From amead at maine.rr.com Thu Jan 4 09:38:44 2001 From: amead at maine.rr.com (Alice Mead) Date: Thu, 4 Jan 2001 09:38:44 -0500 Subject: [A-PAL] A-PAL Newsletter/ 1/01 Message-ID: A-PAL NEWSLETTER----JANUARY 3, 2001------- Unreasonable and unexplained delays in release of 700 Albanian prisoners is a continuation of Milosevic regime policy and methods. JOIN US! SEND A LETTER TO SERB LEADERS AND INTERNATIONALS IN BELGRADE DEMANDING RELEASE THIS JANUARY, 2001. (SEE SAMPLE LETTER AND ADDRESSES AT END OF NEWSLETTER) ***************************************************** A-PAL URGENT ACTION --PLEASE HELP US IN OUR LATEST EFFORT-- DURING JANUARY, WE ARE EMAILING SERB LEADERS, EMBASSIES IN BELGRADE, AND SERB NGOS, URGING THEM TO ADVOCATE FOR THE RELEASE OF PRISONERS AND TO FOLLOW THRU ON PROMISES. !! JOIN/REJOIN THE 2001 EUROPEAN A-PAL EMAIL ACTION CAMPAIGN TO RELEASE PRISONERS?.!!!INFORMATION IS AT: http://www.kosova-info-line.de ***************************************************** http://news.com.au:80/common/story_page/0,4057,1561191%255E1702,00.html Free Kosovar political prisoners: EU >From AFP/AUSTRIA 29dec00 09:50 (AEDT) THE European Union called on Yugoslav and Serbian authorities today to free hundreds of ethnic Albanians from Kosova, held in Serbian prisons on charges of terrorism since the Kosovo war. "The European Union calls on the Yugoslav and Serbian authorities to find suitable legal paths for the rapid release of the Kosovo Albanian prisoners detained for political reasons," an EU statement, issued by France which holds the EU presidency, said. Human rights groups estimate there are about 800 such prisoners and all the ethnic Albanian political groups in Kosova have demanded their release. *********************** From the EP Resolution: B. regretting, however, that the fate of all political prisoners in Kosovo who were deprived of their freedom by the Milosevic regime solely because of their ethnicity or political convictions has not yet been resolved by the new democratic forces in Yugoslavia and that since the readmission of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia to the UN, the OSCE and Europe, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia has not set a date for the release of the prisoners or provided details of an amnesty law, ************************************************************ UNCERTAIN FUTURE?? THEY ARE HOSTAGES WHO SHOULD HAVE BEEN RELEASED WHEN THE NEW GOVT. TOOK OVER??..see below?.. From the Toronto Star, Toronto, Canada http://www.thestar.com/cgi-bin/gx.cgi/AppLogic+FTContentServer?pagenam e=thestar/Layout/Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=978150655390&call_page=TS _World&call_pageid=968332188854&call_pagepath=News/World Dec. 31, 2000. 01:39 AM Fate uncertain for hundreds in Serb prisons Shift to democracy fails to free Kosovars held during conflict Olivia Ward EUROPEAN BUREAU BELGRADE - More than a year after the Kosovo conflict ended, hundreds of ethnic Albanians are still imprisoned in Serbian jails. And, in spite of the dramatic shift of power in Serbia to a new democratic administration, their fate continues to be uncertain. ``Under our law there is no category for political prisoners, so they are all classed as criminals,'' said Sead Spahovic, one of three politicians who share the title of Serbian justice minister, under a compromise thrashed out when the democratic government took over last October. ``Releasing them is not a simple matter,'' he added. The troika will soon be disbanded and a new minister appointed from the ruling democratic coalition. Human rights experts say that they're confident the logjam over the prisoners' release will be broken soon, perhaps within a month. In spite of the new liberalization, there is still public resentment toward Kosovar Albanians, as violence toward Kosovo's Serbs continues, and a splinter group of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) makes violent forays into southern Serbia. ``In the present climate it's difficult to give an amnesty for anyone classed as a terrorist,'' said Dusan Ignjatovic, executive director of the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights. ``But most of those Kosovo people who are in jail are innocent.'' The committee is helping the government draft a new law on amnesty that will cover some of the estimated 600 Albanian prisoners still behind bars. It will also cover Serbs who refused to join the military during the Kosovo conflict, or who deserted their army posts. ``We expect it will be passed in the first part of January and then the prisoners can be released very quickly,'' said Ignjatovic. But the amnesty law will be federal and many of the prisoners are held under Serbian law. Others will not qualify for the amnesty, and must go through lengthy court procedures to free them. Of more than 2,000 people taken by Serbian and Yugoslav forces during the conflict, more than half have