[Gjakova-L] Fwd: [A-PAL] a-pal newsletter 6/14/01

[Ylli Aliaj]

Annefon at aol.com wrote:
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> Subject: [A-PAL] a-pal newsletter 6/14/01
> Date: Thu, 14 Jun 2001 08:58:00 -0400
> From: Alice Mead <amead at maine.rr.com>
> To: a-pal at alb-net.com
> 
> A-PAL (ALBANIAN PRISONER ADVOCACY)
> June 14, 2001
> 
> 15 more Albanian political prisoners have been released. Approx. 120 are left. In the first six months of 2001, about 600 Albanians have been released. Yet none have sued for damages, reparations for false arrest, or torture through UN Committees, the OSCE, or EU international courts. Instead, only the Humanitarian Law Center in Belgrade has followed through on such charges on behalf of both Albanian and Serb prisoners, who suffered severe torture under the Milosevic regime. Were the released Albanians, and even those still in prison, to file such claims of abuse, it would greatly aid those others who remain wrongly imprisoned now. Justice may be the key to peace in the Balkans-but only Serb groups have helped advocate for this group of prisoners. Albanian human rights lawyers have done nothing. Their political leaders have done nothing. OSCE has failed to launch an investigation into the Albanian prisoner situation, despite its mandate to uphold the Helsinki Conventions. !
Th!
e UN
> Committee on Torture has not looked into the Dubrava massacre, the torture at Lipjan Prison, the Prishtina police station. And NATO failed to provide protection under the Geneva Conventions for this group of 2,000 people at the end of the NATO war.
> So the remaining prisoners will continue to be released, one or two at a time. In that way, no one will ever press for the truth about what they went through since their arbitrary and brutal arrests, over two years ago. And there will be no pressure for the West to develop a regional human rights policy.
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> "Justice is the key to peace in the Balkans."-Holly Cartner, Human Rights Watch. "NATO and its member states have invested heavily in the Balkans," said Holly Cartner, executive director of Human Rights Watch's Europe and Central Asia division. "But they have failed to insist on accountability and respect for human rights, bringing us to the brink of yet another Balkan conflict. This time it's Macedonia."
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> Reminder: The FRY donor's conference is in Brussels on June 29th. Insist that before releasing the proposed new economic aid to former Yugoslavia, that the prisoners be released.
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> Date: Thu, 14 Jun 2001 09:24:07 +0300
> Reply-To: balkanhr-owner at yahoogroups.com
> Subject: [balkanhr] NATO: Unfinished Business in the Balkans
> 
> (New York, June 13, 2001) As NATO leaders convened in Brussels today, Human Rights Watch pressed for steps to curb the mounting violence in Macedonia. Peacekeeping efforts in the Balkans, NATO expansion, and missile defense are expected to feature prominently at the NATO meeting, which marks the second stop on U.S. President George Bush's European tour.
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> "NATO and its member states have invested heavily in the Balkans," said Holly Cartner, executive director of Human Rights Watch's Europe and Central Asia division. "But they have failed to insist on accountability and respect for human rights, bringing us to the brink of yet another Balkan conflict. This time it's Macedonia."
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> Human Rights Watch researchers recently returned from Macedonia where they documented serious human rights abuses by both sides. They reported that the rebel Albanian National Liberation Army (NLA) had physically abused eight ethnic Serb civilians whom it arbitrarily detained in the Macedonian village of Matejce. Human Rights Watch also reported that Macedonian forces have begun separating out Albanian men fleeing the fighting, and have subjected some of them to severe abuse in detention.
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> "Each of these incidents risks escalating the conflict," Cartner said.
> "NATO should send a clear and unequivocal message that such abuse must stop."
> Human Rights Watch also urged NATO member states to recommit to
> accountability for war crimes committed during all of the Balkan wars.
> 
> "Justice is the key to peace in the Balkans. That's why the United
> Nations set up a war crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia,"said
> Cartner. "But there can be no justice until NATO arrests the war
> criminals who have run circles around its Bosnia mission for years, and
> the international community insists that all of the countries of the
> former Yugoslavia cooperate fully with the tribunal."
> 
> Human Rights Watch called on the international community to postpone a June 29 aid conference for Yugoslavia until the new Belgrade government turns over more war criminals to the Hague Tribunal.
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> _____________________________________________________
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> UN COMMITTEE AGAINST TORTURE FINDS YUGOSLAVIA VIOLATED CONVENTION
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> Considering a communication with regard to the case of Milan Ristic submitted through the Humanitarian Law Center, the UN Committee against Torture on 11 May this year found FR Yugoslavia in violation of its obligations under the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Punishment. This was the first decision to be taken by an international human rights body on an application submitted by an individual who alleged that Yugoslav government agencies had violated the Convention.
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> On behalf of Radivoje Ristic, the father of the late Milan Ristic, the Humanitarian Law Center turned to the Committee because of the failure of the police and judicial authorities in Yugoslavia to conduct a prompt, impartial and effective investigation into the death of his son, thereby violating Articles 12 and 13 of the Convention.
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> Milan Ristic died a violent death on 13 February 1995 in Sabac, western Serbia. Suspecting the police of responsibility for their son's death, his parents requested a judicial investigation. The case wound its way through the system and ended with a Serbian Supreme Court decision of 18 March 1997 without anyone being found responsible for Ristic's death.
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> On 11 May this year, the Committee Against Torture accepted the arguments set out in the communication and concluded that Yugoslavia had violated its obligations under Articles 12 and 13 of the Convention since its government agencies had failed to investigate promptly and effectively allegations of torture or severe police brutality. The Committee therefore urged Yugoslavia to provide the applicants with an appropriate remedy and to inform it, within 90 days, of the steps taken in response to the Committee's observations.
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> In accordance with the Committee's decision, the Humanitarian Law Center calls on the competent Yugoslav government agencies to provide appropriate legal remedy to the parents of Milan Ristic, including a prompt, impartial and effective investigation, and to inform them about the steps taken in response to the Committee's observations.
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> _______________________________________________
> June 8, 2001
> SERBIA SUED FOR FALSE ARREST OF THREE ETHNIC ALBANIANS
> 
> As legal counsel for three Kosovo Albanians, Humanitarian Law Center attorneys have filed a civil action against Serbia seeking compensation for their false arrest and the torture they were subjected to.
> Pristina University students Idriz Cufaj, Asllan Zekaj and Erdogan Dautaj were arrested in their homes in May 1999. When the NATO intervention ended on 10 June, all three were transferred to prisons in Serbia and were not released from custody until early June last year. No proceedings were ever instituted against them. At the time of arrest, police presented them with 30-day detention orders, which were subsequently taken from them. While being unlawfully held, the three students were frequently beaten by police and prison guards. For some time, they received only one meal a day consisting of a cupful of tea and a quarter of a loaf of bread.
> The aim of the action, which was filed with the First Municipal Court in Belgrade, is not only to see justice done but also to bring out the truth about human rights violations in the past.

from ylli *****************