[A-PAL] URGENT A-PAL UPDATE 11/6/01

[Alice Mead]

ALBANIAN PRISONER ADVOCACY
November 6, 2001



   A-PAL:URGENT UPDATE: CHANGE IN TRANSFER AGREEMENT

Monday night, November 5, 2001
It was announced that Hans Haekkerup and Nebosja Covic have signed a 
document that changed the original terms of the transfer of Albanian 
prisoner agreement agreed upon in principle on September 12. This 
happened without any discussion or notification of the proposed 
changes with the general public nor with any input from human rights 
groups or any input from the families of the detained. The new 
agreement is both vague and misleading, and worse, the Serbs have 
managed once again to link the issue of the release of these 
prisoners, whose cases were tried in artificially created courts 
under the Milosevic regime--now to be "reviewed by international 
standards"--but by whom? when? And why should such ludicrous cases 
"be reviewed" at all, when the entire process under which these 
people were arrested, tortured and tried in artificial courts was in 
total violation of every possible international standard and even the 
Yugoslav Constitution? This is democratization?
Never have the Albanians been allowed any direct participation in this process.

At the same time, the US Senate voted to withold $115 million dollars 
in aid to the FRY until the prisoners are transfered to Kosova. While 
on Tuesday, the American office in Prishtina announced its support 
for the agreement. Do American officials even know what is happening 
in Kosova? They must. For all of us who have been wondering what has 
happened to Secretary of State Colin Powell(last seen in an 
undisclosed location adjacent to Cheney's) President Bush, Colin 
Powell and Condeleeza Rice met with Zoran Djindic on Monday. And who 
was there to represent the interests of the 1.8 million Albanians? No 
one. Is this democratization?
It is the result of careless, distracted, and contradictory signals 
from the Bush administration.
We abandon enforcing an equitable human rights agenda in the Balkans 
at our peril. Human rights equity is our national and international 
interest. If we had not abandoned the rights of millions of Afghani 
women who pleaded for our help, we might not be in the dire situation 
we face today.
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Dramatic change on the fate of Kosovo Albanian prisoners held in Serbia

On September 12,2001, FRY/Serb and UNMIK officials reached an 
agreement that guarantees the transfer of the approximately 200 
remaining Albanian prisoners to the jurisdiction of UNMIK in Kosovo. 
It was agreed that the UNMIK Justice Pillar would oversee the 
transfer. Prisoners' cases would be reviewed by UNMIK. Those who - 
after review of their sentence - need to be kept in detention would 
be placed in the renovated Dubrava Prison, where they will have 
immediate access to family members, lawyers, and friends. The Dubrava 
Prison would be run in accordance with international humanitarian 
standards.
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On 5 November 2001 an UNMIK - FRY Common Document has been adopted by 
the Special Representative of the Secretary-General of the United 
Nations for Kosovo, Mr. Hans Haekkerup, and the Special 
Representative of for the FRY and Serb government, Mr. Nebojsa Covic.

In this document it is said that "the Kosovo Albanian detainees held 
within the prisons and detention centers of the Republic of Serbia 
for offenses that they are alleged to have committed in Kosovo 
should, after a review of their cases according to international 
standards, be transferred to Kosovo and the authority of the UNMIK 
prison system as soon as possible."

This means that the Albanian prisoners stay in Serbia for the time 
being, that the judicial system in Serbia would review the sentences, 
and not UNMIK as agreed upon on 12 September 2001. This leaves room 
for a possible confirmation or shortening (but not abolishing) of the 
prison term for those convicted of "endangering territorial integrity 
of the FRY"
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