now been released, including the prominent women's rights advocate Dr. Flora Brovina. But there have been reports of demands for bribes by lawyers and judges and families of some released Kosovars say they paid thousands of German marks to get their relatives back. ``These people aren't prisoners, but hostages,'' said the law centre's director Biljana Kovacevic-Vuco. ``They should have been released as soon as the new government took over.'' More than 1,000 other ethnic Albanians are still missing after being detained by Slobodan Milosevic's forces during the conflict. And there are also lists of missing Serbs, who were presumed kidnapped by the KLA. The conditions for the jailed Kosovar Albanians are severe. Prisoners interviewed after release speak of extreme cold or heat, overcrowding, contaminated food, starvation, beatings and denial of medical aid. In Kosovo last spring, one wept as he described the treatment of a sick cell mate who had been beaten after pleading for a doctor. ``I was put in a cell with some Albanians, and I knew they were treated much worse than I was,'' said Serbian journalist Miroslav Filipovic, who was jailed as a spy for publishing reports about military atrocities in the international media. ``It was absolutely clear it was because they were Albanian.'' Filipovic was released shortly after Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica's Democratic Opposition of Serbia coalition took power in October. Relatives of the Kosovars are demanding similar treatment for their family members. Copyright 1996-2000. Toronto Star Newspapers Limited. _____________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ > > > >THE ISSUE OF PRISONERS TO BE CLARIFIED IN JANUARY, SAYS LAWYER BOKSHI > > > >Prishtina, Dec. 30 (KosovaLive) > >The Federal Ministry of Justice of FRY has not drafted the Law on > >Amnesty yet. It is working on its modalities, which are not yet known. > >It is expected that the amnesty for those accused of "criminal >terrorist acts from article 125 of PL of FRY" will not be included >in the law," said lawyer Teki Bokshi. > > "The bill will pass from the Federal Ministry of Justice of FRY to > >the federal government for studying, and then to the Federal > >Parliament," Bokshi told KosovaLive, adding that the formal reason >for not including the criminal act of terrorism in the amnesty law >is that Yugoslavia has signed the convention on fighting terrorism, >so its > >inclusion will cause negative international repercussions. But >according to Bokshi, different groups say the situation in Presheva >and Bujanoc has affected this issue. > > In the role of the defense lawyer for one part of the Albanian > >political prisoners, within the activities of the Humanitarian Rights > >Fund, Bokshi told KosovaLive that he had warned that Albanians were > >convicted in Serb courts and were found guilty in trials where neither > >basic international nor Serb norms were respected. He added that the > >exclusion of the act would mean the exclusion of the Albanians >from the law. According to him, Serb officials justify themselves by >saying that > >they will find another way of "releasing" our prisoners and that their > >release will be undertaken in a legal procedure, with regular or > >extraordinary means and without delay. > > Bokshi says that Serb officials are mentioning the Gjakova group. > >According to them, that group should not be amnestied because >Bokshi's case is a legal mistake. They say that this case has to be >fixed in a Legal procedure, while making known that the guilty ones >will be amnestied and the innocent ones should be released. "The >issue will > >finally be clarified by the end of the second week of January 2001", > >concludes lawyer Bokshi. > ___________________________________________ FROM PAX CHRISTI/ ISRAEL AND BELGIUM: A LETTER ASKING FOR THE RELEASE OF PRISONERS SENT TO PRES. KOSTUNICA AND FOR. AFFAIRS MINISTER SVILANOVIC December,2000 --Pax Christi International 21, Rue du Vieux March? aux Grains B-1000 Brussels ? Belgium tel: 32/2/502.55.50 fax: 32/2/502.46.26 e-mail: hello at paxchristi.net url: http://www.paxchristi.net His Excellency Vojislav Kostunica President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia 11000 Belgrade F.R.Y. Ref.: 389PLE Brussels, 21 December 2000 Your Excellency, I'm writing on behalf of Pax Christi, the international Catholic peace movement, which has a longstanding relationship with the Balkan regions by way of a number of projects and initiatives. As you might know, Pax Christi International is a worldwide non-governmental organisation with consultative status at the Council of Europe and at the United Nations-Commission on Human Rights in Geneva. I would like to express my sincere appreciation for the encouraging developments towards building a democratic society and establishing rule of law in your country, initiated by the events on the 5th of October 2000. Our