[A-PAL] a-pal newsletter 3/24/01

[Alice Mead]

A-PAL NEWSLETTER:
MARCH 24, 2001-- 466 ALBANIAN PRISONERS REMAIN IN SERB PRISONS
                           WHILE  WAR CRIMINALS GO FREE- intolerable!


                                      a-pal statement
Four hundred and sixty six ethnic Albanian Kosovars remain imprisoned 
in Serbia waiting for their cases to receive a judicial review or a 
pardon from President Kostunica. As events spin sadly close to war in 
Tetove, the prisoner issue, which was at the top of the international 
agenda two weeks ago, is now forgotten again in the rush to "fix" the 
long-standing ethnic problems in Macedonia. Frustrated political 
leaders condemn "all" Kosovars responsible for the eruption of 
violence despite daily peace demonstrations at the University of 
Prishtina, despite thousands of family members of the detained 
waiting peacefully and without violence for two years for the release 
of their loved ones. Meanwhile, the man indicted for the ethnic 
cleansing of Kosova (not to mention Bosnia) goes free. And while no 
one is looking, Serb officials appoint 17 judges-but without 
insisting on protection and management of an independent judiciary.
HERE'S THE QUESTION TO ASK YOURSELF----WHAT'S THE CONNECTION BETWEEN 
ALL THESE ISSUES?
Internationals must develop a focused and coherent regional plan that 
highlights first and foremost justice and the establishment and 
protection of human rights throughout all regions and forgotten 
corners of the former Yugoslavia. They cannot be tolerant of delays, 
excuses, and broken promises. Justice delayed too long is no longer 
justice, but a series of political trade-offs. Read on:
Without an independent judiciary in Serbia, an article in IWPR 
explains- "There has also been surprise at who has not been appointed 
by the new
authorities. Some were outspoken opponents of the Milosevic regime and
considered by their peers as indispensable experts. One judge who asked to
remain anonymous said: "Many are not even hiding their disappointment that
the names that were a symbol of resistance to the previous regime have not
appeared among the candidates."
He named Miroslav Todorovic and Slobodan Vucetic, former constitutional
court judges, as prime examples.
Nevertheless, the proposed reforms have engendered an atmosphere of 
fear in the country's courts and prosecutors' offices. Many judges 
now dread the DOS dominated regime.
"People have become mistrustful - one is afraid to say anything in front of
anyone, because you don't know if someone will tell on you," said a
long-standing district court judge who does not want his name published.
An additional sense of malaise is to be found in the legal community over
the government's handling of the various investigations into former
Milosevic apparatchiks and the unsolved murders of their colleagues and
Other well-known figures."

We are not ignoring the crisis in Macedonia, but keeping a sharp 
focus on the prisoners has generated a demand for openness in the 
Serb judicial system. Regardless of what other weekly/monthly crises 
erupt in the turmoil following the break-up of the FRY, we will not 
change our focus until all the prisoners are released and return to 
Kosova.
_______________________________________________________
  ICRC NEWSBRIEF
    Pristina, 24.03.2001

    ICRC ACCOMPANIES 2 MORE PRISONERS FROM SERBIAN JAILS 
Today the ICRC accompanied to Kosovo two persons released by the
    authorities in Serbia. They were released from Nis prison. One comes
    from Prishtinë/Pristina and one from Prizren.

    Further info contact Caroline Douilliez, Vjosa Osmani,  ICRC Mission,
    044 115 036, 038 501 517 - 501 518 - 501 519
____________________________________________________
******U.S. Must Warn Serb Leader on War Crimes Tribunal*****
Prime Minister Djindjic Faces Cut-off in U.S. Aid

HRW (New York, March 21, 2001) – The Bush administration must tell the
Serbian Prime Minister that American aid will be cut off on March 31
because Belgrade is not cooperating with the war crimes tribunal in The
Hague, Human Rights Watch urged today.

Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic is visiting Washington this week
and hopes to meet with administration officials and U.S. lawmakers.
According to U.S. law, the administration must cut off U.S. aid and
oppose multilateral lending by March 31 if Belgrade does not cooperate
with the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for the former
Yugoslavia, based in The Hague.

“The Yugoslav government hasn’t cooperated with the war crimes tribunal,
and the Bush administration has to make clear what the consequences of
that are,” said Holly Cartner, executive director of the Europe and
Central Asia division at Human Rights Watch. “The new leaders in
Belgrade represent a welcome change, but they haven’t really dealt with
the past until they start handing over suspects to The Hague.”

