FLORA BROVINA
                     has been released

von Hans-Joachim Lanksch eine Auswahl ihrer Gedichte eine kurze Biographie EIN VERLETZTER VOGEL BIN ICH Flora Brovina in der kosova-albanischen Lyrik

Kosova-Info-Line
http://www.kosova-info-line.de/php/show.php3?id=8050&kat=n&schwer=1-4

Pressekonferenz von Flora Brovina

Freed Kosovo Activist Appeals for Tolerance

PRISTINA, Nov 4, 2000 -- (Reuters) A prominent Kosovo Albanian activist who spent more than a year in a Serbian prison appealed to the people of the province on Friday to show tolerance towards all ethnic groups.
     Flora Brovina, a doctor, human rights activist and poet released on Wednesday on the orders of new Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica, said she was more concerned about the future than past conflict between Serbs and Albanians.
     "This does not mean that I have forgotten and that one should forget, but we should learn from the past never to let it repeat itself," she told a news conference in the Kosovo capital Pristina in her first extensive comments since her release.
     Brovina, 50, said that Kosovo should compete with Serbia to establish democracy, tolerance and understanding.
     "We should prove that we know how to build and govern a society compatible with all international standards," she said.
     "We can do this first by showing we can forgive, that we are capable of accepting all citizens of Kosovo as equal, regardless of their national, religious or political affiliation."
     Brovina, who was jailed last December for 12 years on terrorism charges in a trial widely condemned as a sham, also made clear she shared the view of the vast majority of Kosovo Albanians that the province should be independent.
     Kosovo has been under international rule since NATO's bombing campaign last year to drive out Serb forces and end repression of the ethnic Albanian majority.
     It was previously a province of Serbia with an autonomous status abolished by Kostunica's predecessor Slobodan Milosevic, who was forced to quit power by a mass uprising last month.
     Brovina was among hundreds of ethnic Albanians detained by Serb forces in Kosovo during the NATO bombing campaign. They were taken to Serbia proper before NATO-led peacekeepers moved into the province.
     International officials and Kosovo Albanian campaigners have called for the release of hundreds of others, whom they regard as political prisoners, still being held in Serbian jails.

(C)2000 Copyright Reuters Limited

WELCOME TO IWPR'S BALKAN CRISIS REPORT, NO. 192, November 3, 2000

FLORA BROVINA FREED

The decision by the Yugoslav authorities to free Flora Brovina sends a powerful conciliatory signal to the Kosovo Albanians.

