[From nobody Fri Sep 28 16:27:27 2007 Return-Path: <a-pal-admin@alb-net.com> Received: from rly-yc04.mx.aol.com (rly-yc04.mail.aol.com [172.18.149.36]) by air-yc03.mail.aol.com (v77.31) with ESMTP; Fri, 15 Dec 2000 01:28:36 -0500 Received: from alb-net.com (www.alb-net.com [205.216.244.65]) by rly-yc04.mx.aol.com (v77.27) with ESMTP; Fri, 15 Dec 2000 01:27:29 -0500 Received: from alb-net.com (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by alb-net.com (8.11.1/8.11.1) with ESMTP id eBF6Q9W07643; Fri, 15 Dec 2000 01:26:09 -0500 (EST) Received: from mail.maine.rr.com (mail.maine.rr.com [204.210.65.65]) by alb-net.com (8.11.1/8.11.1) with ESMTP id eBF0u8W03539 for <a-pal@alb-net.com>; Thu, 14 Dec 2000 19:56:08 -0500 (EST) Received: from [66.30.16.93] by mail.maine.rr.com (Post.Office MTA v3.5.3 release 223 ID# 0-59787U250000L250000S0V35) with ESMTP id com for <a-pal@alb-net.com>; Thu, 14 Dec 2000 19:58:21 -0500 Mime-Version: 1.0 Message-Id: <v04220802b65f1bba6140@[66.30.16.93]> To: a-pal@alb-net.com From: Alice Mead <amead@maine.rr.com> Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="============_-1235280916==_ma============" Subject: [A-PAL] A-PAL Newsletter, 12/14/2000 Sender: a-pal-admin@alb-net.com Errors-To: a-pal-admin@alb-net.com X-BeenThere: a-pal@alb-net.com X-Mailman-Version: 2.0 Precedence: bulk List-Help: <mailto:a-pal-request@alb-net.com?subject=help> List-Post: <mailto:a-pal@alb-net.com> List-Subscribe: <http://www.alb-net.com/mailman/listinfo/a-pal>, <mailto:a-pal-request@alb-net.com?subject=subscribe> List-Id: Albanian Prisoner Advocacy List -- Prisoner Pals <a-pal.alb-net.com> List-Unsubscribe: <http://www.alb-net.com/mailman/listinfo/a-pal>, <mailto:a-pal-request@alb-net.com?subject=unsubscribe> List-Archive: <http://www.alb-net.com/pipermail//a-pal/> Date: Thu, 14 Dec 2000 19:52:59 -0500 X-Mailer: Unknown --============_-1235280916==_ma============ Content-Type: text/enriched; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable <fontfamily><param>Geneva</param><bigger><bigger>A-PAL NEWSLETTER DECEMBER 14, 2000 A-PAL STATEMENT <bold><underline>RELEASE OF PRISONERS------DECEMBER 23, 2000? </underline></bold>A second Christmas season is upon us since the 1,200 Albanians were taken prisoner in June, 1999. Families in Kosova still wait, as they have waited for 18 months, peacefully and non-violently, in snow, heat, wind, sun, and rain, for the return of over 750 loved ones still held in Serb prisons. Nearly two months have passed since President Kostunica promised to release the prisoners to international leaders. He has not had the courtesy to inform anyone of the status of the amnesty law that human rights lawyers are supposed to have drafted. Were these 750 Israelis being held by Palestinians or 750 Americans held by Iraqis the world media would be riveted on the situation. Nelson Mandela would have visited Serbia demanding their release. But no high level human rights activists have spoken for the release of these civilians. And whatever happened to the UN's specially appointed envoy on missing and detained, Henrik Amneus? Where is he? What is he doing? Hunger strikes, demonstrations, petitions, email actions, media reports, endless efforts by UNHCHR and ICRC, requests and demands from the EP, OSCE and UN---all have been met with resounding silence from the Serb officials involved. As you celebrate with your families this Christmas/holiday season, think of the prisoners and the families who miss them and fear for their safety. And remember that the day Kostunica promised the amnesty issue would come before the Serb Parliament was <bold>December 23, 2000</bold>. _________________________________________ Dear members, this mail was sent to us from a new member. The original message is written in german (forwarded with this mail), copy of english translation see below. Your are welcome by Michaela Huber to use her mail for forwarding as well. Regards Divi Beineke -- EMAIL-ACTION: RELEASE THE PRISONERS NOW! T=CB LIROHEN MENJ=CBHER=CB T=CB BURGOSURIT! LASST JETZT DIE GEFANGENEN FREI! http://www.kosova-info-line.de/APP/ __________________________________ Dear Kosovarian, German, English... colleagues and friends, Since the end of last year's war, I've been three times in Kosova, as a psychotherapist, supervisor and trainer for Medica Mondiale Kosova, to support counselors and medical staff working with severely traumatized women and families. One experience over there is that the necessary process of mourning and learning/integration after the violation of all human rights and the crimes by the Serbs in form of systematic torture, systematic rape, systematic murder... - that this process of working through is "frozen". This seems to me the same phenomenon as in south american regimes of terror, where necessary mourning and integration processes were frozen, until the people got the bodies of their dead relatives back and the prisoners were released and could come home. Out of political and humanitarian reasons