Cartner welcomed the visit of Yugoslav officials to The Hague this week
but noted that Belgrade was still talking about “voluntary surrender” to
the tribunal, which would not constitute government cooperation. Last
week, indictee Blagoje Simic, who had been living in Yugoslavia turned
himself in to the tribunal. But both Simic and the Yugoslav authorities
emphasize that his surrender was a voluntary act and did not reflect a
change in the Yugoslav government’s position on transfer.

Last year, with strong bipartisan support, the U.S. Congress adopted
legislation to end economic assistance to Yugoslavia if it failed to
“surrender and transfer” suspects indicted by the tribunal, or assist in
their apprehension.

Among the indictees that Yugoslavia is still harboring are: former
President Slobodan Milosevic; former chief of the Yugoslav Army’s
General Staff, Col. Gen. Dragoljub Ojdanic; former Serbian Minister of
the Interior, Vlajko Stojiljkovic; current Serbian President Milan
Milutinovic; and former Yugoslav deputy Prime Minister Nikola Sainovic.
All five have been indicted for crimes against humanity committed by
Yugoslav and Serbian troops under their command in Kosovo in early 1999.

“Djindjic spent many years in opposition to Milosevic, but completing
that transition requires real justice for the abuses of the past,” said
Cartner. “He needs to take home the message that cooperating with the
tribunal is Belgrade’s only option.”

For more information, please contact:

In New York, Holly Cartner: +1-212-216-1277
In Washington, Betsy Anderson: +1-202-612-4326
In Brussels, Jean-Paul Marthoz: +322-732-2009
________________________________________________________
Human Rights Watch: Yugoslavia: Stakic Arrest Welcomed
But Milosevic Still Must Be Surrendered to The Hague

(New York, March 24, 2001)—The arrest of Bosnian Serb Milomir Stakic and
his transfer to The Hague is a welcome first step in the cooperation
between the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the U.N. war crimes
tribunal, Human Rights Watch said today.

Serbian police arrested Stakic on Thursday, March 22, and transferred
him to The Hague on Friday.  Stakic was the mayor of Prijedor, in
northwestern Bosnia and was allegedly involved in planning and
organizing crimes that took place in the early 1990s at notorious
detention camps near the town, including Omarska, where detainees were
tortured and murdered.

"By surrendering Stakic, the authorities in Belgrade acknowledge the
legitimacy of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former
Yugoslavia," said Holly Cartner, executive director of the Europe and
Central Asia division of Human Rights Watch.  "But Yugoslavia has a long
way to go before fully carrying out its obligation under international
law to cooperate with the tribunal.  A number of Yugoslav and Bosnian
citizens who have been indicted by the tribunal in The Hague are still
at large in Serbia and should be transferred to the custody of the
tribunal."

Human Rights Watch said that cooperation with the tribunal must include
the arrest and transfer of indictees such as Slobodan Milosevic and four
others indicted for crimes against humanity in Kosovo in early 1999, as
well as three Yugoslav Army officials indicted on charges relating to
the capture of Vukovar in Croatia in November 1991, when at least 200
Croats were seized from a hospital and slaughtered.

For further information, please contact:
Bogdan Ivanisevic (New York): +212-216-1282
Richard Dicker (New York): +212-216-1248
Elizabeth Andersen (Washington, DC): +202-612-4326
_________________________________________________
                         NEW SERB JUDGES UNDER SCRUTINY-iwpr report
Belgrade lawyers express concern over new judicial appointments

By Sinisa Stanimirovic in Belgrade
The new authorities in Serbia say they have begun replacing judges and
prosecutors that served the ousted Milosevic regime, in an attempt to
establish an independent judiciary.
Leading Milosevic supporters have already gone and 17 judges dismissed by
Milosevic for being "disloyal" have been returned to the courts by
parliament.

But there are those who are worried about how the new authorities are going
about their work. Legally, it is the Supreme Court of Serbia that 
should have decided on who was to be dismissed. Critics say this 
process was sidestepped, in much the
same way as regularly occurred during the Milosevic-era.

Miroslav Todorovic, a Belgrade district court judge sacked by Milosevic,
says one party-controlled judiciary is being replaced by another.
Justice Minister Vladan Batic and the Chairman of the Council of the
Judiciary Drago Hiber "pulled the list of dismissals out from their sleeves"
as if they had already decided who was to go before consulting the Supreme
Court, he said.

