From mentor at alb-net.com Sun Oct 7 14:34:32 2001 From: mentor at alb-net.com (Mentor Cana) Date: Sun, 7 Oct 2001 14:34:32 -0400 (EDT) Subject: [LiriaKombtare-Info] [AMCC-News] Macedonians accused of war crimes: Call for Hague to investigate role of hardline interior minister Message-ID: >>>>>>>>>>>>> PLEASE READ & DISTRIBUTE FURTHER <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< --------------------------------------------------------------------- Human Rights Violations in Macedonia http://www.alb-net.com/amcc/humanrights.htm Macedonian police brutality, abuse and massacres http://www.alb-net.com/amcc/abuse_violence.htm --------------------------------------------------------------------- 'The pan-European group wants the tribunal to investigate Mr Boskovski for "grave violations of the Geneva convention, violations of the laws governing wars and crimes against humanity".' 'ECHAC says the police, army and paramilitary groups have been using the war with the NLA as an excuse to launch a systematic campaign to force ethnic Albanians out of the country.' 'At the same time harassment of Albanians around Macedonia was stepped up, with kidnappings, killings and torture, it claims. It says the campaign reached its peak when a majority of ethnic Albanian civilians were driven out of the southern town of Manastir and their homes and businesses damaged.' http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,564266,00.html Macedonians accused of war crimes Call for Hague to investigate role of hardline interior minister Giles Tremlett in Madrid and Nick Wood Saturday October 6, 2001 The Guardian The Hague tribunal will next week be sent a list of alleged war crimes committed by the Macedonian army and police, accompanied by a request that it investigate the hardline interior minister, Ljube Boskovski. The chief prosecutor at the UN war crimes tribunal, Carla del Ponte, will receive at least two dozen eyewitness accounts of alleged killings, kidnappings, torture and the systematic destruction of mosques gathered by the European Council of Humanity, Action and Cooperation (ECHAC), which carried out similar work in Kosovo and East Timor. The pan-European group wants the tribunal to investigate Mr Boskovski for "grave violations of the Geneva convention, violations of the laws governing wars and crimes against humanity". The allegations surfaced as Mr Boskovski comes under criticism from former fighters of the recently disbanded National Liberation Army (NLA) for the failure of the government in Skopje to abide by an August peace deal to end six months of conflict. Macedonian security forces pulled back from positions close to the old frontline with the NLA yesterday, amid fierce international criticism. Parliament has failed to ratify the deal or to provide an amnesty for NLA fighters, as promised. Ratification is already 12 days behind schedule, and there appears little chance of most MPs finding the time, or inclination, to pass such a measure soon. The EU external affairs commissioner, Chris Patten, visited Skopje this week to rebuke the Macedonian regime and announced that a donors' conference scheduled for October 15 was being postponed. While alleged NLA crimes received coverage earlier this year, the ECHAC report contains the first claims of widespread abuses by the army and police. Human Rights Watch, a US group, has also denounced the killing of six ethnic Albanian civilians in Ljuboten, five miles north of Skopje, days before the ceasefire was signed. Western officials have said that an amnesty will allow indictments from the Hague to be brought against members of the Macedonian security forces and the NLA. "If peace in Macedonia is going to endure, the perpetrators of serious violations on both sides must be brought to justice," said Elizabeth Andersen, the executive director of the Europe and Central Asia division of Human Rights Watch. ECHAC says the police, army and paramilitary groups have been using the war with the NLA as an excuse to launch a systematic campaign to force ethnic Albanians out of the country. "An ample campaign was carried out aimed at varying the ethnic composition of the republic of Macedonia," the group says, adding that during May and June there was a deliberate policy of shelling civilian targets in the north. At the same time harassment of Albanians around Macedonia was stepped up, with kidnappings, killings and torture, it claims. It says the campaign reached its peak when a majority of ethnic Albanian civilians were driven out of the southern town of Manastir and their homes and businesses damaged. Although ECHAC claims Mr Boskovski was behind the campaigns, in collusion with senior defence ministry officials, it has provided little concrete evidence. It is appealing to the tribunal to demand documents about meetings and communications from the interior ministry that could show what was going on. ECHAC says it will produce a second collection of eyewitness accounts alleging abuse and crimes by the NLA. It says that its teams in the area in July and August received five times