it is an ongoing crime to hold kosovo albanian war prisoners as "civil criminals" in serbian prisons, where their conditions are miserable and unendurable like in a concentration camp. At home their relatives, and the whole population of Kosova, waits for them, and nobody knows whether their husband, their son, their brother is still living or lying in an anonymous mass grave. Please take this letter as a sign of sincere sympathy for the mourning and recovering process of the kosovarian population. You may well spread it as a testimony, so perhaps it supports a little the necessary public pressure to release the prisoners. With solidarity and best wishes for the people of Kosova, Michaela Huber Zentrum f=FCr Psychotraumatologie (Centre for Trauma),=20 Kassel,Germany Speaker of the German Section of the International Society for the Study Of Dissociation (ISSD) Ludwig-Mond-Str. 45A D-34121 Kassel ----------------------------------------------------- FreeSerbia Latest News 12/14/2000 18:22 GMT+1 -- Nis Court Martial Nine soldiers and a lawyer sentenced Nine members of the Yugoslav Army and a lawyer have been sentenced before the Nis Court Martial to seven years in prison because of criminal act of fraud and taking bribe.=20 Military policemen and soldiers securing the Army prison in Nis, who have been taking money from chiefly Albanian prisoners promising in return reduction of their sentences for different criminal acts and allowing them to use mobile telephones.=20 All the accused took in possession from couple of hundreds to more than 10,000 German marks. Source: FreeSerbia=20 _______--------------------------------------------------- PRESS RELEASE President Clinton Should Help Secure Release of Albanian Political Prisoners in Serbia Washington, DC, December 13, 2000: The National Albanian American Council today issued the following open letter to President Bill Clinton regarding the fate of Albanian political prisoners being held in Serbia. Dear Mr. President: We respectfully urge you before you leave office to remember the plight of the Albanian political prisoners being held in Serbia and to help secure their release. As you know, over 18 months after the end of the war in Kosova, an estimated 800 Albanians are still being held in Serb jails. The conditions surrounding their arrest and continued detention are in violation of international standards of due process. Many of these prisoners were rounded up by Serbs to be used as hostages during future negotiations and to destabilize the situation in Kosova. According to the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights "nearly 200 prisoners still await trial or appeal and fourteen, including two minors, remain jailed without any formal charges." Hundreds more remain imprisoned with no clear idea of the charges they face. Furthermore, prosecutions have been rife with violations of prisoners' rights. Both Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch report that many prisoners have been tried and sentenced based on forced confessions and with little evidence to support the charges against them. Additionally, judges have frequently refused to admit exculpatory evidence. Serb president, Vojislav Kostunica, has promised to bring democracy and the rule of law to the former Yugoslavia. Despite pleas from the West, so far Kostunica has only helped to release a small number of detainees, including the most famous of the prisoners, Dr. Flora Brovina. But, many other prisoners have had to purchase their freedom through bribes. The Humanitarian Law Center reports that "many [prisoners] gained their freedom only after relatives paid police, lawyers and judges 'fees' of between 10,000 and 30,000 German marks."=20 Meanwhile, thousands of family members in Kosova are increasingly worried for the health and safety of their loved ones and concerned that Kostunica too will try to get additional concessions from the West, while moving very slowly on releasing the prisoners. We believe that there must be no deals over the fate of Albanian prisoners in Serbia.=20 We, therefore, urge the United States to use renewed diplomatic relations to demand that Kostunica secure the release of all the Albanian prisoners currently held in Serbia. True peace cannot be achieved in Kosova without justice, and justice requires that these prisoners be released immediately and without prejudice. As Americans, we are proud that the United States helped to stop the Serb genocide in Kosova. But, with an estimated 800 Albanians prisoners in Serbia, our work there is incomplete. We pray that you will help to reunite the prisoners with their families before you leave office. It would be a most fitting conclusion to an Administration that has worked so hard to promote human rights and democracy in the Balkans. Sincerely, Board of Trustees National Albanian American Council _________________________________________________________________ </bigger></bigger></fontfamily> --============_-1235280916==_ma============-- ]