[A-PAL] A-PAL Newsletter/ 1/01

[Alice Mead]

              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 PRISONERSŠ.!!!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 OVERŠŠ..see belowŠ..

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 Marché 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,
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