[Kcc-News] Albin Kurti Freed. 203 left to go.

[Mentor Cana]

ASSOCIATION OF POLITICAL PRISONERS (A-PAL)
www.khao.org/appkosova.htm

A-PAL STATEMENT
December 08, 2001

December 7, one Albanian detainee, Albin Kurti, was released from Nis prison
and is now home in Prishtina. On arriving in Kosova, he stated that it was
wrong for him to be released and 203 others to remain behind.

Since the UNMIK/Covic transfer document was signed in November, 2001, only
three Albanians have been released. There has been no news on the process
for the transfer to UNMIK's jurisdiction of the remaining 203 prisoners, nor
any date given for this process to take place as the group faces its third
holiday season in Serb prison.

In October, 2000, President Kostunica stated that the prisoners would be
released as soon as possible. 203 are still waiting. As we witnessed in the
past, once pressure on the Serb leaders got too intense, towards taking
action on the prisoner issue, one "high profile case" was released.  For
example: Flora Brovina, the 143-Member Gjakova group, and now Albin Kurti.

International observers should not be lulled into thinking that now that Mr.
Kurti is free, that action towards the others will soon follow. We must keep
the pressure constant.  Therefore, we URGE all our readers to continue their
efforts at making leaders aware that appropriate enactment of the November
agreement has not yet occurred.  And it is imperative that it does.  For the
sake of lives and for the sake of stability.

Sincerely,
A-PAL Team.

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Following Articles:
* ICRC : ICRC Accompanies a detainee from a Serbian jail
* REUTERS LIMITED : Serbia frees Kosovo Albanian student leader

--

ICRC PRESS RELEASE
Pristina, 07.12.2001

ICRC ACCOMPANIES A DETAINEE FROM A SERBIAN JAIL

Tonight, the ICRC accompanied to Kosovo one person released by the
authorities in Serbia. Albin Kurti from Prishtinë/Pristina was released from
Nis prison.

To date 1834 detainees have been released of whom 1675 were accompanied back
home by the ICRC. During the detention visits the ICRC delegates have
exchanged more than 34,318 Red Cross Messages between the detainees and
their family members.

203 detainees will continue to be visited by the ICRC until their final
release by the authorities.

Further info contact Nada Doumani,  ICRC Mission,  + 377 44 115 036

(Translated in Albanian)
KUMTESË NGA KNKK
Prishtinë, 07.12.2001

--

Serbia frees Kosovo Albanian student leader

PRISTINA, Yugoslavia, Dec. 7 - Serbia released a prominent Kosovo Albanian
student activist on Friday who had been in jail since NATO's 1999 war on
Yugoslavia.

Taken to the Serbian heartlands as Slobodan Milosevic's Yugoslav forces
retreated from the mainly Albanian province, Albin Kurti was sentenced to 15
years in prison for terrorism.

While most Kosovo Albanian prisoners had already been freed from Serbian
jails after the ousting of Milosevic as Yugoslav president 14 months ago,
Western nations and human rights bodies have been pressing for Kurti and
others to be released too.

The reformist authorities in Belgrade are still determined not to give in to
the demands of some ethnic Albanians for complete independence for Kosovo.

Kurti, in his mid-20s, was greeted by around 100 friends and family members
when he arrived late in the evening in Pristina, capital of Kosovo, which is
now under U.N.-led administration.

Sporting a short prison haircut, Kurti said he did not know why he had been
freed nor why it had taken so long: "I don't know why I stayed in prison for
such a long time," he said.

The crowd, including many others who had seen the inside of Serbian jails,
cheered and applauded him.

"This is a miracle," said his uncle, Skender Kurti.

A spokeswoman for the International Red Cross (ICRC), Vjosa Osmani, said in
Pristina that Kurti had been released from prison in the central Serbian
town of Pozarevac.

Serbian officials were not available for comment.

Kurti was arrested in Kosovo during the air strikes NATO launched in an
effort to force Milosevic to stop what it said was Serbian oppression of
Kosovo's ethnic Albanian majority.

Like hundreds of other Albanian detainees, he was taken to Serbia proper
when Yugoslav forces withdrew from the province. A district court in
southern Serbia sentenced him in March last year to 15 years in jail for
terrorism.

Kurti was leader of the Independent Union of Albanian Students, which was
set up in Pristina after Belgrade stripped Kosovo of the autonomy it had
enjoyed during the Communist era in federal Yugoslavia and imposed direct
rule in 1989.

He also organised student demonstrations in Kosovo.

Some Kosovo Albanians are still held in Serbian jails. Kurti said the
international community was not doing enough for them.

Copyright 2001 Reuters Limited