From kosova at jps.net Tue Jan 1 18:03:32 2002 From: kosova at jps.net (kosova at jps.net) Date: Tue, 1 Jan 2002 15:03:32 -0800 Subject: [A-PAL] Holiday Thanks - Re: Albanian Prisoners Message-ID: Albanian Prisoner Advocacy List -- Prisoner Pals Newsletter December 31, 2001 ========================================== A-PAL STATEMENT: ========================================== A-PAL wishes to extend a holiday Thank You to everyone who worked and spent their time and efforts this past year on the Albanian prisoner issue. For many of you, this is your third holiday season working on this disturbing matter! On behalf of the Albanian prisoners sitting in their cold and dark cells within Serbia and away from their families and loved ones and on behalf of those freed since their detainment, we THANK YOU. Thank you for not giving up. Thank you for considering the pain and desperation of the those deprived of their freedom and basic human rights. And thank you for remembering the 201 others still waiting as we begin the new year, 2002. We wish a full recovery and health to released prisoners, Dylber Beka and Bedri Kukalaj, and extend special thanks to those who worked on their cases and assisted them. We feel deep concern for those prisoners, handicapped and ill, still wrongfully being held in detention without proper care. We also wish to acknowledge the publications of three books of poetry published by prisoners Besim Zymberi and Nait Hasani. Congratulations. Finally, Special Holiday Thanks to: Natasa Kandic, Divi Beinecke, Wolfgang Plarre, Mentor Cana, Shukrie Rexha, Avni Shala, Patrick Gavigan, John Christian Cady, Teki Bokshi, Fred Abrahams, Eric Witte, Sian Jones, Olivier Dupuis, Nina Bang-Jensen, Valerie Hughes, Maria Elena Andreotti, Bart Staes, Bernie Sullivan, Elizabeth Press, Lord Robertson, Naim Zymberi, Trish Porter, Ursula Jermyn, Anders Wessman, Ilir Zherka, Senator Leahy, Senator Mcconnell, Kelly Seikman, Senator Helms, Senator Smith, Chris Patten, Mary Teresa Moran, Ibrahim Makolli, Bob Hand, Ilir Dugolli, Bobby Hogan, Daniela Napoli, Richard Lukaj, Eliot Engel, Liburn Aliu, Vjosa Osmani, Linda Dana, Spence Spencer, Ivana Roagno Boana, Peter Walsh, Kurt Bassuener, Suzy Blaustein, Emma Bonino, Marko Maglich, Enver Dugolli, Ben Ward, Jason Steinbaum, Jane Stevenson, Martha Vedder, Ivan Bizensky, Victoria Whitford, Isuf Hajrizi, and Sarah Baschetti. ### -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: winmail.dat Type: application/ms-tnef Size: 2832 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://www.alb-net.com/pipermail/a-pal/attachments/20020101/39f838ae/attachment.bin From kosova at jps.net Fri Jan 11 05:03:17 2002 From: kosova at jps.net (kosova at jps.net) Date: Fri, 11 Jan 2002 02:03:17 -0800 Subject: [A-PAL] MUST READ : Words from Mr. Albin Kurti Message-ID: Albanian Prisoner Advocacy List -- Prisoner Pals Newsletter January 09, 2002 ========================================== A-PAL STATEMENT: ========================================== We are including here a letter from released prisoner, Albin Kurti, to the Members of the European Parliament, presented by MEP Olivier Dupuis. We ask that all of our readers maintain international pressure on Serb and UNMIK authorities to transfer the remaining 201 prisoners immediately - and that the Albanian hostage situation be resolved by March 31, 2002. -- Albin Kurti Open letter to the MEPs: press release KOSOVAN HOSTAGES STILL HELD IN DETENTION IN SERBIA: OPEN LETTER TO THE MEMBERS OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT FROM ALBIN KURTI, THE KOSOVAN STUDENT LEADER WHO WAS HELD HOSTAGE FOR OVER TWO AND HALF YEARS BY THE SERBIAN AUTHORITIES Brussels, 8 January 2002. In the face of the silence that continues to surround the issue of the 201 ethnic Albanians from Kosovo still held in prison by the Serbian authorities, Albin Kurti, Kosovan student leader and a leading figure in the Kosovan resistance to the Communist regime of Slobodan Milosevic, has sent an open letter to the members of the European Parliament in which he denounces the ?institutionalised injustice? suffered by the Kosovan hostages, as well as the responsibility of the international community in general and the European Union in particular. www.radicalparty.org