[From nobody Fri Sep 28 16:27:28 2007 Return-Path: <a-pal-admin@alb-net.com> Received: from rly-zc02.mx.aol.com (rly-zc02.mail.aol.com [172.31.33.2]) by air-zc04.mail.aol.com (v78.34) with ESMTP; Thu, 03 May 2001 11:14:20 -0400 Received: from alb-net.com (alb-net.com [199.173.50.4]) by rly-zc02.mx.aol.com (v77_r1.36) with ESMTP; Thu, 03 May 2001 11:13:26 -0400 Received: from alb-net.com (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by alb-net.com (8.11.3/8.11.3) with ESMTP id f43F92f02267; Thu, 3 May 2001 11:09:02 -0400 (EDT) Received: from smtp-server.maine.rr.com (smtp-server.maine.rr.com [204.210.65.66]) by alb-net.com (8.11.3/8.11.3) with ESMTP id f43DXOf29519 for <a-pal@alb-net.com>; Thu, 3 May 2001 09:33:24 -0400 (EDT) Received: from [66.30.18.83] (ptldme-cmt3-c3-66-30-18-83.maine.rr.com [66.30.18.83]) by smtp-server.maine.rr.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 5E5943CF1C for <a-pal@alb-net.com>; Thu, 3 May 2001 09:31:44 -0400 (EDT) Mime-Version: 1.0 Message-Id: <v04220802b7170b42aa70@[66.30.18.83]> To: a-pal@alb-net.com From: Alice Mead <amead@mail.maine.rr.com> Content-Type: multipart/alternative; boundary="============_-1223226504==_ma============" Subject: [A-PAL] newsletter 5/01 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: 2.0.4 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, 3 May 2001 09:19:51 -0400 X-Mailer: Unknown (No Version) --============_-1223226504==_ma============ Content-Type: text/enriched; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable <bold><fontfamily><param>Geneva</param><bigger>A-PAL (ALBANIAN PRISONER ADVOCACY) MAY 3, 2001 </bigger></fontfamily></bold><fontfamily><param>Geneva</param><bigger>Free Bekim Kastrati: OSCE worker sentenced To 14 years for terrorism. <bold>A-PAL STATEMENT ON MISSING and DETAINED FROM KOSOVA CONFLICT </bold>Every week now, it seems a new crisis erupts in and around Kosova. Last week it was the bombs in Prishtina. This week it is another discouraging round of ethnic violence in Macedonia. Facts are hard to come by, but opinions and denunciations abound. It's hard in this kind of setting to maintain a narrow, human rights focus as A-PAL has done for the past 2 years. But I think it's important to reiterate the value in doing so. By focusing solely on the gross human rights violations that the 2,000 Albanian prisoners endured and are still enduring, we have separated human rights for all as an urgent regional priority, valued and separate from political or personal gain, from invalid use of facts for political gain. We have highlighted important goals regarding justice, court procedures, prison violations, torture, massacres, and human rights protocols in the region. BUT--Please remember that there are still 270 Albanian prisoners in Serbia, many with 20 year convictions for terrorism. So far, there is no information on how they will be released and/or returned to Kosova for judicial review. Our email action campaign in Germany has 533 active members. Our online petition has nearly 3,000 signatures. We will not stop until justice and freedom reach all the prisoners-not just the ones in the public spotlight. ******************* Consider the case of <bold>Bekim Kastrati</bold>: 33 years old, arrested on March 27, 1999 in Prishtina, where he worked for OSCE. Sentenced to 14 years for terrorist acts against FRY. He is in Prokuplje Prison. Please write to him care of Prokuplje Zvator, Prokuplje, Serbia, YU. This is ludicrous. <bold>Does his sentencing mean that OSCE is a terrorist organization? Why has the OSCE never hired a lawyer to defend this man and work on his release?</bold> Does this mean that the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe does not provide for protection of Albanians from such blatantly political crimes? Write to the OSCE Secretariat and demand they provide a lawyer for Mr. Kastrati immediately-at <underline><color><param>0000,0000,00FF</param>info@osce.org</color></underl= ine> and to their U.S. counterpart care of=20 <underline><color><param>0000,0000,00FF</param>bob.hand@mail.house.gov</colo= r></underline>. And once Mr. Kastrati has been freed, the OSCE should provide independent legal counsel for all the Albanian prisoners in Serbia. <underline>A-PAL REGARDING MISSING </underline>The subject of missing has been overshadowed for the past two years by the urgent needs of the 2,000 prisoners and their families. After a war, it also takes time for basic information to be gathered, cross-checked, and published. Now, however, it is time for A-PAL to join with other organizations in the region to support the families of those who still seek answers about missing family members. According to HLC director, Natasa Kandic, the crime of abducting individuals is a very serious crime with long-lasting implications. <bold> Background Information: </bold>The <bold>ICRC</bold> in Kosova began working on gathering information on missing in January, 1998 and has updated those records ever since. Their staff also cross-checks their information with other lists and tries their utmost to be accurate in their reports. Their list of missing from the Kosova conflict is on their web site. Their director is Valerie Brasey.