From mentor at alb-net.com Thu Oct 12 17:05:25 2000 From: mentor at alb-net.com (Mentor Cana) Date: Thu, 12 Oct 2000 17:05:25 -0400 (EDT) Subject: [Kcc-News] DEMAND THE RELEASE OF THE 878 ALBANIAN PRISONERS NOW Message-ID: > A-PAL : ASSOCIATION OF POLITICAL PRISONERS/PRISHTINA/USA/GERMANY > ARCHIVES: www.khao.org/appkosova.htm > > WE NEED YOUR HELP! DEMAND THE RELEASE OF THE 878 ALBANIAN > PRISONERS NOW! > OCTOBER 12, 2000 > > > Xhevdet Podvorica is 17 years old.A tall boy, with dark hair and now very, > very thin, he was arrested at his uncle's apartment in the Bregu Diellit > neighborhood of Prishtina on May 19, 1999, when he was 16 years old. The 30 > day police warrant of arrest expired on June 12, 1999. He has been tortured, > first at Lipjan Prison in Kosova, where conditions were so appalling and > barbarous that they bring to mind the Bosnian camps. On June 10, he was > taken to Sremska Mitrovica Prison in northern Serbia. Another minor, Bekim > Istogu, is imprisoned there with him. They receive one small piece of bread > per day and have five minutes to eat it. They are not allowed to look at the > guards. Albanian prisoners there are beaten regularly and threatened with > being killed. When the 35 other minor prisoners were released last November, > these two boys were not. They have never been charged with a crime. > > Xhevdet's mother has seen him twice in the past year and a half. She has > brought him food packages, without which he probably would have starved by > now. He is in a cell with many adults, and received the same level of > torture as the adults. He has written to his classmates, hoping that he will > be able to see them again and to finish his classes. > > THIS IS ETHNIC DISCRIMINATION! > > > IMPRISONMENT OF ALBANIANS CALLED "AWKWARD" BY EU FOREIGN OFFICIALS! > RELEASE OF CANADIANS, BRITISH, DUTCH CELEBRATED. > ___________________________________________________________ > > Quote: Rachel Denber/Human Rights Watch, October 11, 2000 > > "Releasing Filipovic is a good step, but Kostunica can and should do > much more," said Rachel Denber, Acting Executive Director of Human > Rights Watch's Europe and Central Asia Division. "Hundreds of Kosovo > Albanians are serving unjust sentences in Serbia. Releasing them would show > conclusively that the new government isfundamentally different from that of > Slobodan Milosevic. It would show a dedication to justice and ethnic > tolerance." > > Serbian human rights groups estimate that 850 Kosovo Albanians who > werearrested during last year's NATO war are currently serving prison > sentences in Serbia. Most sentences resulted from unfair trials lacking > evidence against the accused. > ______________________________________________________ > > A-PAL: There is no legal validity to releasing eight foreigners and Serb > journalists while denying justice to the imprisoned Albanians, who fear > for their lives in prison. This is an international disgrace---Not one > foreign country has offered to serve as their advocate, as they should be > guaranteed by the Geneva Conventions, to prevent their torture, harassment, > mock trials. IF COUNTRIES WITH DEMOCRATIC GOVERNMENTS WANT TO ESTABLISH > TRADE WITH SERBIA, BUT DO NOT INSIST ON THE RULE OF LAW NO MATTER HOW > "INCONVENIENT" THAT MAY SEEM, THEN THEY ARE NEARLY AS CORRUPT AS THE REGIME > THEY SEEK TO REPLACE AND CERTAINLY AS HYPOCRITICAL. > > ______________________________________________________________ > > > Yugoslavs Release Canadian Citizen > > By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS > Filed at 3:51 p.m. ET > > BELGRADE, Yugoslavia (AP) -- Yugoslavia's new government filed charges > against a Canadian citizen and then freed him on bail Monday, weeks > after the old regime arrested him for alleged illegal possession of > explosives. > The now-ousted government of Slobodan Milosevic detained Shaun > Going, his nephew, Liam Hall, and two British police officers in August > as they traveled between the NATO-controlled province of Kosovo and > Montenegro, the smaller of Yugoslavia's two republics. Authorities had > refused to level charges against Going, stalling the case in the courts. > Going's lawyer, Ivan Jankovic, said that with the case now moving > forward, Going could leave the country. He said the defense would demand > that the ``unfounded'' explosives possession charges be dropped. > > _______________________________________________________________________ > http://www.freeb92.net/archive/e/index.phtml?Y=2000&M=10&D=10 > > FreeB92 Last update: Oct 10, 2000 19:35 CET > > Filipovic released > > 19:35 NIS, Tuesday - Kraljevo journalist Miroslav Filipovic was released > from Nis Military Prison this afternoon. He left escorted by his wife > Slavica and his lawyer. > The Supreme Court earlier today overturned Filipovic's seven year > sentence for espionage and disseminating false information and ordered > that he be released immediately. The ruling cited violations of legal > procedures in the original trial as the reason for overturning the > sentence. > Filipovic told about thirty foreign and domestic journalists > waiting outside the prison that