as many complaints from ethnic Albanians as from ethnic Slavs. Human Rights Watch has investigated several cases of erious NLA abuses. In June NLA forces detained and tortured eight elderly ethnic Slav civilians from the village of Matejce, and subjected them to mock executions. On August 7 the NLA allegedly kidnapped three road workers, who were severely beaten and sexually abused for several hours. There have also been claims of kidnappings, expulsion of civilians and destruction of Orthodox Christian sites by the NLA. ? ISMAIL MEIDANI said police in Skopje took away his friend, Metush Ajetit, on June 1. "Three days later they threw his body out on to the street from a car. The autopsy showed that he had been tortured to death. There were horrible marks on the body." ? Farmer LUAN KODRA said two planes and several helicopters appeared above his village of Lisec on June 27. "There were no NLA people in the village. But they started to bomb and machine-gun us. Adem Veliu, Ymer Veliu, Dorina Elezi and Alban Daci died because of the bombs." ? Student ERDI SHAMETI, from Matec, said police took away seven of his friends and tortured them on May 21. He said police claimed falsely to have found arms in their car. "They were beaten for three days with truncheons and burned with cigarettes." ? Captain ARBEN NEZIRI, an army officer from Skopje, said he was taken away from his home by interior ministry police on June 10 and tortured. "They want to clean Albanians out of the army and police completely." ? AGIM PJAZITIT, from Radushe, said three of his relatives and a friend were arrested and accused of belonging to the NLA. They were not allowed to see a lawyer. One saw a relative. "He said that the ministry of interior police's claims that they had admitted being terrorists were false and had come after they had been submitted to terrible tortures (beatings with truncheons, use of electrodes, burns)." ? BESA GJINALI, a housewife from Batince, said that her neighbour Mijazi Ibishi, a factory worker, disappeared on June 16. "We all know it was the police. They have been threatening us for months. They want us to leave our houses and go." ________________________________________________ To unsubscribe from this list visit: http://www.alb-net.com/mailman/listinfo/amcc-news From mentor at alb-net.com Wed Oct 17 10:11:36 2001 From: mentor at alb-net.com (Mentor Cana) Date: Wed, 17 Oct 2001 10:11:36 -0400 (EDT) Subject: [LiriaKombtare-Info] [AMCC-News] Macedonian President Threatens Talks Message-ID: >>>>>>>>>>>>> PLEASE READ & DISTRIBUTE FURTHER <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< --------------------------------------------------------------------- Human Rights Violations in Macedonia http://www.alb-net.com/amcc/humanrights.htm Macedonian police brutality, abuse and massacres http://www.alb-net.com/amcc/abuse_violence.htm --------------------------------------------------------------------- "Trajkovski's role in the process is pivotal, as the president is the only figure with enough stature to act as a go-between among factions of the majority Macedonians and ethnic Albanians." "But some also blame Trajkovski for the delay in passing the legislation. The law calls for the president to review all 15 amendments and pass them on to parliament ahead of any vote to make them law." "Instead of presenting parliament with the 15 amendments, for enactment as a package deal as called for by the ethnic Albanians, Trajkovski has only given them nine." http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ap/20011016/wl/macedonia_3.html Tuesday October 16 6:34 PM ET Macedonian President Threatens Talks By KATARINA KRATOVAC, Associated Press Writer SKOPJE, Macedonia (AP) - Macedonia's president threatened to pull out of peace talks Tuesday unless lawmakers stop stalling on a Western-engineered accord meant to upgrade ethnic Albanian rights. Under the August accord, ethnic Albanian rebels agreed to stop fighting and handed in more than 4,000 weapons to NATO in exchange for constitutional amendments granting the large ethnic Albanian minority greater rights. The weapons were turned over by Sept. 26, but parliament has failed to enact the amendments. Tuesday, President Boris Trajkovski condemned ``certain groups of deputies'' for ``continuing to block'' crucial constitutional amendments that are part of the August peace agreement. ``If these unacceptable efforts go on, I shall consider them a form of dictate and will have to reconsider my role'' in the peace process, Trajkovski said in a letter to parliament without elaborating. Trajkovski's role in the process is pivotal, as the president is the only figure with enough stature to act as a go-between among factions of the majority Macedonians and ethnic Albanians. If Trajkovski backs out of the peace process, the country could again be plunged into disarray. But some also blame Trajkovski for the delay in passing the legislation. The law calls for the president to review all 15 amendments and pass them on to parliament ahead of any vote to make them law. Instead of presenting