[A-PAL] A-PAL Newsletter 3/1/01

[Alice Mead]

A-PAL NEWSLETTER
MARCH 1, 2001
                                      A-PAL STATEMENT
Please read this newsletter carefully. Note the March 31 deadline for 
the US to decide on conditionality of renewing AID to FRY.
Listed below is a letter to Secretary Colin Powell, protesting the 
narrow focus of the amnesty law passed on Monday, Feb. 26th by the 
Serb Parliament. It seems, but we can't be sure, that only the 
Gjakova group will be pardoned. The ongoing detention of the 
prisoners violated promises made repeatedly by Yugoslav leaders to 
release them all as soon as possible. We want to assure our readers 
that the A-PAL effort won't end until all the prisoners are home. 
PLEASE WRITE TO PROTEST THE CONTINUED DETENTION OF THE PRISONERS, AS 
WELL AS THE FAILURE BY THE NEW SERB GOVT. TO ARREST MLADIC, KARADZIN, 
AND MILOSEVIC. The failure of Western leaders to demand justice is a 
disgrace, one that only serves to encourage lawless behavior to 
continue on all sides.
                             _______________________

from Robert A. Hand
Staff Advisor
Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe
       (Helsinki Commission)
Ford House Office Building, Room #234
Washington, DC 20515-6460
202.225.1901 (Tel)
202.226.4199 (Fax)
www.csce.gov

>  Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe
>  234 Ford House Office Building
>  Washington, D.C.   20515-6460
>  Sen. Ben Nighthorse Campbell, Chairman
>  Rep. Christopher H. Smith, Co-Chairman
>  Contact:       Ben Anderson       (202) 225-1901
>  www.csce.gov
>  announcement:       Serbia After Milosevic: A Progress Report
>>                  A United States Helsinki Commission Briefing

>  Tuesday, March 6, 2001
>  2:00 p.m to 4:00 p.m.
>  Room SDG-11(Ground Floor)
>  Dirksen Senate Office Building
>  Open to Members, Congressional staff, Press and the Public
>
>  Scheduled to speak:
>
>  		Milan Protic, Yugoslav Ambassador to the United States
>  		Nina Bang-Jensen, Executive Director, Coalition for
>  International Justice
>  	Sonja Biserko, Chair, Serbian Helsinki Committee for Human Rights
>  		James M. Lyon, Political and Economic Analyst, International
>  Crisis Group
>
>  Background:
>The October 2000 ouster of Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic and 
>the December 2000 Serbian elections which solidified the position of 
>the
>  Democratic Opposition of Serbia have created conditions for bolstering
>  democratic development, enhancing economic recovery, and 
>maintaining long-term stability in Serbia and southeastern Europe as 
>a whole. After a decade of conflict, violence and repression, this 
>new situation has been universally welcomed.
>  At the same time, many remain concerned about the commitment of the 
>new Yugoslav President, Vojislav Kostunica, and other officials in 
>the
>  Yugoslav and Serbian Governments to ethnic tolerance, the rule of 
>law and cooperation with the international community in reversing 
>all the damage done by Milosevic over the years.
>
>  This Helsinki Commission briefing will assess the progress made in the
>  five months since democratic forces came to power in Serbia.
>  The briefing will focus in particular on Yugoslav cooperation with the
>  International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague,
>  Belgrade's evolving stance toward Bosnia and other neighbors, and the
>  effect of internal reform measures in correcting Milosevic abuses,
>  including the continued imprisonment of hundreds of  Kosovar 
>Albanians in Serbia.
>
>  These issues are particularly relevant in light of congressionally 
>imposed conditionality on U.S. assistance to Serbia after March 31.
>
>  _____________________________________
 From Alice Mead, A-PAL Coordinator
February 28, 2001
LETTER PROTESTING ONGOING DETENTION OF PRISONERS

Dear Secretary Colin Powell,
Since June, 1999, we have been working on our advocacy campaign 
(A-PAL) to help release and bring humane conditions to the Albanian 
prisoners. We are unclear at this point what exactly is going on with 
the new amnesty law, which releases far fewer prisoners than we had 
hoped (108 supposedly are covered, convicted of "hostile 
associations" not "terrorism against the state of Yugoslavia.) Also, 
as far as we know, the 145 Gjakova prisoners who were tried in a 
group will be pardoned at another time.

That means a total of 253 will be released between these two actions.
There are 650 total prisoners right now, minus the 253, that leaves 
about 400 unaccounted for. Of these, I believe around 100 were 
convicted before the NATO war of regular crimes and will continue 
with their sentences.( However, five of these are women and one has 
an infant. Of the women, only Flora Brovina has been released.)

That leaves 300  prisoners' futures still unaccounted for. These 
people, I believe, were convicted of terrorism---but their trials 
were deeply flawed. No evidence at all, forced confessions extracted 
under torture, flawed paraffin tests, no court documents, being held 
far beyond the time allowed by both the Yugoslav Constitution, not 
tried by a jury of their peers, not allowed appeals. Amnesty, Human 
Rights Watch, the Lawyers' Committee for Human Rights in New York, 
and the Humanitarian Law Center documented these irregularities 
extensively in their trial observations.
Yet many of these people were sentenced from 3 to 20 years for 
"terrorism." Nearly all were arrested in their homes or taken from 
refugee columns. Did not have a hearing in front of a judge. Were 
held in the Dubrava massacre site, shot at, starved, beaten horribly, 
forced to eat dirt, hung upside down, had their teeth kicked out, had 
electric shock, were forced to listen to the sons' screams, six died 
in Serbian prisons, forty were children. There are still six very 
elderly men being held. Many others are ill. None of the wounded has 
had medical care even after twenty months.

