urging that the recommendation that she be freed on bail pending re-trial be met - expressing hope that her case will be dismissed by the Nis District Court as being contrary to international standards safeguarding human rights - urging that the clear violations of human rights standards be taken into consideration during the re-trial and that she not be required to spend additional time in prison APPEALS TO: His Excellency Slobodan Milosevic President of Yugoslavia Savezna Skupstina 11000 Belgrade Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Fax: + 381 11 636 775 For those meeting difficulties with this contact number, try: Zivadin Jovanovic Minister of Foreign Affairs Fax: + 381 11 367 2954 PEN also recommends that letters of protest be sent to the Serb embassies in your own countries. Please copy appeals to the source if possible. For further information, contact Sara Whyatt at the WiPC, International PEN, 9/10 Charterhouse Buildings, Goswell Road, London EC1M 7AT, United Kingdom, tel: +44 (0) 20 7253 3226, fax: +44 (0) 20 7253 5711, e-mail: intpen at gn.apc.org, sara at wipcpen.org The information contained in this action alert update is the sole responsibility of WiPC. In citing this material for broadcast or publication, please credit WiPC. _________________________________________________________________ DISTRIBUTED BY THE INTERNATIONAL FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION EXCHANGE (IFEX) CLEARING HOUSE 489 College Street, Suite 403, Toronto (ON) M6G 1A5 CANADA tel: +1 416 515 9622 fax: +1 416 515 7879 alerts e-mail: alerts at ifex.org general e-mail ifex at ifex.org Internet site: http://www.ifex.org/ ========================================== Additional updates of the Kosovar political prisoners, including those sentenced, missing and released, may be found at: http://www.khao.org/appkosova.htm Archives of the A-PAL Newsletters may be found at: http://www.khao.org/appkosova/newsletter/archive.htm ICRC has made available it's list of missing. It may be found at: www.familylinks.icrc.org Albanian Prisoner Advocacy List -- Prisoner Pals Newsletter no. 26 From kosova at jps.net Tue Sep 12 22:50:36 2000 From: kosova at jps.net (kosova at jps.net) Date: Tue, 12 Sep 2000 19:50:36 -0700 Subject: [A-PAL] A-PAL Special Report - 28 Aug 2000 Message-ID: August 28, 2000 Dear A-PAL Friends, Throughout the last year, we have seeked your support and efforts for the release of the unjustly detained Albanian prisoners. Now once again, we need your help. We ask for you to support the rights and efforts of Ms. Natasa Kandic of the Humanitarian Law Center in Belgrade. "Ethnicity is irrelevant." This quote is from her August 21, 2000 letter to the Yugoslav Army General, in response to comments that she made false statements about the war in Kosova in the Belgrade newspaper, Danas. The letter below typifies Ms. Kandic's strong moral stance. Ms. Kandic has, more than ANY OTHER former Yugoslav citizen, spoken out at every turn for equal rights before the law. She is extraordinarily dedicated and fearless in her determination to do whatever she can to promote a lawful society in the former Yugoslavia - for everyone. We are including below, her letter in which she passionately defends her right to criticize certain actions of the Yugoslav Army during the war in Kosova. Ms. Kandic has bravely devoted her life to help others in need: journalists in prison, Roma children excluded from school, 154 Gjakova residents on trial for terrorism, OTPOR students, parents of soldiers, families who have missing relatives on both sides of the Serb/Kosova border. She boldly states: "I will not be silent about the suffering I saw in Kosovo." She directly challenges the Yugoslav military to do something good now - to actively participate in helping families of the detained and missing, to reunite those still separated by the war. Natasa Kandic may be put on trial for the supposed "false accusations" that the Yugoslav Army claims she made. But Ms. Kandic is a moral hero with the bravery and dedication of a Nelson Mandela. In her letter she says to the Army generals, "If you can find no one else to hold accountable for these events, you may count on me. I stand here and plead guilty because I did nothing to prevent these crimes [In Kosova] from being committed." She uses every opportunity to further the cause of justice in a society steeped in criminality, in a Europe that lacks her principled dedication and who would prefer to look the other way. PLEASE, AFTER READING HER LETTER, CONTACT YOUR FOREIGN AFFAIRS OFFICIALS AND ASK THEM TO SPEAK OUT ON BEHALF OF THE RIGHT TO FREEDOM OF SPEECH THAT BELONGS NOT ONLY TO MS. KANDIC, BUT TO ALL MEMBERS OF THE FORMER YUGOSLAV SOCIETY. Sincerely, A-PAL Team ========================================== REQUESTED ACTION: ========================================== Email the members of the UN Security Council countries. Members of the UN Security Council through December, 2000 are: * United States of America: usaun at undp.org * Canada: canada at un.int * United Kingdom: uk at un.int * Ukraine: ukrun at undp.org * Tunisia: tunun at undp.org * Russian Federation: rusun at un.int * Malaysia: mysun at undp.org * Netherlands: netherlands at un.int * Jamaica: jamaica at un.int * France: france at un.int * China: chinun at undp.org * Canada: canada at un.int * Bangladesh: bangladesh at un.int * Argentina: argentina at un.int -- * The European Court of Human Rights, Council of Europe in Strasbourg, France: e-mail webmaster at courtl.coe.fr or telephone + 33-3-88-412018 * Javier Solana: public.info at consilium.eu.int * Representative Engel's office (Chairman of the Albanian Caucus): jason.steinbaum at mail.house.gov * National Albanian American Council: naacdc at aol.com * Doris Pack: Chairperson-Southeast Europe Delegation: dpack at europarl.eul.int * Emma Bonino: ebonino at agora.stm.it * Elmar Brock: Chairman Human Rights ebrok at europarl.eu.int * Bart Staes: bstaes at europarl.eu.int * Patricia McKenna: mckennap at iol.ie * Heidi Hautala: hautala at vihrealiitto.fi * Ole Krarup: ole.kraup at jur.ku.dk * Daniel Cohn-Bendit: dcohn-bendit at europarl.eu.int * Cecelia Malmstrom: cecelia at liberal.se * Hans_gert Poettering: hpoettering at europarl.eu.int * Per Gahrton: pgahrton at europarl.eu.int * Jose Pomes Ruis: pomes at abc.ibernet.com * Christina Prets: eu-buero.prets at members.at * Heidi Ruhle: hruhle at europarl.eu.int * Elisabeth Schroedter: eschroedter at europarl.eu.int * Staffan B. Linder: sbl at moderat.se * Gunilla Carlsson: gcarlsson at europarl.eu.int * Den Dover: ddover at demon.uk * Olivier Duhamel: oduhamel at europarl.eu.int * Olivier Dupuis: o.dupuis at agora.stm.it * Marialiese Flemming: mflemming at europarl.eu.int * Karl Heinz Florenz: kflorenz at europarl.eu.int * Michael Gahler: mgahler at europarl.eu.int * Vasco Graca Moura: vgm at mail.telepac.pt * Marco Pannaella: m.pannella at agora.it * Mihail Papayannakis: papagiannakis at syn.gr * Slobodan Milosevic--President of FRY- fax: 011-381-11-636-775 * Vlajko Stoijiljkovic--Minister of Int. Affairs -- 011-381-11-3617-508 * Zoran Sokolovic-- Federal Minister of Internal Affairs-- 011-381-11-361-7730 * Zivadin Jovanovic--Fed. Minister of Foreign Affairs-- 011-381-11-367-2954 ========================================== HLC EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR?S LETTER TO YUGOSLAV ARMY GENERAL STAFF Yugoslav Army General Staff Belgrade Belgrade, 21 August 2000 Sirs, On 17 August last, the Belgrade daily Danas in its Letters to the Editor section carries a letter from your Information Office under the heading ?Ms Kandic Prejudges with Serious and Unproven Accusations?. The letter is in response to my interview by Bojan Toncic carried by the same paper and purports to set out what I said, what I left unsaid, and what I actually meant in that interview. I consider it fitting to address my letter directly to you, both as the institutional and presumable authors of the letter published by Danas. You state in your letter that I put forth ?falsehoods with regard to events in Kosovo and Metohija? during the NATO intervention and that in so doing committed a crime for which both I and those who prevented my so doing should be held accountable. There is no doubt in my mind about whom you consider to be criminals, terrorists and spies. In Serbia today, everyone, including children, are under suspicion by the authorities of being terrorists. When anyone dares to raise the question of the responsibility of the Yugoslav Army, you respond with secret trials. I am one of those people who refuse to remain silent, even at the cost of being brought to trial by you. I will not remain silent about the horrors your generals sent young recruits to witness in Kosovo. I can still see the anguish on the faces of 20-year-olds who gave their rations of milk, bread and cheese to Kosovo Albanian mothers and children driven from their homes by the Army and police. The road from Kosovoska Mitrovica to Pec and Djakovica on 14 and 15 April is engraved on my memory: a column of Albanian civilians, young soldiers going up to them with tears in their eyes, pleading with them to accept their food, to forgive them, saying it was not their fault, that their officers ordered them to Kosovo, that they did not know where they were being taken. Young soldiers were the bright light of humanity and life in other localities of Kosovo too. I will not be silent about the suffering of civilians I saw in Kosovo. I saw Albanian villages surrounded by tanks and heard the shelling. I saw thousands of people leaving their homes with a bundle or two of belongings, ordered out by the police or Army who told them Kosovo was no longer their home. I saw columns of civilians on the roads. A few dared to stop for a moment to tell me how the Army shelled their village and ordered them out to Albania. As they were leaving, they saw police enter the village, plunder