Anecdotally, evidence that many new appointments were sewn up before
parliament, let alone the judiciary, got to consider the names, comes from
other claims that lawyers close to the DOS ruling party chatted about their
forthcoming appointments back in November and December.

There has also been surprise at who has not been appointed by the new
authorities. Some were outspoken opponents of the Milosevic regime and
considered by their peers as indispensable experts. One judge who asked to
remain anonymous said: "Many are not even hiding their disappointment that
the names that were a symbol of resistance to the previous regime have not
appeared among the candidates."

He named Miroslav Todorovic and Slobodan Vucetic, former constitutional
court judges, as prime examples.

Nevertheless, the proposed reforms have engendered an atmosphere of fear in
the country's courts and prosecutors' offices. Many judges now dread the DOS
dominated regime.

"People have become mistrustful - one is afraid to say anything in front of
anyone, because you don't know if someone will tell on you," said a
long-standing district court judge who does not want his name published.
An additional sense of malaise is to be found in the legal community over
the government's handling of the various investigations into former
Milosevic apparatchiks and the unsolved murders of their colleagues and
other well-known figures.

They are irritated by statements made by figures in the DOS leadership who
have been publicly accusing and sentencing certain members of the former
regime in advance of the results of any formal investigation.

"That represents an obvious pressure on the judiciary," said Deputy District
Prosecutor Milan Bojkovic.
But DOS is not solely to blame for the overall sense of discomfort.
Colleagues believe the mysterious death of the Belgrade investigative judge
Nebojsa Simeunovic was a warning shot fired by the mafia and members of the
old regime to all those who want to do their jobs seriously.
Simeunovic worked on the unsolved murders of Federal Defence Minister Pavle
Bulatovic and the senior police official Radovan Stojicic Badza. On the eve
of the Serbian revolution of 5 October, the latter rejected an order to
detain several DOS leaders who were at the head of the citizens' protests.

Nevertheless, the government is keen to implement reform quickly, in order
to show the international community that the judiciary is capable of dealing
professionally with such difficult tasks as the trial of war crimes
suspects, or even Milosevic himself.

To achieve this, there is much to be overcome. The reality is that the
judiciary is buried under a pile of unresolved cases, suffers from a
shortage of judges, a lack of discipline, inefficiency and corruption.

Former supreme court judge Zoran Ivosevic believes the Serbian judiciary is
still not prepared for serious cases.

"The judiciary is compromised and awaits the cleansing of sins since it is
stifled by a spirit of subordination and fear from the executive authority,"
he said.

Ivosevic is also skeptical about the proposed changes, "Politicians are
wrong when they say that the changes will happen overnight. The spirit of
subordination is in the mentality of current judges. It cannot be cured by
decrees but by time. The judges have always listened to the voice of the
current policy and often adjusted their verdicts to it."

Indeed, sometimes it is not the courts and prosecutors that should be
blamed, but the police for blocking the work of the judiciary. In the
Milosevic era, the police used to ignore demands from the prosecutor's
office. That has not dramatically changed now.

A high profile example of this is the case of the murdered newspaper editor,
Slavko Curuvija. Although material evidence about his murder has been handed
over to the Belgrade District Prosecution Office, Deputy Prosecutor Sinisa
Simic, who works on this case says that nothing has been done so far to
resolve the crime.

"We have urged the police to establish necessary facts on this case, but
have not received any answer from them. Not even after the interior minister
was dismissed," he said.
He believes that the Law on Criminal Proceedings, which does not give the
prosecutor the right to raise the question of the responsibility of the
police, is a problem. Amendments will have to go through a very complicated
procedure before adoption in parliament.
Reality dictates that the authorities need to react quickly. Current
practice in the judiciary indicates that a lot of time will be required to
put a destroyed judiciary back on track. But, will this happen if the new
authorities do not refrain from electing new "yes-men"?

Sinisa Stanimirovic is an IWPR contributor ****** VISIT IWPR ON-LINE 
<http://www.iwpr.net>*******
__________________________________________________
RECCOMMENDED READING --
On the Crisis in Macedonia (March 2001)
Special web pages at:
http://www.greekhelsinki.gr/bhr/english/special_issues/macedonia_crisis.html

Links to IWPR (Articles from "Balkan Crisis Report"), OK Macedonia, 
"EURO-BALKAN" INSTITUTE ON MACEDONIAN CRISIS, The Balkan Human Rights 
Web Pages: Human Rights News About Macedonia, CEDIME-SE: Minorities 
in Macedonia, and RESOURCES: Information resources on Macedonia (from 
Balkan Academic News).
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