Albin Kurti (*) Open Letter to the Members of the European Parliament Prishtina, Kosova, January 5, 2002 Dear Member of the European Parliament, I want to remind you that, at this time, throughout "Serbia," there are 201 Albanians still being held as hostages, in continuation of the policy of brutal subjugation of Albanians begun under Milosevic and continued even now. Some weeks ago, I was suddenly released from Nish Prison after being forcibly deprived of liberty for more than two years and seven months. I had been abducted from Prishtina during the NATO war. On March 13, 2000, a self-pro-claimed Prishtina District Court located in Nish sentenced me, according to them, to 15 years imprisonment. Even though I never recognized so-called Serbia and Yugoslavia and their organs and institutions, even though I never asked for an appeal or requested amnesty, things that I wouldn't do for any price, they nevertheless released me. They kidnapped me when they arrested me, and they kidnapped me when they released me. Their politics do remain to be above the law. They didn't do this for the sake of humanity or justice. It cannot be said, as some are saying, that justice has been done in my situation. With my release they bought some time and they caused a reduction of international pressure (although it has been always weak in this matter of the Albanian hostages). At the same time, they hoped to improve their image in front of the world. I was released for political leverage. The others are kept for future political leverage. Albanians, who are still being unjustly kept in "Serbia", are not prisoners but hostages. They were kidnapped and severely tortured, not arrested. For instance, Lipjan prison was run like as brutally as an internment camp in Bosnia, and that the judge supervising this torture in this district was moved to Nish in the so-called Prishtina District Court of Nish. They are still being kept and treated as hostages in places of detention that are more similar to concentration camps than prisons. There are no conditions for hygiene or medical care; there are no conditions for life. Psychological torture, insults, threats, and provocations have replaced--even surpassed-- the brutality and physical torture of before. Let me explain these detention conditions more precisely. In April 1999, from all over "Yugoslavia", Albanian hostages were brought to Dubrava Prison in Kosova, because Serb authorities knew that this prison would be bombed by NATO forces as an army site. They assembled about 1,100 people there, in order to use this as an opportunity for killing and massacring Albanians. NATO bombed Dubrava on May 19-21,1999 and several Western journalists witnessed these events. The massacre by guards and inmates began on May 22, 1999. Many Dubrava survivors are still imprisoned today in "Serbia." At the same time, the same people involved in perpetrating this massacre are working as guards throughout "Serbia," still "guarding" Albanian hostages. The majority of those who survived the Dubrava massacre have serious wounds--open wounds, paralysis, shattered bones, amputations, and pieces of metal from grenades and rockets that are still today in their bodies. Others have informed you of this before me, and still nothing has happened. Further examples of institutionalized injustice against Albanians were in the investigative procedures that preceded the "trials." Besides the fact that all investigations were characterized by brutal and inhuman torture, Serbian investigators always took as an established fact that Albanians were all collectively guilty simply because they were Albanian. Later on, in all "trials" against Albanians, the Serb Courts (called Prishtina District Court, for example) acted like it was not their duty to prove the guilt of Albanians, but that Albanian hostages were those who needed to prove their innocence. The essence of trials was prejudice, irregularity, and a show of dominance. >From this point of view, those "trials" are not contested not only because they didn't have facts but above all because those facts never existed in the first place. They created false facts for Albanians - which still would be insufficient for a just trail - and the other main method was having Albanians