their property and torch their homes. I spoke with people who were in Izbica on 26 March. They recounted how they were surrounded by soldiers in green uniforms, reservists, who separated the men to be shot. A woman described to me how soldiers went through a mass of villagers, pointing to who would remain and who had to leave, for Albania. They took her husband and father-in-law, an old man of 70, in a round up of 20 men. She saw them shot. When they came around a second time, her son was taken. She offered the soldiers money for her son?s life but they said they could not let him go. She did not see her son shot, but later heard on the radio that he had been shot on that 26th of March. About 10,000 civilians were forced by shelling to leave a field near Izbica and set out for Albania. In these columns were mothers who were not allowed to see their dead children for a last time. These, gentlemen, are facts about what happened in Kosovo during the state of war. Regrettably, this is the cruel truth about Izbica, Bela Crkva, Cuska, Vucitrn and many other places and not, as you maintain, ?falsehoods.? If you can find no one else to hold accountable for these events, you may count on me. I stand here and plead guilty because I did nothing to prevent these crimes from being committed. You rebuke me for not praising the Yugoslav Army, the astuteness of its commanding generals, its high morale, good tactics and ingenious camouflaging. Do you really think the people of Serbia and Montenegro believe you fought against a flesh and blood enemy, those you label ?NATO criminals?, and that you won? Every casualty of the NATO bombing is your casualty too. You wholeheartedly endorsed the war against ?foreign occupation? only to sign the Military-Technical Agreement in Kumanovo on 9 June on the withdrawal of the Yugoslav Army, police,paramilitary and parapolice units from Kosovo. And then you proclaimed victory. Yet you avoid meeting face to face with the parents of soldiers who were killed or went missing. You took their sons to Kosovo but not your own sons; you award medals to the sons of parents who only want to know where their sons are buried. The issue of the legality and legitimacy of the NATO intervention in FRYugoslavia has been raised at the international level. Legal experts are seriously analyzing possible violations of international humanitarian law by NATO. Very soon after the bombing of the Serbian Radio-Television building and the civilian deaths caused, the respected human rights organization Amnesty International came out with an expert opinion saying a civilian target had been attacked in contravention of the Geneva Conventions. You say that I fail to mention the victims of the NATO bombing and the destruction it caused. May I remind you that I applied to you on 3 April for permission to research and investigate attacks on civilians and civilian targets. May I recall the bus tours organized by you of bombed locations, with passes issued only to selected reporters. You had an information monopoly; it was as if tourist attractions were involved, not human life. Although the Humanitarian Law Center is the only human rights organization to have applied for such permission, your Press and Information Office, when we applied, made us wait for days before we were finally and bluntly told, ?No! We know what kind of organization you are.? You accuse me of passing over the crimes of ?Shiptar terrorists? from 1 January 1998 to the present. What do you call those on ?our side? who have committed crimes? Do you consider them terrorists also or the nation?s defenders? What have you done to establish the fate of Serbs, Roma, Bosniacs and Montenegrins who disappeared when you had control over the territory of Kosovo? You treat these victims of before and after the arrival of the international force in Kosovo as numbers, as though the more dead and abducted, the better for the Serb cause. You say that you successfully opposed the world?s strongest military force, that you beat NATO. If you are so powerful why not do a simple thing for the good, this time, of the people of Serbia and Kosovo: ask those with whom you signed the Kumanovo Agreement to help with the clarification of the fate of the missing and the prisoners: 2,500 Albanians who went missing during the state of war, 1,150 Serbs, Roma, Montenegrins and Bosniacs who disappeared since the employment of the international force in Kosovo and about 900 Albanian who are being held prisoners in Serbia. I stand where I have always stood, defending the right to life, the right to freely use one?s native language, the right to freedom of movement, the right to publicly criticize authorities. I stand in support of every court that punishes the perpetrators of war crimes and those who ordered crimes against humanity. Ethnicity is irrelevant; a crime is a crime. Natasa Kandic ========================================== VIP, Belgrade, August 25, 2000 Yugoslav Army Says