movement is aware of the numerous challenges the new administration is facing. One of them is the question of Kosovo, including the issue of the Albanian political prisoners in Serbia. Over the past few weeks there has been growing concern about the situation in the Presevo-valley. The question of the missing persons from Kosovo (Serbs as well as Albanians and Roma) is waiting to be resolved, as well as the question of Serbian IDP's from Kosovo who would like to return to a safe environment in Kosovo. Pax Christi is mentioning these topics in its discussions with Kosovo-Albanian politicians. Today, I would like to call your attention specifically to the fate of approximately 800 Kosovo-Albanian prisoners in your country, mostly political prisoners. From your assistants and through the media we have learned that an amnesty law has been prepared. This law would cover amnesty for draft evaders from the Yugoslav Army as well as the release of political prisoners. The position of the President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia is of great importance in this debate. Pax Christi International expresses its support for such a law. I know from my experience in the Israeli-Palestine conflict how much suffering the unjust imprisonment of political activists and innocent common people causes, for the people concerned and for their relatives. However, the longer the issue of political prisoners drags on, the more it becomes divisive and the more it blocks any start of a political process for a sustainable settlement. Because of that, I would like to ask you to proclaim a "presidential pardon" on the occasion of New Year 2001 and to facilitate the early release of these political prisoners. A presidential pardon and early release could become a Confidence Building Measure to be welcomed. It could increase chances for establishing the right atmosphere needed for any meaningful process of Serbian-Albanian dialogue, which will take alot of time. I would consider such a strong gesture of reconciliation as a most important contribution to the Year of Jubilee of the Christian Churches in which "the poor will be brought the good news, captives will be released and the sight of the blind will be recovered and all those oppressed will be set at liberty." (Luke 4.18). Our Dutch and Flemish sections are currently implementing a joint project with partner organisations in your country, called 'Serbia-EU: from Exclusion to Integration'. We believe that the current socio-economic and humanitarian situation requires immediate action and longstanding involvement from the European institutions and all those who wish to support democracy in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. I would like to assure you of Pax Christi's commitment in this matter. We hope that you will consider our proposal positively. Respectfully Yours, + Msgr. Michel Sabbah, Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem President of Pax Christi International. ______________________________________________________________________ _________________ a-pal action SAMPLE LETTER: January 3, 2001 Dear ------------------------- I am writing on behalf of the approximately 700 Albanian prisoners, who have been detained in Serb prisons for the past nineteen months. As a group, they have been collectively labeled "terrorists," and tried and sentenced without evidence, legal support, or appeals. They have all been brutally and repeatedly tortured. For the past eighteen months, human rights groups and advocates around the world as well as the prisoners' families have advocated peacefully for their release through demonstrations, petitions, and letters. None of these have ever been answered. In December, 2000, the European Parliament passed its third resolution calling for the release of the prisoners as promised by President Kostunica on October 5, 2000. Supposedly, an amnesty law is now being considered by the Yugoslav Parliament, but again, no requests for information have been answered. This sorry chapter of the war needs to end now. Legalistic delays at this point are inexcusable. Maintaining silence about the status of these people only adds to the confusion and degradation they and their families suffer. Detaining them further is nothing more than a continuation of the brutal police-state methods of the Milosevic regime and makes a mockery of the FYR's claims to democracy. Yugoslav leaders have formally promised to release them. Now they should do so. Sincerely. EMAIL Addresses: Mary Robinson, Director UNHCHR-secrt.hchr at unog.ch, Barbara Davis, UNHCHR--davisb at un.org, otpor at otpor.com, Aaron Rhodes office at ihf-hr.org, Australian Embassy austemba at eunet.yu, Belgian Embassy embassy at belgium.org,yu, French Embassy france at bih.net.ba, Canadian Embassy milica.dacic at dfait-maeci.gc.ca, Carl Bildt Carl.Bildt at moderat.se, G17 g17 at opennet.org, IRC ircbg at eunet.yu, Goran