By Dragana Nikolic and Marko Ruzic

A large crowd gathered outside Pozarevac prison this week to witness the release of prominent Kosovo Albanian human rights activist Flora Brovina.
     The 50-year-old paediatrician and poet waved to waiting journalists before being whisked away in an International Red Cross car.
     Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica's legal advisor Filip Golubovic and United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Barbara Davis were at the prison to escort Brovina out of the gates.
     By freeing Brovina, the new Yugoslav authorities are sending a powerful conciliatory signal to the Kosovo Albanians - and will hopefully lead to an easing of tensions between the two communities.
     Brovina had spent 19 months in the prison. Her 12-year sentence for "terrorist activities carried out during a state of war" had been quashed in the summer by the Serbian Supreme Court. A new trial was to have taken place in mid-November.
     One of her former guards, who wished to remain anonymous, said Brovina had been treated well during her detention and had daily access to her mail and newspapers. The guard said Brovina worked regularly in the prison's maternity unit, but had refused routine medical checks herself.
     "The release of Flora Brovina and other prisoners is a welcome step, but only one of many necessary to address the myriad human rights concerns in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia," said Amnesty International. "The next stop must be the urgent release of other prisoners of conscience in Serbian jails."
     The same weekend, another ten Kosovo Albanian prisoners, held for 15 months without charge, were released from Sremska Mitrovica prison.
     Since June 1999, around 1,250 Kosovo Albanian prisoners have been freed, either because charges were dropped or sentences completed. The Belgrade-based Humanitarian Law Centre estimates a further 850 ethnic Albanian prisoners are currently held in Serbian jails.
     Allegations are rife that some of those already released "bought" their freedom with bribes paid to Serbian lawyers and judges. There have been numerous reports of Kosovo Albanian families raising sums of between 10,000 and 50,000 German marks to "buy" their loved ones' liberty.
     Amnesty International believes many of the Albanians detained in Serbian prisons were arrested simply because they were Albanian and not because they were involved in the armed conflict. Many trials were characterised by violations of the defendant's rights, such as denial of access to lawyers and inadequate facilities for the preparation of a defence.
     Meanwhile, several hundred local Serbs, abducted by Kosovo Albanians, are still thought to be languishing in privately-run prisons inside the province.
     Some members of the new Yugoslav government urged Kostunica to make the release of Kosovo Albanian prisoners conditional on the release of Serbs held in these private prisons and in those run by the United Nations administration in Kosovo, UNMIK.
     All the Kosovo Albanian political parties, meanwhile, stress the release of their countrymen is a precondition to any future dialogue with Belgrade.
     Some human rights activists in Belgrade praised Brovina's release as "the first sign the new government has formed a new way of dealing with Albanians". UNMIK chief Bernard Kouchner welcomed her pardon as a "crucial step towards healing wounds".
     A long-time activist against Serbian rule in Kosovo, Brovina founded the Women's League of Kosovo, which organised peaceful mass protests against the Belgrade regime. Her Centre for the Protection of Women and Children in Pristina provided medical care and rehabilitation facilities for displaced women and children in the province.
     On April 22, 1999, during the height of the NATO bombing campaign against Yugoslavia, she was abducted by eight plain-clothes police officers. When Serbian forces withdrew from Kosovo in June that year, around 2,000 Kosovo Albanian prisoners, including Brovina, were transferred to prisons in Serbia.
     With the release of Brovina, the new Yugoslav authorities are sending a powerful conciliatory signal to the Kosovo Albanians - and will hopefully lead to an easing of tensions between the two communities.
     Another positive sign was a recent visit to Belgrade by Adem Demaqi, another Kosovo Albanian human rights activist and one-time mentor of the Kosovo Liberation Army. Demaci's visit was the first by a prominent Albanian since the end of the war.
     Meanwhile in Nis, three Yugoslav army soldiers are on trial for the murder of two Albanians in Kosovo last year. The three were arrested and placed under investigation back in August.
     Kostunica vowed on assuming office to restore law and order to Serbia. A prerequisite to achieving this must be the reform of the country's corrupt and politicised judicial system. As well as releasing some political prisoners, the new president has organised a team of experts from the Yugoslav Lawyers Committee to draw up an Amnesty Law for presentation to the first session of the federal parliament.
     The new legislation is expected to afford protection not only to those Albanians currently held on terrorist charges, but also to the thousands of young Serbian men who refused to fight in Milosevic's wars.
     Branded traitors for their refusal to join up, many who deserted during the Kosovo war still live under the constant threat of arrest.
     For Yugoslavia to re-enter the European community respect for the rule of law and human rights is essential. Some tentative steps have been taken but much more is necessary, especially with respect to human rights.

Dragana Nikolic in London and Marko Ruzic in Pozarevac are regular IWPR contributors.

Brovina “declares war” on Serbia

21:40 PRISTINA, Friday – Kosovo Albanian human rights activist Flora Brovina said today that she was declaring war against Serbia in terms of democracy, human rights, tolerance and understanding.
     Brovina, who was released on Wednesday after more than eighteen months in prison said that she would not enter politics, but would resume work as a paediatrician on Monday.
     “I don’t want to talk about prison or the past,” Brovina told media today, adding that she was more interested in the future of Kosovo.
     “We can and shall live as good neighbours with Belgrade,” she said.
     Brovina also demanded the release of other Albanians still in Serbian prisons, including student leader Albin Kurti.

