[A-PAL] Albanian Prisoner Newsletter

[Alice Mead]

FROM A-PAL: ALBANIAN PRISONER ADVOCACY
April 23, 2001

                       ********  A-PAL STATEMENT    ************
This week is the review of the appeal of the 143 Gjakova prisoners 
detained in Serbia since June, 1999 in violation of the Geneva 
Accords, UN 1244, the Yugoslav Constitution, and international laws 
and protocols. Their crime-their collective ethnic identity. Evidence 
of their acts of terrorism? None. Therefore it is the responsibility 
of all of us to demand the release of all the remaining Albanian 
prisoners and the transfer of the criminal cases to jails in Kosova 
for review in accordance with the UNMIK mandate for all Kosova 
citizens. The case against Luan and Bekim Mazreku sentenced to 20 
years each just last week based only on their forced confessions 
should be dismissed. Kumrie Vocaj, a young woman arrested at age 14 
in 1992 and never charged should be released. Albin Kurti tried and 
convicted to 15 years for saying that the courts were a tool of the 
Milosevic regime should be released. Bekim Kastrati, an OSCE worker, 
sentenced to14 years for "acts of terrorism" should be released. 
Ismet Berbati, arrested in 1998 but never tried should be released. 
Asllan Sopi sentenced to 20 years but believed to be held in Nish 
Military Prison in unknown conditions should be released.

The legal machinations that the Serb Ministry of Justice are  now 
inventing for the "review" of these cases (not their dismissal as 
previously promised) are ludicrous efforts to evade  the normal 
application of international and Yugoslav and UN1244 law.
                            ********************************************
WE AGREE WITH THE U.S. SENATE IN THE RESOLUTION ON ALBANIAN 
PRISONERS-THE EU AND U.S. MUST ACT COLLECTIVELY TO  OBTAIN FREEDOM 
FOR THESE PEOPLE AND THEIR WAITING FAMILIES. PLEASE WITHHOLD ALL 
FUTURE ECONOMIC AID TO THE FORMER YUGOSLAVIA UNTIL THE PRISONERS GO 
HOME.
Prisoner of the week: BEDRI KUKALAJ- age 23. Arrested in 1998, he was 
imprisoned in Istok during the NATO  war, where he was shot in the 
head  during the Dubrava Massacre of May 23, 1999. His jaw and eye 
were shattered. He has had two operations, but sent a desperate (and 
we believe unanswered) plea for his release the the UN Sp.Envoy for 
Prisoners, Henrik Amneus. Periodically he has to receive IV 
transfusions because he is unable to eat. Requests by the 
Humanitarian Law Fund to have his case dismissed have failed. Four 
other prisoners have died in Serbian prisons so far. Don't let him 
become the fifth. He is now in Belgrade Prison, where released 
Albanian prisoners report being held in appalling conditions without 
even enough air to breathe. Demand that diplomats, internationals, 
media, the ICRC, and human rights groups immediately visit him and 
the appropriate ministry officials needed to both release him and 
provide the operations he needs to survive.
_______________________________________________________

Calendar No. 28, 107th CONGRESS, 1st Session
Sen. RES. 60

                  APRIL 3, 2001: RESOLUTION OF THE U.S. SENATE

Urging the immediate release of Kosovar Albanians wrongfully 
imprisoned in Serbia, and for other purposes.
(2) urges the immediate release of all Kosovar Albanians wrongfully 
held in Serbia, including the immediate release of all Kosovar 
Albanian
prisoners in Serbian custody arrested in the course of the Kosovo
conflict for their resistance to the repression of the Milosevic regime;
and
(3) urges the European Union (EU) and all countries, including European
countries that are not members of the EU, to act collectively with the
United States in exerting pressure on the government of the FRY and
of Serbia to release all prisoners described in paragraph (2).

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
March 14, 2001

Mr. SMITH of Oregon submitted the following resolution; which was
referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations

April 3, 2001
Reported by Mr. HELMS, without amendment

RESOLUTION

Urging the immediate release of Kosovar Albanians wrongfully imprisoned
in Serbia, and for other purposes.
     Whereas the Military-Technical Agreement Between the International
Security Force (`KFOR') and the Governments of the Federal Republic of
Yugoslavia and the Republic of Serbia (concluded June 9, 1999) ended
the war in Kosovo;
     Whereas in June 1999, the armed forces of the Federal Republic of
Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro) (in this resolution referred to as
the `FRY') and the police units of Serbia, as they withdrew from 
Kosovo, transferred approximately 1,900 ethnic Albanians between the 
ages of 13 and 73 from prisons in Kosovo to Serbian prisons;
     Whereas some ethnic Albanian prisoners that were tried in Serbia
were convicted on false charges of terrorism, as in the case of
Dr. Flora Brovina;
     Whereas the Serbian prison directors at Pozarevac prison stated
that of 600 ethnic Albanian prisoners that arrived in June 1999,
530 had no court documentation of any kind;
     Whereas 640 of the imprisoned Kosovar Albanians were released
after being formally indicted and sentenced to terms that matched
the time already spent in prison;
     Whereas representatives of the FRY government received thousands 
of dollars in ransom payments from Albanian families for the release 
of prisoners;
     Whereas the payment for the release of a Kosovar Albanian from
a Serbian prison varied from $4,300 to $24,000, depending on their
social prestige;
     Whereas Kosovar Albanian lawyers, including Husnija Bitice and
Teki Bokshi, who are fighting for fair trials of the imprisoned
have been severely beaten;
     Whereas approximately 600 Kosovar Albanians remain imprisoned
by government authorities in Serbia;
     Whereas the Geneva Conventions of August 12, 1949, and their
protocols give the international community legal authority to press for,
in every way possible, the immediate release of political prisoners
detained during a period of armed conflict;
     Whereas, on July 16, 1999, the United Nations Mission in Kosovo
(UNMIK) Special Representative to the Secretary General, Bernard
Kouchner, formed an UNMIK commission on prisoners and missing persons
for the purpose of advocating the immediate release of prisoners in
four categories: sick, wounded, children, and women;
     Whereas on March 15, 2000, the Kosovo Transition Council, a
co-governing body with the Interim Administrative Council in Kosovo,
repeated an appeal to the United Nations Security Council requesting
the release of Kosovar Albanians imprisoned in Serbia;
     Whereas on February 26, 2001, the FRY Assembly enacted an Amnesty 
Law under which only 108 of the 600 prisoners are eligible for 
amnesty;
and
     Whereas Vojislav Kostunica, as President of the Federal Republic
of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro), is responsible for the policies
of the FRY and of Serbia: Now, therefore, be it

Resolved,

SECTION 1. URGING THE IMMEDIATE RELEASE OF ALL KOSOVAR ALBANIAN
PRISONERS WRONGFULLY IMPRISONED IN SERBIA.

The Senate hereby--

(1) calls on FRY and Serbian authorities to provide a complete and
precise accounting of all Kosovar Albanians held in any Serbian prison
or other detention facility;

(2) urges the immediate release of all Kosovar Albanians wrongfully held
in Serbia, including the immediate release of all Kosovar Albanian
prisoners in Serbian custody arrested in the course of the Kosovo
conflict for their resistance to the repression of the Milosevic regime;
and

(3) urges the European Union (EU) and all countries, including European
countries that are not members of the EU, to act collectively with the
United States in exerting pressure on the government of the FRY and
of Serbia to release all prisoners described in paragraph (2).

April 3, 2001
Reported without amendment
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: text/enriched
Size: 8097 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://www.alb-net.com/pipermail/a-pal/attachments/20010423/492fc2e5/attachment.bin