Svilanovic svilanovic at yahoo.com, President Kostunica vojislav.kostunica at gov.yu, -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: text/enriched Size: 17807 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://www.alb-net.com/pipermail/a-pal/attachments/20010104/a7dabbd4/attachment.bin From amead at mail.maine.rr.com Tue Jan 9 12:33:46 2001 From: amead at mail.maine.rr.com (Alice Mead) Date: Tue, 9 Jan 2001 12:33:46 -0500 Subject: [A-PAL] A-PAL Newsletter 1/9/01 Message-ID: A-PAL NEWSLETTER JANUARY 9, 2001 A-PAL STATEMENT Despite requests from various international leaders to release the prisoners during the Christmas season, President Kostunica and the FRY Parliament failed to take action on the proposed amnesty law. Instead of the amnesty as promised October 5, 2000, rumors circulated in Belgrade that the amnesty law would "exclude Albanian terrorists." However on January 8, 2001, Foreign Minister Goran Svilanovic, while in DC, told Rep. Chris Smith, OSCE Chair in the US Congress, that the amnesty law would be passed soon, and that all prisoners would be released. Where is the reality ? Meanwhile, European A-PAL, with the help of several Serb NGOs, has prepared a new email action campaign addressed to all Serb officials, many NGO's, and media in FRY demanding the timely release of the prisoners. Already we have received a quick response from Jiri Dienstbir (see below). Other statements for release have come from Anders Wessman in Sweden, Italian MEP member Olivier Dupuis, and MEP Bart Staes. Even the criminal prisoners in Serb jails believe the Albanians should be released. The longer the government of FRY keeps the prisoners now, the less credibility they have in their claims of becoming a democracy. At this point, the government's actions--or inactions--speak louder than their words. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ EMAIL-ACTION: RELEASE THE PRISONERS NOW! JOIN US! T? LIROHEN MENJ?HER? T? BURGOSURIT! LASST JETZT DIE GEFANGENEN FREI! ODMAH OSLOBODITE ZATVORENIKE! DETAILS AVAILABLE AT: **** http://www.kosova-info-line.de/APP/ ******** ________________________________________________ I AGREE WITH ALL MY HEART: RELEASE THE ALBANIAN PRISONERS NOW ! Petar Lukovic, independent journalist, Belgrade, Serbia http://www.beograd.com/xz/ ICQ 26977244 _____________________________________ 1/4/01 Dear Alice Mead, I have been following this case since the beginning, made reports and demanded the release of prisoners in contacts both with the previous regime and the present government. I cover the issue in the prepared report to the UN Commission on Human Rights too. I understand that the new authorities have been busy with the establishment and consolidation of new democratic power and it continues till now after the Serbian elections. I believe that they will pay due attention to the issue as soon as possible. If the law on amnesty is not passed quickly or if it is not effective enough I will raise the question with the Yugoslav and Serbian Government again during my next visit to Belgrade this or next month. Wishing you all the best Yours Jiri Dienstbier, UNHCR/FRY _______________________________________ FROM OLIVIER DUPUIS, EP MEMBER, ITALY A un moment o? l'Union europ?enne oublie jusqu'aux centaines de Kosovars litt?ralement kidnapp?s par les autorit?s de Belgrade au printemps 1999 et toujours d?tenus en toute ill?galit? en Serbie, ce rappel au Droit et ? la raison fondatrice de ce premier organe de justice internationale est particuli?rement bienvenu et appelle les remerciements les plus sinc?res de tous ceux qui ont voulu et su ne pas d?sesp?rer compl?tement de la justice au cours des ann?es noires de l'?re Milosevic. " www.radicalparty.org ______________________________________________________________________ http://www.freeb92.net/archive/e/index.phtml?Y=2001&M=01&D=08 FreeB92 Last update: Jan 8, 2001 15:59 CET Amnesty to all FRY political prisoners, Svilanovic tells US 13:40 WASHINGTON, Monday - The Yugoslav Parliament will soon adopt an Amnesty Act that will free all political prisoners, including over 1,000 Albanians currently in Serbian prisons, Yugoslav Foreign Minister told high-ranking US officials yesterday. As president of the Helsinki Committee, in charge of America's highest legislative body for cooperation with the OSCE, US Congressman Christopher Smith stressed American approval for the speedy release of all political prisoners in Yugoslavia. "This is a highly positive measure that would help solve some of the serious problems the international community is still faced with in Kosovo," Congressman Christopher Smith said. Smith added that he welcomed the Yugoslav Government's readiness to "establish the demanded co-operation" with the International Tribunal for war crimes committed in former Yugoslavia. During a meeting yesterday, Smith symbolically presented Svilanovic with copies of Hague indictments of war criminals