Is not this level of prolonged torture at Lipjan and Dubrava itself a 
crime? Is not the attempted massacre of 800 Albanian prisoners at 
Dubrava a war crime under investigation? How is it that these 
individuals are held as terrorists in the FRY which tried during the 
war to mow them down? The same prison guards who tried to kill them 
in Dubrava are now guarding them in Serbia. The same judge who 
oversaw the severe torture at Lipjan sentenced them for terrorism in 
Serbia? Is this a fair and impartial practice of justice? The 
obstructing force preventing their timely release does not seem to be 
the Serb or Yugoslav Parliaments at all, but President Kostunica 
himself, attempting to maintain credibility, it would seem, with 
hard-liners for not taking military action against Albanians in South 
Serbia. If that is the case, these prisoners are indeed hostages.

_________________________________________

FROM: HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH
Bush Administration Urged To Deny Aid to Yugoslavia
Belgrade Fails to Cooperate with War Crimes Court

(New York, March 1, 2001)-The Bush administration should not resume 
U.S. economic assistance to Yugoslavia because Belgrade has failed to
cooperate with the war crimes court in The Hague, Human Rights Watch
said today.

In a February 23 letter to U.S. Secretary of State Powell, Human Rights
Watch pointed out that Yugoslav authorities had failed to arrest and
hand over any of the Serb and Yugoslav officials, including former
President Slobodan Milosevic, who have been indicted by the
International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.

The U.S. Congress laid down strict guidelines in the 2001 Foreign
Operations Assistance Act, prohibiting the U.S. government from 
resuming aid to Belgrade unless Yugoslavia cooperates with the 
tribunal,
including "the surrender and transfer of indictees or assistance in
their apprehension." According to the legislation, the Bush
administration must decide by March 31, 2001 whether to resume U.S. aid.

Although Yugoslav authorities seem poised to arrest former President
Milosevic, Human Rights Watch said that his arrest and possible trial
for corruption in Belgrade would not in any way constitute cooperation
with the international tribunal in The Hague.

"Now that the arrest of Milosevic seems imminent, the U.S. government
must be firmer than ever about the need to cooperate with the
international tribunal," said Holly Cartner, executive director of the
Europe and Central Asia division of Human Rights Watch. "This would be
the worst possible moment to relax the conditions on U.S. aid. The Bush
administration must send a clear message to the authorities in Belgrade,
that no money except humanitarian aid will flow from Washington until
they start handing over indictees to The Hague."

Along with former President Milosevic, four senior Yugoslav and Serb
officials and former officials have been charged with crimes against
humanity committed by troops under their command in Kosovo in early
1999. During that period, their forces conducted a brutal campaign in
which thousands of ethnic Albanians were killed and more than 800,000
were forced out of the province. On many occasions, groups of ethnic
Albanians were systematically executed by Serbian special police or
paramilitaries.

In addition to the five charged with crimes against humanity in Kosovo,
three Yugoslav Army officials remain at liberty in Yugoslavia despite
their indictment on charges relating to the capture of Vukovar in
Croatia in November 1991. At Vukovar, more than 250 Croats were 
seized from a hospital and slaughtered. One of these officers is 
still serving in Yugoslavia's Army.

Former Bosnian Serb military commander General Ratko Mladic is living in
Belgrade. Radovan Karadzic, formerly president of the Bosnian Serb
Republic, is also at large and believed to have traveled to Yugoslavia
in recent months. These two were charged with genocide in connection
with the massacre of 7,000 Bosnian men after the fall of Srebrenica in
July 1995, the largest single killing in Europe since World War II.

Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica has argued that transferring
indictees to The Hague would "destabilize" his new, more democratic
government in Belgrade. In fact, said Human Rights Watch, allowing the
indictees to remain at liberty will only encourage the most violent and
lawless elements in Serbia.  Human Rights Watch's own research in Bosnia
and Croatia has shown that the transfer of indictees to the Hague can
facilitate democracy and be a first step toward greater stability in the

region. The record of Croatia's cooperation with the Tribunal under late
president Tudjman also demonstrates the importance of a principled U.S.
stance on the issue. Twelve Bosnian Croats surrendered to the Tribunal
in 1997 as a result of the U.S. threat to veto International Monetary
Fund and World Bank loans to the country.  The 2001 Foreign Operations
Assistance Act stipulates similar conditionality for the Federal
Republic of Yugoslavia.

"A forceful U.S. position on Croatia's cooperation with the Tribunal was
instrumental to the transfer of indictees to the Hague," said Cartner.
"Nothing less is required in U.S. relations with Yugoslavia.  U.S. law
is unambiguous on this point, and the new U.S. administration must be
unambiguous, too."

A copy of the letter to Secretary Powell is available at:
http://www.hrw.org/press/2001/02/powell0223.htm
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: text/enriched
Size: 11522 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://www.alb-net.com/pipermail/a-pal/attachments/20010301/9f984b71/attachment.bin