he felt wonderful and that he had never > lost hope that the sentence would be overturned. "I was simply not > guilty of the things I was charged with," said Filipovic. > Another imprisoned journalist, Zoran Lukovic, will be released on > parole tomorrow Radio B92 learnt today from his lawyer, Gradimir Nalic. > Lukovic was a staff journalist with the now defunct Dnevni > telegraf. He was sentenced to five months imprisonment after publishing > an article accusing former Serbian Health Minister Milovan Bojic of > involvement in a murder. > > Remaining Canadian released > > 13:56 BELGRADE, Tuesday - Canadian citizen Shaun Going, arrested last > summer by the Yugoslav Army under suspicion of having planned terrorist > actions in Yugoslavia, was released from the military prison after > nearly two months of imprisonment, Canadian television network CBC > reported. > According to this television network, Going has paid bail in the > amount of $3,000, left the military court and was already on his way to > Canada. He had been arrested with other three foreign citizens, among > them two Britons and another Canadian, all released few days ago. > British citizens were members of the international police forces in > Kosovo, while Going was the owner of a construction company hired in > Kosovo. > Military court allowed him to leave Belgrade under condition that > he return for the possible retrial. > > _______________________________________________________________________ > http://www.freeb92.net/archive/e/index.phtml?Y=2000&M=10&D=09 > > FreeB92 Last update: Oct 9, 2000 23:40 CET > > Four Dutchmen to be released > > 23:31 BELGRADE, Monday - Belgrade authorities agreed today to release > four Dutchmen who were arrested in July on suspicion of having conspired > to murder former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, a defence lawyer > for one of the accused, Zoran Jovanovic, told Reuters today. > A representative of the Dutch Embassy in Belgrade discussed the > release of the men Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica on Friday. > ___________________________ > > > NO ALBANIANS RELEASED! > > ________________________________________________ > > > Human Rights Watch/New York: > > RIGHTS GROUP CALLS FOR RELEASE OF POLITICAL PRISONERS IN SERBIA > > (New York, October 10, 2000)?Human Rights Watch today welcomed the > release of a Serbian journalist, but also called for the release of > hundreds of Kosovo Albanians currently in Serbian jails. > > Miroslav Filipovic, a freelance journalist from the Serbian town of > Kraljevo, was sentenced in July 2000 to seven years in prison for > articles written for the Internet site of the Institute for War and > Peace Reporting (IWPR), an organization based in London. The articles > alleged that Yugoslav Army servicemen committed war crimes against > Kosovo Albanians during the 1999 NATO war and that the army's presence > provoked tensions in Sandzak, a region in Serbia inhabited mostly by > Muslims. > > The Supreme Military Court in Belgrade annulled the guilty verdict > against Filipovic today on procedural grounds, and sent the case back > to the court for a new trial. Meanwhile, Filipovic was released on his > own recognizance. It is widely believed that the Yugoslav Army > leadership, which met with the new Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica > on October 5, accepted Mr. Kostunica and that the release of Filipovic > reflects the political agenda of the new president. > > "Releasing Filipovic is a good step, but Kostunica can and should do > much more," said Rachel Denber, Acting Executive Director of Human > Rights Watch's Europe and Central Asia Division. "Hundreds of Kosovo > Albanians are serving unjust sentences in Serbia. Releasing them would > show conclusively that the new government is fundamentally different > from that of Slobodan Milosevic. It would show a dedication to justice > and ethnic tolerance." > Serbian human rights groups estimate that 850 Kosovo Albanians who were > arrested during last year's NATO war are currently serving prison > sentences in Serbia. Most sentences resulted from unfair trials lacking > evidence against the accused. > > President Kostunica's first opportunity to set a pattern for the release > of Kosovo Albanian political prisoners will come on Thursday, when a > Serbian court will re-hear the case of Flora Brovina, chair of the > League of Albanian Women in Kosovo. Brovina, a poet and physician, was > sentenced in November 1999 by a district court in Nis to twelve years in > prison on > charges of conspiracy to commit "hostile activity" and terrorism. The > prosecution alleged that Brovina was ferrying supplies to the KLA, and > based the case against her solely on a receipt for knitting wool, > medicines, and medical supplies, and a photograph showing Dr. Brovina > with an Albanian fighter. > > On May 17, 2000, the Supreme Court of Serbia struck down Brovina's > sentence on procedural grounds and returned the case for a new trial. > But it also ruled to keep Brovina in custody pending the re-trial. > > Of 850 Kosovo Albanian political prisoners, about 