Fate of Kosovo Albanian prisoners key to reconciliation in Yugoslavia

By MERITA DHIMGJOKA
The Associated Press
11/3/00 1:51 PM

RACAJ, Yugoslavia (AP) -- For Kosovo Albanians, the litmus test of President Vojislav Kostunica's new democracy will be whether he frees Kosovar prisoners and explains what happened to thousands of others who vanished during his predecessor's crackdown.
     More than 5,000 ethnic Albanians, mostly men and boys, were rounded up by Yugoslav forces last year. Yugoslavia acknowledges transporting about 2,200 of them to prisons in Serbia when Slobodan Milosevic's troops withdrew from Kosovo in June 1999 under a peace deal to end NATO's 78-day bombing campaign.
     Most of those prisoners have been freed -- most recently women's' rights activist Flora Brovina, who was released Wednesday after 18 months in prison. But the Red Cross says about 890 remain in Serbian jails.
     Their fate and the whereabouts of about 3,300 people missing and unaccounted for is the most contentious issue blocking U.N. efforts to begin the long process of reconciliation between Serbs and ethnic Albanians now that Milosevic is gone.
     "There will never be peace in Kosovo, there will never be peace in Serbia, and the world will never be in peace, if our children are not found and returned home," said Aferdeze Efendia, whose 22-year-old son was taken away by Yugoslav police last year and has not been seen or heard from since.
     The United States and its European allies have urged Kostunica to free all ethnic Albanians rounded up in the crackdown. They believe such a move would bolster peace moves in this volatile province after last weekend's municipal elections victory by supporters of moderate Kosovo Albanian politician Ibrahim Rugova.
     For his part, Kostunica has promised to push an amnesty bill through the Yugoslav parliament, which is expected to approve a new, democratic federal government this weekend.
     However, the new president is under strong pressure at home to link freedom for Kosovo Albanian prisoners with information about Serbs and other non-Albanians who also disappeared, some since NATO-led peacekeepers took over the province in June 1999.
     U.N. officials estimate about 400 Serbs and non-Albanians, mostly Gyspies, are missing. The Serbian National Council puts the figure at about 1,200, most since NATO arrived here.
     Even if all the prisoners are freed, that still leaves the fate of about 3,000 missing ethnic Albanians unresolved. Their relatives cling to the hope that they are still alive, held in rumored "private prisons" operated by Serb paramilitary groups. Yugoslav authorities insist such prisons do not exist.
     The longer the issue remains unresolved, however, the less likely the Kosovo Albanian community is to show any sympathy to Western arguments that Kostunica has brought a new democracy after 13 years of Milosevic oppression.
     Dozens of ethnic Albanians seeking information about missing relatives stormed out of a meeting Wednesday with a U.N. envoy in Djakovica after he tried to convince them they should welcome Kostunica's rise to power.
     "Don't you tell us how democratic Serbia has become and what a democrat Kostunica is," shouted one ethnic Albanian, Istres Asllani. "We know how democratic they are. All the people who were killed and are still missing are the proof."
     For those who know their loved ones are in prison, the only contact is through letters delivered periodically by the Red Cross.
     "I know you're alone, there's little food for the cow, and it's hard for you all," Muharrem Danaj, 40, wrote in a letter delivered this week to his 72-year-old mother, his wife and four children. "But I hope this will end soon."
     Another Red Cross official, who spoke on condition his name not be used, said most if not all of the missing are probably dead, "but their relatives are in total denial." He fears many of them will never accept the truth.
     "I know my son is still alive," Efendia sobbed. "Whatever you say, my heart tells me he is alive, and will come back to me, someday."