=20 ICRC conducts region-wide information gathering on missing from all the Yugoslav wars. It is very important to understand that missing is a regional problem now in all parts of the former Yugoslavia. <bold>UNMIK </bold>has a department for Missing and Detained. The human rights staff director there is Mary Ellen Andreotti. The missing persons staff member is Charlie Johnson. And now the <bold>Kosova Red Cross</bold> is beginning work on verification. In addition, the <bold>Humanitarian Law Center</bold> in Belgrade and Prishtina recently has published a book on non-Albanian missing with photographs and narrations. They also held a roundtable on missing in Belgrade in March, 2001, which was attended by UNHCHR, UNMIK Human Rights staff, police, Serb UNMIK, and UN Envoy on Missing and Detained, Henrik Amneus. The HLC has now completed a similar book of Albanian missing and hopes to have another Roundtable in Prishtina. Because of extreme hostility in Kosova between Serbs and Albanians, Kandic sees the first step happening at the "expert" level. Because people need to begin talking on both sides. But how to make this begin? <underline>Both the HLC and the ICRC</underline> have previous experience working on the problem of missing in Bosnia. 5,000 people disappeared from Srebenica for example. There has been five years of discussion and few bodies have been found. But the families of missing in Bosnia now recognize the importance of <bold>beginning discussions among ethnic groups as the only way to provide answers. </bold>So far, A-PAL has made every effort to be factual in our newsletters, sites, and action campaigns. So in future newsletters, we will only work with standardized groups, those that have experience in being objective in their reporting and gathering of information. It is a terrible thing to raise the hopes of these desperate families only to disappoint them later on when the information turns out to be untrue<bold>. To the best of our knowledge, there are no hidden detention camps on either side, Serb or Albanian.</bold> This is a region-wide problem as the result of the wars in the break-up of Yugoslavia. According to ICRC director, Valerie Brasey, Families of Missing need real answers not false hopes. They need information, tragic or not, to finalize what happened, and to begin a peaceful start to a new life. Widows need legal information to begin new lives.=20 Groups such as <bold>the ONZA Detective Agency</bold> are active now in all areas of former Yugoslavia, Croatia, Bosnia, Vojvodina, and Serbia. We urge families to deal directly with the ICRC, which is now located in all Kosova villages, rather than private groups that may seek financial gain in preying on hopes that in the end may be false. In Bosnia, the work of the <bold>International Committee of Missing Persons</bold> has been very controversial as well. They have developed a huge DNA blood bank. This can be one method of verifying remains, but again, it often raises false hopes and creates a storehouse of difficult to manage precedents and procedures. <bold>One little known fact of the greatest value is: the ICRC staff are protected from testifying in court cases involving missing. This means that their field staff throughout Kosova villages keep all information confidential. Their position is simply this: <underline>families need answers. ICRC does not verify Information at burial sites. Instead they pass the information on to KFOR or SFOR or the UNMIK police.</underline> They cannot be forced to reveal the source of this information. </bold>We urge everyone reading this newsletter-politicians, NGO workers, teachers, advocates, and family members as well as released prisoners- Start talking about this problem with all those in positions or responsibility. Make sure the media provides this simple background information. Have the ICRC talk in villages about the role of confidentiality and the concrete process involved if they should receive information about a burial site. RESOLVING THE ANGUISH OF THE FAMILIES OF DETAINED AND MISSING IS CRUCIAL TO ESTABLISHING SECURE HUMAN RIGHTS IN KOSOVA, SERBIA, MACEDONIA. HELP START THE PROCESS. ICRC/KOSOVO- InfoDiss/PRI@mekoe.unicc.org Communications specialist: "Caroline Michele Ma Douilliez" <<cdouilliez.PRI@icrc.org> ---------------------------------------------------------- April 29, 2001 Dear Representative Engel This past week, the 143 men from Gjakova were finally allowed to return home, thanks largely to sustained international pressure on the FRY justice system to abide by the rule of law. Yet, 270 (170 political cases, 100 criminal) Albanian prisoners remain in Serbia, their fate still unclear. In Belgrade Central Prison--87 Albanians remain, Nish Prison--51, Zajecar Prison--34, Vranje Prison--30, Cuprija Prison--12, Prokuplje Prison--9, Leskovac Prison--5, Pozharevac Prison--3 women, Zrenjanin Prison--29, Smederevo--10, Valjevo Prison--2, and Kragujevac Prison-1. Why have they not also been dismissed? Why have their families in Kosova had to wait two years for them to come home? Imagine the mixture of joy and sadness these families felt as they saw others released, but still had no idea of what was going to happen with their sons and fathers. It has now been 7 months since President Kostunica promised their speedy release. We urge you to support our grassroots efforts to link the release of the prisoners with sending financial aid to the FRY. Sincerely, A-PAL <bold>***According to Rep Engel's office, who had already sent such a letter, the Bush administration rejected this attempt to link aid to release of prisoners=20 </bold></bigger></fontfamily> --============_-1223226504==_ma============-- ]