[NYC-L] [Kcc-News] Words from Mr. Albin Kurti (fwd)

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Albanian Prisoner Advocacy List -- Prisoner Pals Newsletter
January 09, 2002

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A-PAL STATEMENT:
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We are including here a letter from released prisoner, Albin Kurti, to the
Members of the European Parliament, presented by MEP Olivier Dupuis. We ask
that all of our readers maintain international pressure on Serb and UNMIK
authorities to transfer the remaining 201 prisoners immediately - and that
the Albanian hostage situation be resolved by March 31, 2002.

--
Albin Kurti Open letter to the MEPs: press release

KOSOVAN HOSTAGES STILL HELD IN DETENTION IN SERBIA: OPEN LETTER TO THE
MEMBERS OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT FROM ALBIN KURTI, THE KOSOVAN STUDENT
LEADER WHO WAS HELD HOSTAGE FOR OVER TWO AND HALF YEARS BY THE SERBIAN
AUTHORITIES

Brussels, 8 January 2002. In the face of the silence that continues to
surround the issue of the 201 ethnic Albanians from Kosovo still held in
prison by the Serbian authorities, Albin Kurti, Kosovan student leader and a
leading figure in the Kosovan resistance to the Communist regime of Slobodan
Milosevic, has sent an open letter to the members of the European Parliament
in which he denounces the “institutionalised injustice” suffered by the
Kosovan hostages, as well as the responsibility of the international
community in general and the European Union in particular.

www.radicalparty.org

Albin Kurti (*) Open Letter to the Members of the European Parliament
Prishtina, Kosova, January 5, 2002

Dear Member of the European Parliament,

I want to remind you that, at this time, throughout "Serbia," there are 201
Albanians still being held as hostages, in continuation of the policy of
brutal subjugation of Albanians begun under Milosevic and continued even
now.

Some weeks ago, I was suddenly released from Nish Prison after being
forcibly deprived of liberty for more than two years and seven months. I had
been abducted from Prishtina during the NATO war. On March 13, 2000, a
self-pro-claimed Prishtina District Court located in Nish sentenced me,
according to them, to 15 years imprisonment.

Even though I never recognized so-called Serbia and Yugoslavia and their
organs and institutions, even though I never asked for an appeal or
requested amnesty, things that I wouldn't do for any price, they
nevertheless released me. They kidnapped me when they arrested me, and they
kidnapped me when they released me. Their politics do remain to be above the
law.

They didn't do this for the sake of humanity or justice. It cannot be said,
as some are saying, that justice has been done in my situation. With my
release they bought some time and they caused a reduction of international
pressure (although it has been always weak in this matter of the Albanian
hostages). At the same time, they hoped to improve their image in front of
the world. I was released for political leverage. The others are kept for
future political leverage.

Albanians, who are still being unjustly kept in "Serbia", are not prisoners
but hostages. They were kidnapped and severely tortured, not arrested. For
instance, Lipjan prison was run like as brutally as an internment camp in
Bosnia, and that the judge supervising this torture in this district was
moved to Nish in the so-called Prishtina District Court of Nish. They are
still being kept and treated as hostages in places of detention that are
more similar to concentration camps than prisons. There are no conditions
for hygiene or medical care; there are no conditions for life. Psychological
torture, insults, threats, and provocations have replaced--even surpassed--
the brutality and physical torture of before.

Let me explain these detention conditions more precisely. In April 1999,
from all over "Yugoslavia", Albanian hostages were brought to Dubrava Prison
in Kosova, because Serb authorities knew that this prison would be bombed by
NATO forces as an army site. They assembled about 1,100 people there, in
order to use this as an opportunity for killing and massacring Albanians.
NATO bombed Dubrava on May 19-21,1999 and several Western journalists
witnessed these events. The massacre by guards and inmates began on May 22,
1999.

Many Dubrava survivors are still imprisoned today in "Serbia." At the same
time, the same people involved in perpetrating this massacre are working as
guards throughout "Serbia," still "guarding" Albanian hostages. The majority
of those who survived the Dubrava massacre have serious wounds--open wounds,
paralysis, shattered bones, amputations, and pieces of metal from grenades
and rockets that are still today in their bodies. Others have informed you
of this before me, and still nothing has happened.