Copyright 2000 Associated Press

UNITED NATIONS    NATIONS UNIES
UNMIK

UNITED NATIONS INTERIM ADMINISTRATION
MISSION IN KOSOVO

Press Release
3 November 2000
UNMIK/PR/404

KTC Working Group Calls for Release of All Political Prisoners

PRISTINA – The Kosovo Transitional Council’s working group on Detainees and Missing Persons has issued the following statement:
     "At the moment when the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia enters with its full membership in the United Nations, we would like to reiterate the importance of the release of all political prisoners from Kosovo currently held in Serbia and for the reestablishment of democracy.
     "In light of this we express our satisfaction with the decision of FRY authorities to free Mrs Flora Brovina as a first step in the long-awaited process.
     "This working group, which includes members from the Kosovo Albanian and Kosovo Serb communities, considers that fair trials ad due process of law according to international standards are fundamental tools to guarantee democracy and equality for all communities in Kosovo, Serbia and everywhere in the world."

For information only—not an official record
Contact UNMIK Press and Information Office—(381-38) 500-223, 501-396.

US urges more Serb prisoner releases

The United States says it hopes that hundreds of political prisoners in Serbian jails will be released following the election of the new Yugoslav president, Vojislav Kostunica.
     A State Department spokesman Richard Boucher was commenting on the release on Wednesday of the Kosovan human rights activist, Flora Brovina, who had served eighteen months in prison on terrorism charges.
     President Kostunica signed a decree freeing Dr Brovina, who was sentenced to twelve years in jail after her arrest during the NATO-led bombing campaign against the government of the former Yugoslav president, Slobodan Milosevic.
     The American statement said President Kostunica had taken an important step towards healing the wounds between the Serb and Albanian communities.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service

US seeks release of all Albanian prisoners

16:02 WASHINGTON, Friday - Greeting the release of the Kosovo human rights activist and poet Dr Flora Brovina, the US congratulated Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica on "crucial step toward healing of the wounds between Serbian and Albanian communities" in Kosovo.
     The State Department also added that it expected the new Belgrade authorities, as in the case of Brovina, to find a way to release the remaining Kosovo Albanian political prisoners soon.
     "As a democratic state dedicated to the rule of laws, Yugoslavia accepted all obligations coming from the UN Charter," US representative Richard Holbrooke told the General Assembly, emphasising the problem of the political prisoners from Kosovo as one of the legacies which the new Belgrade administration had to deal with as soon as possible. "All those prisoners should be released as soon as possible, as should the fate of all missing persons from both sides be determined," Holbrooke said.

Freed Kosovo Albanian Activist Appeals for Tolerance

PRISTINA, Nov 3, 2000 -- (Agence France Presse) Flora Brovina, a Kosovo Albanian activist and heroine of the province's independence movement, appealed for tolerance Friday, two days after she was freed from a Serb jail.
     "We have to show we know how to forgive," she told reporters, "and show we can regard all the citizens of Kosovo as equal no matter what their nationality, religion or politics."
     The 53-year-old poet and pediatrician was giving her first news conference since she was pardoned Wednesday by Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica and allowed to return to Kosovo, which since her arrest in April last year has become a UN protectorate.
     Brovina was sentenced to 12 years in prison in December 1999 for "terrorist activities" and having links with the now disbanded ethnic Albanian Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), considered a terrorist organization by the regime of former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic.
     A feminist and humanitarian, Brovina founded the League of Albanian Women, a non-governmental agency that advocated women's rights and also helped organize aid deliveries to refugees of the Kosovo war.
     Her imprisonment became symbolic of the fate of 2,050 ethnic Albanians transferred as prisoners from the breakaway province of Kosovo to Serbia-proper during NATO's air war with Yugoslavia. Some 818 of these prisoners are still in Serbia, 16 months after the fighting ended.
     Brovina called for them to be immediately freed, and challenged Serbia to a competition with Kosovo to see which country could demonstrate the most "democracy and understanding."
     She said Kosovo should continue to build the "institutions of self-government."
     "We are not going to copy a bad example as set by Yugoslavia," she said, speaking through a translator.
     "We cannot build civil society, we cannot build democracy, we cannot build tolerance, based on the Yugoslav model, which knew no form of government except for violence."
     Brovina was a leading figure in the decade long campaign of peaceful resistance by Kosovo's ethnic Albanian majority to Yugoslav rule. In 1998 the KLA launched a violent rebellion, and Belgrade responded with a brutal clampdown, forcing hundreds of thousands of Albanians from their homes.
     Following the NATO intervention, Kosovo's Serb minority have in turn become the victims of ethnically motivated violence by Albanian extremists. Hundreds of Serbs have been killed or disappeared, and some 210,000 non-Albanians have fled the province.