testify against themselves. Their own confessions, extracted under torture, were used to convict them. It is universally irregular and illegal to use a forced confession against someone on trial. These forced confessions were the only evidence. Furthermore, very often Albanians were not allowed to speak their own language in court. If this seems absurd and like something that could not be going on in this century, consider the unusual document that Haekkerup - Covic signed on November 5, 200l. Again, it seems that Serbian Courts were being recognized (acknowledged) to have the right to review the "cases" of Kosovar Albanians, who are citizens of Kosovo under UNMIK's jurisdiction, not Serbia's! The original goal of this document was to publicly state the jurisdiction of UNMIK in these cases. But, what happened? Furthermore, how it is possible to allow this to continue to happen when those the same illegal and non-legitimate "courts" produced both the evidence (confessions) and the sentences against these hostages? The international community in general and European Union in particular have done very little in this aspect. Especially, as far as the Council and the Commission were concerned the pressures were rare and only in the form of simply raising the problem at private meetings with Serb officials. There was no public pressure--ever--nor any consequences for not releasing these people and restoring their liberty. In the best light, the silence of the Commission and the Council of the European Union and the ineffectiveness of European Union in general are absurd. All this has and will continue to have tragic consequences for not only the hostages but also for their families throughout Kosova. This doesn? t mean anything else than support and help to "Yugoslavia" and "Serbia" while they were continuing to have and to keep hostages. Even now, the European Union is supporting, helping, and favoring the hostage-keepers. All this makes the European Union responsible too for keeping Albanians as hostages. In addition, the member states of the European Union are all responsible as co-signers of the Geneva Conventions, which states that all detainees shall be released immediately following the cessation of hostilities. And that the families have the right not to be subjected to the disappearance of their loved ones. If the European Union don't enforce and vocally promote these rights, who will? The hostages should be released immediately and unconditionally. Regarding any aid or support that the European Union is giving to "Yugoslavia" and "Serbia" or that considers giving in the future, if it conditions (like US Senate efforts to restrict funding, because furthermore these crimes are ongoing in Europe, not in the USA) it with the issue of release of Albanian hostages - in which case those accused for ordinary crimes (deeds) would be transferred in the prisons of Kosova - then you would find this problem immediately resolved. I am aware of the initiatives undertaken and resolutions adopted by European Parliament for the issue of Albanian hostages and I thank You very much for everything, but the real fact that 201 Albanians are still hostages in ?Serbia? makes everyone conscious for the insufficiency of results and therefore of endeavours, too. The matter of Albanians hostages is also a matter of your conscience just as much as being a matter of Rule of Law and international legacy. You cannot behave as if this is not happening or that it is not happening in Europe. With hope that you will increase urgently your own efforts and the pressure on the Council and the Commission of the European Union in order to finally solve this very sad issue of the Albanian hostages, I take this opportunity to wish you and your family all the best for 2002. Albin Kurti (*) I was released last November. ### EMAIL-ACTION: RELEASE THE PRISONERS NOW! T? LIROHEN MENJ?HER? T? BURGOSURIT! LASST JETZT DIE GEFANGENEN FREI! ODMAH OSLOBODITE ZATVORENIKE! http://www.dbein.bndlg.de/APP/ http://www.khao.org/appkosova From kosova at jps.net Mon Jan 21 23:11:25 2002 From: kosova at jps.net (kosova at jps.net) Date: Mon, 21 Jan 2002 20:11:25 -0800 Subject: [A-PAL] Milosevic on Trial at The Hague, witnesses from Dubrava Massacre Message-ID: Albanian