[AMCC-News] Macedonian army brutality condemned

[Mentor Cana]

Macedonian army brutality condemned

Jonathan Steele in Skopje and Ian Black in Luxembourg
Tuesday April 10, 2001
The Guardian

International monitors in Macedonia have complained to the government about
the arrest and beating of scores of ethnic Albanian civilians, and the
vandalising of dozens of houses, by security forces "cleaning up" after the
offensive against Albanian guerrillas.
Evidence of the damage was presented by representatives of the Organisation
for Security and Cooperation in Europe as Macedonia was formally welcomed
into the "extended European family" in Luxembourg.
.....
The OSCE representatives visited most of the mountain villages suspected of
being Albanian guerrilla bases and returned with sheafs of photographs of
homes ransacked and marked with crosses as a token of Macedonian triumph.
The Slavic Macedonians are Orthodox Christian. Most Albanians are Muslim.
.....
In the worst incident reported by the monitors, the army killed a boy of 16
who had returned by taxi with two companions from the city of Tetovo to
Selce, once the stronghold of the self-styled National Liberation Army, to
look after their sheep. He was shot four times.
One of the other boys, a deaf-mute, is said to be seriously traumatised by
the incident, which occurred on Friday.
.....
Cupboard drawers and clothes were strewn over the floor, suggesting that
there had been a search for jewellery and valuables.
.....

  Full article at:
  http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,471023,00.html