650 had their > sentences confirmed by the Serbian Supreme Court or the Yugoslav > military courts. Only a presidential pardon now can expedite their > release. Article 96 (8) of the Yugoslav constitution vests the president > with this power. The remaining 200 Albanian prisoners are awaiting > appeals decisions by the supreme courts, as was the case with journalist > Miroslav Filipovic. > > "We are aware that the new government in Serbia is only being shaped at > this stage, and that it will need some time to address all the cases > from the past two years in which individuals were sentenced on political > grounds," Denber said. "But Kostunica should not wait too long." > > Denber said that Mr. Kostunica's position so far rejecting the transfer > of indictees to the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former > Yugoslavia in the Hague threw into question the adherence of the > post-Milosevic leadership to international principles that underpin > justice and the rule of law. "Any reluctance to release political > prisoners regardless of their ethnicity would be another warning > signal," she said. > > For further information, please contact: > Rachel Denber (New York): +212-216-1266 > Bogdan Ivanisevic (Belgrade): +381-63-832-9032 > > ____________________________________________________ > > October 11, 2000 > B-92 > > Kouchner calls for new sanctions against Yugoslavia > 21:29 PRISTINA, Wednesday - > > The United Nations administrator in Kosovo, > Bernard Kouchner, today called for sanctions to be imposed on Yugoslavia's > new leaders if they did not release Kosovo Albanians held in Serbian > prisons. Members of the Serbian National Council reported that Kouchner had > expressed reserved optimism about the DOS victory in the country's federal > elections. > > Albanian members of the Kosovo Transitional Council supported Kouchner's > position, most of them emphasising that the opposition victory would no have > any crucial impact on the reality of Kosovo. They called for Belgrade to > immediately release all Kosovo Albanian prisoners and for Yugoslav President > Vojislav Kostunica to publicly apologise for war crimes. A number of > Albanian politicians have stepped up their demands for an urgent resolution > of Kosovo's status and recognition of its independence. > > Kosovo Serb leader Father Sava Janjic described Kouchner's call for > sanctions as unacceptable, describing such a step as an inhumane form of > pressure which would cause the innocent population further suffering. He > also noted that Kouchner had made no mention of discrimination against > Serbs, Romanies and other minorities in Kosovo, saying that the UN Mission > head was presenting only the view of the province's Albanian population. > From mentor at alb-net.com Tue Oct 24 14:14:00 2000 From: mentor at alb-net.com (Mentor Cana) Date: Tue, 24 Oct 2000 14:14:00 -0400 (EDT) Subject: [Kcc-News] Kosovo Independence Demand Still Stands (Reuters, Oct 20, 2000) (fwd) Message-ID: http://www.centraleurope.com/yugoslaviatoday/news.php3?id=211551 Kosovo Independence Demand Still Stands PRISTINA, Oct 20, 2000 -- (Reuters) Ethnic Albanian leader Ibrahim Rugova said on Thursday his party would accept nothing less than independence for Kosovo despite the coming to power of pro-democracy reformers in Belgrade. The leader of the Democratic League of Kosovo, the territory's largest political force, said he welcomed the downfall of Slobodan Milosevic as Yugoslav president but stressed this did not change his party's stance. "Independence is the only solution for Kosovo," said Rugova, whose party is favorite to emerge as the strongest from Kosovo local elections due a week on Saturday. Milosevic, who has been indicted by a UN court for Serb atrocities committed against members of Kosovo's ethnic Albanian majority, was forced by a mass uprising to admit defeat to Vojislav Kostunica in last month's elections. Kosovo legally remains part of Serb-dominated Yugoslavia but has been run as a de facto international protectorate since June last year, when NATO bombing drove out Serb forces. Rugova said the West would come to recognize the desire of the overwhelming majority of ethnic Albanians for independence and suggested Serbian leaders should do the same. "It is clear to everybody that the independence of Kosovo is inevitable," he told reporters in the Kosovo capital Pristina. "It would certainly be good if Belgrade recognized the fact. Otherwise the international community will at some point recognize the independence." Rugova said Milosevic and his opponents in Belgrade had long shared a similar stance over Kosovo but added he was open to meeting Kostunica if he proved his democratic credentials. "Of course, why not meet with Kostunica? But we have to wait a little bit and see what direction they are taking and how democratic and pro-European those changes are," he said. (C)2000 Copyright Reuters Limited. ____________________________________________________________________ **************** FREE ALBIN KURTI ************** http://www.FreeAlbinKurti.com/ ____________________________________________________________________