Further examples of institutionalized injustice against Albanians were in
the investigative procedures that preceded the "trials." Besides the fact
that all investigations were characterized by brutal and inhuman torture,
Serbian investigators always took as an established fact that Albanians were
all collectively guilty simply because they were Albanian. Later on, in all
"trials" against Albanians, the Serb Courts (called Prishtina District
Court, for example) acted like it was not their duty to prove the guilt of
Albanians, but that Albanian hostages were those who needed to prove their
innocence.

The essence of trials was prejudice, irregularity, and a show of dominance.
>From this point of view, those "trials" are not contested not only because
they didn't have facts but above all because those facts never existed in
the first place. They created false facts for Albanians - which still would
be insufficient for a just trail - and the other main method was having
Albanians testify against themselves. Their own confessions, extracted under
torture, were used to convict them. It is universally irregular and illegal
to use a forced confession against someone on trial. These forced
confessions were the only evidence. Furthermore, very often Albanians were
not allowed to speak their own language in court.

If this seems absurd and like something that could not be going on in this
century, consider the unusual document that Haekkerup - Covic signed on
November 5, 200l. Again, it seems that Serbian Courts were being recognized
(acknowledged) to have the right to review the "cases" of Kosovar Albanians,
who are citizens of Kosovo under UNMIK's jurisdiction, not Serbia's! The
original goal of this document was to publicly state the jurisdiction of
UNMIK in these cases. But, what happened? Furthermore, how it is possible to
allow this to continue to happen when those the same illegal and
non-legitimate "courts" produced both the evidence (confessions) and the
sentences against these hostages?

The international community in general and European Union in particular have
done very little in this aspect. Especially, as far as the Council and the
Commission were concerned the pressures were rare and only in the form of
simply raising the problem at private meetings with Serb officials. There
was no public pressure--ever--nor any consequences for not releasing these
people and restoring their liberty.

In the best light, the silence of the Commission and the Council of the
European Union and the ineffectiveness of European Union in general are
absurd. All this has and will continue to have tragic consequences for not
only the hostages but also for their families throughout Kosova. This doesn’
t mean anything else than support and help to "Yugoslavia" and "Serbia"
while they were continuing to have and to keep hostages. Even now, the
European Union is supporting, helping, and favoring the hostage-keepers. All
this makes the European Union responsible too for keeping Albanians as
hostages. In addition, the member states of the European Union are all
responsible as co-signers of the Geneva Conventions, which states that all
detainees shall be released immediately following the cessation of
hostilities. And that the families have the right not to be subjected to the
disappearance of their loved ones. If the European Union don't enforce and
vocally promote these rights, who will?

The hostages should be released immediately and unconditionally. Regarding
any aid or support that the European Union is giving to "Yugoslavia" and
"Serbia" or that considers giving in the future, if it conditions (like US
Senate efforts to restrict funding, because furthermore these crimes are
ongoing in Europe, not in the USA) it with the issue of release of Albanian
hostages - in which case those accused for ordinary crimes (deeds) would be
transferred in the prisons of Kosova - then you would find this problem
immediately resolved.

I am aware of the initiatives undertaken and resolutions adopted by European
Parliament for the issue of Albanian hostages and I thank You very much for
everything, but the real fact that 201 Albanians are still hostages in
“Serbia” makes everyone conscious for the insufficiency of results and
therefore of endeavours, too.

The matter of Albanians hostages is also a matter of your conscience just as
much as being a matter of Rule of Law and international legacy. You cannot
behave as if this is not happening or that it is not happening in Europe.

With hope that you will increase urgently your own efforts and the pressure
on the Council and the Commission of the European Union in order to finally
solve this very sad issue of the Albanian hostages, I take this opportunity
to wish you and your family all the best for 2002.


Albin Kurti

(*) I was released last November.
###

EMAIL-ACTION: RELEASE THE PRISONERS NOW!
TË LIROHEN MENJËHERË TË BURGOSURIT!
LASST JETZT DIE GEFANGENEN FREI!
ODMAH OSLOBODITE ZATVORENIKE!
http://www.dbein.bndlg.de/APP/
http://www.khao.org/appkosova

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