((c) 2000 Agence France Presse)

Campaigner's Release Marks Thaw Between UN Kosovo Mission and Belgrade

PRISTINA, Nov 3, 2000 -- (Agence France Presse) President Vojislav Kostunica's decision to release from jail a Kosovo Albanian "heroine" was seen Thursday as a sign of defrosting relations between Belgrade and the UN mission running the province.
     In choosing to free Flora Brovina, whose imprisonment in Serbia proper trained a spotlight on the fate of some 818 Kosovo prisoners, Kostunica sent an encouraging sign of moderation, the day before Yugoslavia joins the United Nations as a full member.
     Brovina's release was greeted with joy by both her Kosovo Albanian supporters and by Kosovo's UN administration, which has found the democratic changeover in Belgrade has done nothing to reassure Kosovars or persuade them to open talks on their future.
     "President Kostunica should be congratulated in taking this crucial step toward healing the wounds that exist between the Serb and Albanian communities," Bernard Kouchner, the UN's chief administrator in Kosovo, said.
     Brovina, a 53-year-old poet and pediatrician, was arrested in April last year, during NATO's bombardment of Yugoslavia, and sentenced to 12 years in prison in December for "terrorist activities" in Kosovo.
     A hugely popular figure in Kosovo, where she was an outspoken critic of Belgrade's repression of ethnic Albanians, her imprisonment and that of the other detainees continues to poison relations between Belgrade and Pristina 16 months after the end of the fighting.
     Her release was one of the first requests Kouchner, Kososvo's chief UN administrator, made of Kostunica after he toppled hardline Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic.
     While Kouchner gave Kostunica's arrival a guarded welcome, Kosovo's Albanians were shocked with the speed with which he was embraced by western capitals, despite his hard line on the province's future.
     "The first messages sent out by Belgrade were not very encouraging," Eric Chevallier, Kouchner's chief political advisor, told AFP.
     In his inaugural speech Kostunica called for some 170,000 displaced Serbs to be allowed to return straight away to Kosovo and reaffirmed Yugoslav sovereignty over the province, provoking an angry response in the province.
     Kostunica's close ally, Serb opposition leader Zoran Djinjic, further agitated the situation by calling for Yugoslav troops to be redeployed in the province by the end of the year.
     But in two days this week much progress has been made.
     First, on Tuesday, Kostunica let it be known he was ready to "pursue dialogue" with both Kouchner's mission and the leader of Kosovo's main ethnic Albanian separatist party, Ibrahim Rugova. Then he released Brovina.
     Brovina's release, was "an excellent sign," the UN mission's spokeswoman, Nadia Younes, said. "The release will help facilitate relations between Belgrade and the mission," Chevallier said.
     "In freeing Flora Brovina, Vojislav Kostunica has shown that he is not just another Milosevic, but that he recognizes the importance of good relations with the Albanians and respect of human rights," said Maria Elena Andreotti, head of the UN's human rights office in Pristina.
     But Brovina's release -- as the supporters who greeted her late Wednesday on the Kosovo frontier were quick to point out -- while other prisoners are still in jail does not remove the issue from future discussions.
     Kouchner has another request for Kostunica: "I urge him now to take further action, and release all Kosovo Albanian political prisoners who remain in Serbia. That would be justice. That would be a major stride toward a meaningful dialogue and a lasting peace."