Prisoner Advocacy List -- Prisoner Pals Newsletter January 18, 2002 ========================================== A-PAL STATEMENT: ========================================== 163 Kosovar, Albanian prisoners still remain in Serbian prisons, regardless of the transfer agreement of November 5, 2001. According to UNMIK officials, some progress toward their transfer is being made. Nevertheless, Milosevic?s trial in The Hague, expected to begin around February 14, 2002, may begin with survivors of the Dubrava prison massacre - still imprisoned in Serbia. Included here is a summary of the Dubrava indictment with a few names of those killed (listed below). The Serbs knew that the site [Dubrava prison] would be bombed, the target being a military storage facility. Over eight-hundred (800) Albanian prisoners were brought to Dubrava from all over Yugoslavia and Kosova. The prisoners were ALL gathered together and positioned in the center yard when NATO bombed Dubrava on the 19th and 20th of May 1999. However, approximately 23 of the 800 Albanians were killed by the NATO bombs. So the massacre, to exterminate all the prisoners, was planned and carried out - as described briefly below. The survivors of this massacre were taken to Lipjan prison and then to Serbia on June 10. Those who survived have shrapnel wounds, grenade wounds, bullets inside their bodies, broken bones, and amputations from this massacre. UNMIK has no funds to help them with the necessary reconstructive surgery. AND despite all this - they are still detained as prisoners. The 163 remaining prisoners should all be transferred to UNMIK?s jurisdiction before the Milosevic trial begins. Their torture and inhumane treatment should well have ended by now. The current regime in Belgrade should not be allowed any further excuses or opportunity to continue carrying out plans put in place during the Milosevic regime. SUPPORT THE MARCH 31, 2002 DEADLINE FOR THE TRANSFER OF KOSOVAR PRISONERS. ACCEPT NO COMPROMISES! JOIN THE EMAIL ACTION CAMPAIGN TO RELEASE THE PRISONERS ODMAH OSLOBODITE ALBANSKE ZATVORENIKE! RELEASE THE ALBANIAN PRISONERS NOW! T? LIROHEN MENJ?HER? T? BURGOSURIT! LASST JETZT DIE GEFANGENEN FREI!! http://www.dbein.bndlg.de/APP/ ========================================== Milosevic's Indictment at the Hague ------------------------------------------ Kosova :Counts 3-4 MURDER:66k. ------------------------------------------ "On or about 22 May 1999, in the early morning hours, a uniformed person in the Dubrava/Dubrave Prison complex (Istok/Istog municipality) announced from a watchtower that all prisoners were to gather their personal belongings and line up on the sports field at the prison complex for transfer to the prison in Nis, Serbia. Within a very short time, hundreds of prisoners had gathered at the sports field with bags of personal belongings and lined up in rows to await transport. Without warning, uniformed persona opened fire on the prisoners from the watchtower, from holes in the perimeter wall and from gun emplacements beyond the wall. Many prisoners were killed outright and others wounded. (i)On or about 23 May 1999, in the afternoon, forces of the FRY and Serbia threw grenades and shot into the drains, sewers, buildings and basements, killing and wounding many additional prisoners who had sought refuge in those locations after the events of the previous day. Altogether, approximately 50 prisoners were killed.(Many of the murdered prisoners remain unidentified , however, the names of those persons who are known to have been killed are set forth in Schedule J, which is attached as an appendix to this indictment." Schedule J: PERSONS KNOWN BY NAME KILLED AT DUBRAVA/DUBRAVE PRISON -22 to 23 May 1999: Name Sex --------------------------- ADEMAJ , HYSEN MALE AGUSHI ,ZAHIR MALE AZEMI, XHEVET MALE BRAHMI, SAHIT MALE BISTRICA , XHEVDET MALE DOMONAGA, ILIR MALE ELSHANI, AGIM MALE GASHI , AVNI MALE GJINI,GJON MALE GUTA ,NAPOLON MALE GUTA ,MUHEDIN MALE HASAN RAMAJ, ZEKE MALE (KCIRAJ),ZEF MALE KRASNIQI, JANUZ MALE LEKAJ,GANI MALE MEMIJA,RAMIZ MALE MULAJ,METE MALE NIKOLL BIBAJ,VALENTIN MALE PAQARIZI,BESIM MALE PROJAGJI,LUSH MALE QAMPUZ,BASHKIM MALE ZOSJA, SHABAN MALE RAMUSHI , ZAHIR MALE SPAHIA, FEJZE MALE SYLAJ, DERVISH MALE TAFILAJ, MUSE MALE ###