currently on Yugoslav soil, adding that their arrests would be the best possible confirmation of the new Belgrade regime's readiness to meet its obligations under the Dayton peace agreement and the UN Security Council Resolution 1244. (SENSE) ________ From: Kosova?s Information Office Stockholm Subject: Action in Stockholm on behalf of hostages Date: Sat, 6 Jan 2001 00:00:19 +0100 X-Priority: 3 PROTEST IN STOCKHOLM FOR THE ALBANIAN HOSTAGES Stockholm, 5 January - Swedish and Albanian protesters gathered today outside Belgrade embassy in Stockholm to demand the release of some 700 Albanian hostages still kept in Serbian jails. The protesters, dressed in prison clothes and chained, asked the new Serbian lidership to release the hostages during Orthodox Christmass. "-The new lidership [in Belgrade] calles itself democratic, but it still holds in it's prisons hundreds of innocent men, arrested and sentenced by the Milosevic regime", said Anders Wessman, organiser of the protest. The protest concluded a two-day action by The Swedish - Kosovar Friendship Association LMSK, which is headed by Mr. Wessman. Yesterday, LMSK had organised a symbolic day-long hunger strike, to draw public attention towards the difficult humanitarian conditions of the Albanian hostages in Serbia. "-Orthodox Christmass was a good oportunity for Belgrad to make a human step towards peace and conciliation with Kosova. Hundreds of children in Kosova await good news on their inprisoned parents every day, and the world shall not forget them", Mr. Wessman said. Today's protest of the LMSK in Stockholm didn't surpass without incidents. Embassy personel demanded on three occasions that the police should interveene against the protestors, although the action was conducted in a peacefull fashion. The situation with the Albanian hostages is turning into an embarrasment for the new lidership in Belgrade, who is trying desperatly to rebuild the image of the country in the eyes of the international community. The new federal president, Vojislav Kostunica, tryed initially hard to by-pass the sensitive question. But international pressure forced him finally in November to declare that he would "look closer" into the hostage affair. Rumours within the NGO communities in Kosova held that an "amnesty" of the hostages would pass on the eve of the Orthodox Christmass. But the "amnesty" never came and the fate of some 700 hostages still awaits a solution. European Union demanded in late December that Belgrade should find "suitable legal paths" for rapid release of the Albanian hostages, which EU said had been inprisoned for "political reasons". Similar demands have been forwarded to Belgrade by the Swedish and other European governments on several occasions. The hostage's release was discussed formally even during the first visit in U.S. of the new "Yugoslav" minister of foreign affairs, Svilanovic. Speech of MEP Bart STAES (European Free Alliance) on the debate on the "Political prisoners in Serbia and instability on the borders of Kosovo" on the plenary session of the European Parliament on Thursday, 14th of December 2000. Mr. President, Dear Colleagues, Mr. Commisssioner, Last year on December 25th , on Christmas, three prominent Albanian Kosovarians started in Brussels a hungerstrike for three weeks to focus attention of the international community on the case of the prisoners and especially of the thousands of missing persons. Early January 2000 thousands of Kosovarians hold a demonstration in front of the building of the E.U.-Council in Brussels and a delegation of them was received by a representative of Mr. Solana and by the Portuguese presidency. Solana, so they said us, showed he understood these demands, but they drew our attention to the fact - I quote - that it was hard to have deals with a regime like this of Milosevic. Dear Colleagues, meanwhile Milosevic has been replaced by Kostunica and during my stay in Kosova Kostunica has been received very cordially on the summit of Biarritz where he got unconditionally many millions ? as aid. But what did he prove in the case of the prisoners meanwhile? OK, one symbolic prisoner, Mrs. Flora Brovina has been released, but much remains to be done, Colleagues! The paragraphs 1, 2 and 3 of our resolution are clear. We want a prompt release of the political prisoners and we demand an impartial investigation of the fate of the missing persons. Mr. Solana, Mr. Patten, I ask both of you to put pressure on the regime of Kostunica to accept our demands. To Mr. Kostunica I will say: you should gain in credibility if you should embrace the opportunity of Christmas to proceed to actions in this case. In every way it will be benificial to the stability in the region. -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: text/enriched Size: 10322 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://www.alb-net.com/pipermail/a-pal/attachments/20010109/3f012a0e/attachment.bin