parliament with the 15 amendments, for enactment as a package deal as called for by the ethnic Albanians, Trajkovski has only given them nine. Ethnic Albanian deputies have boycotted key parliament meetings, fearing a ploy by the Macedonians to introduce changes in some of the amendments, particularly one that would make all ethnic groups equal under the law. Zamir Dika, an ethnic Albanian deputy, said that Trajkovski's actions were ``unacceptable'' and the ethnic Albanian deputies will only return to parliament once all amendments are on the table. NATO Secretary-General Lord Robertson and Javier Solana, the European Union's foreign policy chief, were expected in Skopje on Thursday. Officials in Brussels said the two would talk with Macedonian leaders about pushing through the amendments as a package deal. Also Tuesday, Macedonia's parliament postponed a debate on whether the peace deal should be put to a nationwide referendum, a move that the West has warned would sink the peace process. ________________________________________________ To unsubscribe from this list visit: http://www.alb-net.com/mailman/listinfo/amcc-news From mentor at alb-net.com Mon Oct 29 00:19:38 2001 From: mentor at alb-net.com (Mentor Cana) Date: Mon, 29 Oct 2001 00:19:38 -0500 (EST) Subject: [LiriaKombtare-Info] [Kcc-News] In-Depth [HRW] Report Documents Milosevic Crimes: New Statistics Show Direction from Belgrade (fwd) Message-ID: >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> READ & DISTRIBUTE FURTHER <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< --------------------------------------------------------------------- Kosova Crisis Center (KCC) News Network: http://www.alb-net.com --------------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.hrw.org/press/2001/10/kosovo1026.htm In-Depth Report Documents Milosevic Crimes New Statistics Show Direction from Belgrade "This report implicates the former leadership of Serbia and Yugoslavia in numerous atrocities. The 1999 Kosovo campaign was clearly coordinated from the top, and some of these people still hold important positions today." Elizabeth Andersen Executive Director Europe and Central Asia division (Pristina, Kosovo, October 26, 2001) Former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic and his inner circle of political and military leaders are responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Kosovo, Human Rights Watch said today, three days before Milosevic's next hearing at the war crimes tribunal in The Hague. The 593-page report released today, "Under Orders: War Crimes in Kosovo," uses innovative statistical methods and comprehensive field research to document the torture, killings, rapes, and forced expulsions committed by forces under Milosevic's command against Kosovar Albanians between March 24 and June 12, 1999, the period of NATO's air campaign against Yugoslavia. More than 600 victims and witnesses of atrocities were interviewed for the report. "This report implicates the former leadership of Serbia and Yugoslavia in numerous atrocities," said Elizabeth Andersen, Executive Director of Human Rights Watch's Europe and Central Asia division. "The 1999 Kosovo campaign was clearly coordinated from the top, and some of these people still hold important positions today." War crimes committed by Serbian and Yugoslav security forces did not occur in isolation, the Human Rights Watch report says. Three chapters of the report document abuses committed by the Kosovo Liberation Army, which abducted and murdered civilians during and after the war, as well as violations by NATO, which failed to minimize civilian casualties during its bombing of Yugoslavia. A background chapter analyzes Kosovo's recent history and the international community's failure to stop what is dubbed a "predictable conflict." "For a decade the international community tolerated human rights abuses in Kosovo in the name of regional stability," Andersen said. "This report stresses the importance of promoting human rights before a conflict erupts, as well as accountability for past abuses to halt the cycle of violence." "Under Orders" breaks new ground in the depth and breadth of its documentation, including detailed case studies of dozens of villages, a statistical analysis of the abuses, photographs of perpetrators, a strategic overview of the Belgrade government's offensive, and the organizational structure of the Serbian police and Yugoslav army, both controlled by Milosevic. A statistical analysis of executions in Kosovo, prepared in collaboration with the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), reveals the coordinated nature of the offensive. Three distinct waves of killings suggest the executions were not the result of random violence by government forces. Rather, "they were carefully planned and implemented operations that fit into the [Belgrade] government's strategic aims," the report concludes. Witness and survivor testimonies in village after village describe how Serbian and Yugoslav troops systematically burned homes, looted businesses, expelled