((c) 2000 Agence France Presse) _______________________________________________________________________

photo  http://www.centraleurope.com/graphics/ceo/wide/wbalnov0300.jpg
Flora Brovina, a human rights activist, was greeted by some 200 Kosovar Albanians after being freed from prison.

THE SCOTSMAN, 3 NOVEMBER 2000

 Photo  http://www.thescotsman.co.uk/pic/0311kosob.jpg

Put to rights Kosovo activist returns after 18 months in prison

SURROUNDED by children, Flora Brovina (second from right) returned to the Centre for Rehabilitation of Woman and Child in Kosovo’s capital, Pristina, yesterday after 18 months in prison.
     "I’m overcome with emotion," said the human rights activist who was jailed on trumped-up terrorism charges during the regime of the former Yugoslav president, Slobodan Milosevic.
     But she added that her fight was not finished. "What I know is that the war is over but until the moment that all people who are in Serbian jails are released, I cannot see freedom," she said.
     Ms Brovina, 50, a paediatrician, took the risk of remaining in Pristina to care for women and children during the worst fighting of the conflict. A month after the start of the NATO bombing campaign in 1999, and two hours after she had delivered a baby, eight plainclothes police grabbed her from the doorstep of her block of flats and took her into custody
     Sentenced to 12 years in prison, she became a symbol of Yugoslav oppression. On the orders of the president, Vojislav Kostunia, she was released on Wednesday along with 11 other ethnic Albanians.

Picture: Visar Kryeziu/AP

A heroine's welcome for freed Albanian activist

Date: 03/11/2000

Belgrade: In a gesture towards reconciliation between Serbs and Kosovo's ethnic Albanians, the new Yugoslav President, Vojislav Kostunica, has freed Flora Brovina, an imprisoned activist who quickly returned to Kosovo to rejoin her family and receive a heroine's welcome.
     Dr Brovina, 50, an ethnic Albanian pediatrician, poet and women's rights activist who had been sentenced to 12 years in prison on trumped-up terrorism charges, kissed the ground upon her return on Wednesday night and declared: "Free Kosovo!"
     "I'm sorry that I'm coming in the dark so I won't be able to see Kosovo tonight," Dr Brovina said. "What I know is that the war is over. But until the moment that all the people arrested who are in Serbian jails are released, I cannot see freedom."
     The crowd chanted "Flora, Flora" and displayed banners saying "Welcome back" and "Welcome to Kosovo, our mother."
     Bernard Kouchner, head of the United Nations mission in Kosovo, described Dr Brovina as "a true heroine". Her release came as Yugoslavia rejoined the UN after eight years.

Los Angeles Times
Sydney Morning Herald

Text: U.S. Welcomes Release of Kosovo Albanian Doctor Flora

Brovina
(Urges release of other political prisoners in Serbia)  (190)

The U.S. State Department issued the following statement November 2 on the release of Kosovo Albanian doctor Flora Brovina from a Serbian prison:

(begin text)

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
Office of the Spokesman
November 2, 2000

Statement by Richard Boucher, Spokesman

DR. FLORA BROVINA RELEASED FROM SERBIAN PRISON

The United States welcomes the release on November 1 of prominent human rights activist Dr. Flora Brovina from a Serbian prison, along with several other political prisoners over the past few days. Dr. Brovina had been in custody since April 1999.
     We endorse UN Special Representative of the Secretary General Bernard Kouchner's statement applauding President Kostunica for taking this crucial step towards healing the wounds between Serb and Albanian communities.
     We hope that an expeditious means can be found to release the hundreds of other political prisoners still being held in Serbia.

