[Prishtina-E] FW: Yugoslavia: Domestic War Crimes Trials No Substitute for The Hague

[kosova at jps.net]

-----Original Message-----
From: Human Rights Watch [mailto:HRWpress at hrw.org]
Sent: Wednesday, April 25, 2001 3:45 PM
To: hrwpress at hrw.org
Subject: Yugoslavia: Domestic War Crimes Trials No Substitute for The
Hague


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Yugoslavia: Domestic War Crimes Trials No Substitute for The Hague

(New York, April 26, 2001)—Human Rights Watch today cautiously welcomed
the Yugoslav Army's announcement this week that a reported 183 army
members have been charged with committing crimes in Kosovo.  However,
Human Rights Watch called on the Yugoslav authorities to clarify the
charges and the nature of the ongoing proceedings and emphasized that
domestic trials of low-ranking officers and soldiers cannot substitute
for a trial by international standards of justice.  The paramount
obligation of the Yugoslav government at this time is to transfer
high-ranking state officials indicted by the U.N. International Criminal
Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) to custody in The Hague.

“While we would welcome fair and independent trials of these
lower-ranking soldiers in Belgrade, the international community should
not accept this as an alternative to the swift transfer of Slobodan
Milosevic and other indictees to the custody of the ICTY,” said Holly
Cartner executive director of Human Rights Watch's Europe and Central
Asia Division.

In a brief statement released on April 24, the Yugoslav Army’s General
Staff stated that investigations had been initiated against 245 members
for “killings and putting in danger the life, dignity, morals and
property of citizens” in the period between March 1998 and June 1999 in
Kosovo.  The army prosecutor brought the indictment against 183 persons.

“It is unclear from the Army’s statement how the courts in Serbia will
gather testimony from Albanians living in Kosovo, who the key witnesses
to the alleged crimes are, or whether the proceedings will be public,”
added Cartner. “Until the Army clarifies these questions, it is hard to
know whether this is a genuine effort to provide justice or merely a
public relations exercise.”

Serbian police and the Yugoslav Army killed an estimated 2,000 ethnic
Albanians between February 1998 and March 1999, during an armed conflict
with the rebel Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA).  Between March and June
1999, during the NATO bombing campaign in Yugoslavia, at least 4,000
Albanians were killed.  In addition, approximately 3,500 persons remain
missing from the conflict, according to the International Committee of
the Red Cross.  Yugoslav forces forcibly expelled more than 850,000
ethnic Albanians from the province.

Human Rights Watch research established that the Yugoslav Army had
overall command during the war.  The army controlled the main roads and
borders, coordinating and facilitating the “ethnic cleansing.” However,
the police and Serbian paramilitaries were the forces most involved in
the direct “ethnic cleansing” and destruction of villages, with
artillery support from the army.  Noting that most crimes were committed
by paramilitaries and police units, Human Rights Watch urged the Serbian
authorities to investigate these forces and prosecute those believed to
be responsible.

“The Army’s announcement is an indirect acknowledgment that crimes
against Kosovo Albanians were numerous and serious,” Cartner said.
“Only open and fair trials will underscore the nature of crimes
committed by Serbian and Yugoslav forces in Kosovo.”

To date, a single case before Yugoslav courts has resulted in a
conviction for crimes committed during the Kosovo conflict. On December
20, 2000, a military court in the city of Nis convicted a Yugoslav Army
major and two reservists for killing an Albanian couple in March 1999.
They were sentenced to four and a half years in prison.


For more information, please contact:

In New York, Bogdan Ivanisevic: +1-212-216-1282
In Brussels, Jean-Paul Marthoz: +32-2-736-7838