civilians, and murdered those suspected of participating in or harboring the KLA, including some women and children. At some sites, witnesses reported that bodies were removed to conceal the crimes. This cover-up was apparently confirmed in 2001, when seven mass graves were discovered in Serbia proper containing the bodies of Kosovar Albanians. Rape and sexual violence were also components of the campaign, the report says, used to terrorize the civilian population, extort money from families, and push people to flee their homes. Human Rights Watch documented ninety-six cases of rape and sexual assault in Kosovo, although the total number of sexual assaults is certainly much higher. Human Rights Watch has urged the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) to include rape charges in the indictment against Milosevic. A chapter entitled "Forces of the Conflict" details the various government troops involved in the conflict, as well as key members of the KLA. Important commanders in the Serbian police and Yugoslav Army, all listed in organizational diagrams, include: Gen. Dragoljub Ojdanic, former Chief of the Yugoslav Army General Staff Col. Gen. Nebojsa Pavkovic, former head of the Yugoslav Army's Third Army Maj. Gen. Vladimir Lazarevic, former head of the Third Army's Pristina Corps Vlajko Stojiljkovic, former Serbian Minister of Internal Affairs Col. Gen. Radomir Markovic, former head of Serbia's state security service (SDB) Col. Sreten Lukic, former head of Serbian police in Kosovo Col. Gen. Vlastimir Djordjevic, former head of Serbia's public security service (RJB) Lt. Gen. Obrad Stevanovic, former head of Serbia's police department Despite his direct involvement in the 1999 campaign, Nebojsa Pavkovic is currently chief of the Yugoslav Army General Staff. Sreten Lukic is currently chief of public security in the Serbian police. Ojdanic and Stojiljkovic, both indicted by the ICTY for crimes in Kosovo, are still at large, as are two other Kosovo-related indictees, Nikola Sainovic, former Yugoslav Deputy Prime Minister, and Milan Milutinovic, still the President of Serbia. The report also documents violations by NATO and the KLA. NATO bombs killed approximately 500 Yugoslav civilians between March and June 1999, and NATO did not take adequate steps to minimize this number, the report concludes. NATO's use of cluster bombs, although halted in the course of the conflict, is also criticized in the report. Human Rights Watch also charged the KLA with committing serious abuses in 1998, in the course of fighting that led up to the NATO bombing. KLA abuses during this period included abductions and murders of Serbs and ethnic Albanians considered collaborators with the state. Elements of the KLA are also responsible for post-conflict attacks on Serbs, Roma, and other non-Albanians, as well as ethnic Albanian political rivals. As many as one thousand Serbs and Roma have been murdered or have gone missing since NATO bombing ceased on June 12, 1999. Criminal gangs or vengeful individuals may have been involved in some incidents since the war, but KLA members are clearly responsible for many of these crimes. By late-2000 more than 210,000 Serbs had fled Kosovo; most of them left in the first six weeks of the NATO deployment. Those who remain are concentrated in mono-ethnic enclaves. The international community's slow response after the bombing campaign is partially to blame for the post-war violence, the report concludes. The United Nations and NATO failed to take decisive action from the outset to curb the forced displacement and killings of Kosovo's non-ethnic Albanian population, which set a precedent for the post-war period. Two years after the war, a functioning judiciary system has not been established and an atmosphere of impunity persists. The report welcomes Milosevic's April 2001 arrest and his subsequent transfer to the ICTY. But Human Rights Watch urged further action by the Serbian authorities and the international community to hold accountable all those responsible for crimes committed during the war in Kosovo, as well as during the wars in other parts of the former Yugoslavia. "Holding Milosevic accountable is a first step," Andersen said. "But he is only one on a long list." The report "Under Orders: War Crimes in Kosovo" is available online at http://www.hrw.org/reports/2001/kosovo/. The release, the table of contents, and the executive summary are available in Albanian at http://www.hrw.org/albanian/kosovo2001/kosovo1026-alb.htm and in The release, table of contents, and executive summary are available in Serbian at http://www.hrw.org/serbian/kosovo2001/kosovo1026-serbian.htm For more information on war crimes in the former Yugoslavia and Kosovo, please see: Key documents on the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia at http://www.hrw.org/europe/fry.php Kosovo: Focus on Human Rights (HRW Focus Page) at http://www.hrw.org/campaigns/kosovo98/index.shtml ________________________________________________ To unsubscribe from this list visit: http://www.alb-net.com/mailman/listinfo/kcc-news