it will Sue Natasa Kandic The Yugoslav Army (VJ) said on Thursday it would be bringing charges against Natasa Kandic for her text ?I shall not keep quiet about horrors? published in the Danas newspaper on Thursday, the Glas Javnosti newspaper writes on Friday. Quoting the newspaper?s obligations ?under the Law on information?, the VJ Command?s Information Service says in a letter submitted to Danas it hopes that ?Danas, as a serious newspaper, carefully weighed the claims made by Natasa Kandic? and that ?she will be able to prove her claims in court?. It is not clear from the letter who will be prosecuted and under what law. However, the text of the VJ statement carried by Danas on Friday says ?the VJ hopes that Natasa Kandic will prove her contention in court?. Danas Deputy Editor-in-Chief Boza Andrejic has said he does not expect Danas to be charged. He said the editorial board had, from the VJ letter, come to the conclusion that the Army would not be taking steps against Danas under the most serious articles of the Law on information, and might not even bring charges against Danas at all. Andrejic said the hope was based on the fact that the newspaper had immediately acted on the VJ?s request and published the VJ?s reaction to Kandic?s text. ?The essence of the letter is that the VJ announces it will sue Natasa Kandic for texts published in our newspaper.? Asked what in her text could have prompted the VJ Command to take the step, Humanitarian Law Fund Director Natasa Kandic said on Thursday she did not know how the VJ meant to prove its case. ?If the trial is closed to the public, then it will not be possible to present evidence?. Kandic said she had made her claims in the text as ?an eyewitness to many things?. If evidence could be presented publicly, ?I think that would be an ideal chance for the public to learn what evidence there is that things have been done in contravention of international humanitarian law?, Kandic said. ========================================== BETA news agency report Yugoslav Army News Conference Belgrade, 29 August 2000 (BETA) YA Spokesman: Natasa Kandic Should Be Sentenced Yugoslav Army (YA) spokesman Colonel Svetozar Radisic confirmed today that the Yugoslav Army would file charges against Natasa Kandic, director of the Humanitarian Law Center, because of her accusations against the YA, adding that Kandic ?should be sentenced for what she is doing.? Radisic told a news conference that legal action would be taken against Kandic because of her unfounded accusations in which she ?publicly attacked the Yugoslav Army as an institution.? Legal action against Kandic was announced by the YA General Staff on 25 August in a letter to the editor of Danas in response to the allegations she made against the YA in a text published in the newspaper the previous day and an earlier interview with the paper. In its letter, the General Staff said that unless Kandic substantiated her allegations with proof, ?something else will be involved which also entails accountability and consequences clearly defined by law.? In the text published by Danas on 24 August and headlined ?I Will Not Remain Silent About the Atrocities,? Kandic told the YA General Staff she would not pass over the suffering of Albanian civilians as well as YA soldiers she saw in Kosovo during the NATO bombing. She said she would not remain silent about the crimes in Kosovo of which she knew regardless of which side committed them. Among other things, Kandic said in the interview that the case of Kraljevo journalist Miroslav Filipovic, who was sentenced by the Military Court in Nis to seven years in prison for espionage and spreading of false reports, was really about his being the first person to ?raise the issue of the reponsibility of the Army, the Serbian forces? in Kosovo. The YA General Staff, however, assessed that Kandic used the Filipovic case to accuse ?the Army and state, denigrate the Yugoslav judicial system and cover up the crimes of the Shiptar terrorists and NATO criminals.? Colonel Radisic said today it was ?only natural? for Kandic to be taken to court. ?These allegations are so unfounded that no comment is necessary,? he said, adding that there would be no debate with Natasa Kandic and her case would go through the procedure envisaged by law. ?We consider that she has no arguments and that she should be sentenced for what she is doing,? the YA spokesman said. He added that it would not befit an institution such as the YA to enter into a polemic ?with a person who puts forth such allegations? since, he said, ?this person might be a psychiatric case.? Natasa Kandic told BETA three days ago that she had proof of her allegations based on what she saw herself and the research and investigations carried out by the HLC. ========================================== Related articles on Ms. Natasa Kandic: http://www.bndlg.de/~wplarre/Natasa-Kandic.htm Association of Political Prisoners: http://www.khao.org/appkosova.htm