(end text)

(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)

U.S. Hails Release of Kosovo Albanian Activist from Serb Prison

WASHINGTON, Nov 3, 2000 -- (Agence France Presse) The United States on Thursday hailed the release from a Serb prison of a well-known Kosovo Albanian rights activist, calling the move a "crucial step" in reconciling Yugoslavia's ethnic groups.
     But State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said the release of Flora Brovina, who was pardoned by new Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica, should be followed by freedom for nearly 1,000 other Kosovar detainees deemed political prisoners.
     "The United States welcomes the release on November 1 of prominent human rights activist Dr Flora Brovina from a Serbian prison along with several other political prisoners over the past few days," Boucher said in a statement.
     He signed onto comments made Wednesday by Bernard Kouchner, the UN's chief administrator in Kosovo, who called Kostunica's decision a "crucial step toward healing the wounds that exist between the Serb and Albanian communities."
     "We endorse (Kouchner's) statement applauding President Kostunica," Boucher said. "We hope that an expeditious means can be found to release the hundreds of other political prisoners still being held in Serbia."
     Brovina, a 53-year-old poet and pediatrician, was arrested in April last year, during NATO's bombardment of Yugoslavia, and sentenced to 12 years in prison in December for "terrorist activities" in Kosovo.
     Some 818 other similarly accused Kosovars remain imprisoned.

((c) 2000 Agence France Presse)

Yugoslavia: Interview With Newly Freed Kosovar Activist Flora Brodina

By Jolyon Naegele

The release yesterday of Kosovar Albanian human-rights activist Flora Brovina from a Serbian jail appears to be a first step on the part of Yugoslavia's new President Vojislav Kostunica to restore a measure of trust between Serbia and Kosovo. Correspondent Jolyon Naegele reports on an interview Brovina gave RFE/RL's South Slavic Service shortly after her release.
     Prague, 2 Nov 2000 (RFE/RL) -- Serbian secret police detained Flora Brovina in the Kosovo capital Pristina in April of last year during NATO's bombing campaign against Yugoslavia. Her arrest came only hours after Brovina, a pediatrician by profession, had delivered a baby.
     Brovina, who is also a published poet, was the founder of the League of Albanian Women, a non-governmental organization that advocated women's rights and helped organize aid deliveries to refugees of the fighting in Kosovo in 1998 and 1999.
     Brovina and nearly 2,000 other Kosovar Albanian political prisoners were transferred to prisons in Serbia during the withdrawal of Serbian forces from the province in June 1999. Then in December a Serbian court convicted her of terrorism and of collaborating with the insurgent Kosovo Liberation Army, and sentenced her to 12 years in prison.
     Brovina denied the charges and appealed the verdict. But an appeals hearing scheduled for last month was postponed due to an announced illness of the judge.
     Last week, new Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica ordered Brovina's release, but the outgoing old-guard justice minister, Petar Jojic, refused to carry out the order. Only after a new caretaker Serbian government took office last week was the order carried out, and even then there were several false starts. Finally, a senior aide to Kostunica, Filip Golubovic, himself went to the prison in Milosevic's hometown of Pozarevac and oversaw Brovina's release.
     Officials of the International Committee for the Red Cross then brought her to the boundary with Kosovo. There she was greeted by her husband Ajri Begu, her son Uranik, and some 200 supporters.
     A representative of the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia, Sonja Biserko, said outside Pozarevac prison yesterday that Brovina's release "is the first sign that the new government has a new way of dealing with Albanians."
     One of Brovina's attorneys, Branko Stanic, tells RFE/RL that in addition to freeing Brovina, Kostunica also granted a pardon, thereby clearing her of all charges.
     "She is cleared. In other words, she is exempt from criminal prosecution. She is a completely free woman and the president of the republic has the right, according to the constitution, to make such a decision."
     The 53-year-old Brovina herself says her release did not come as a surprise. She told RFE/RL:
     "I feel strange. I knew that after the victory of democracy in Serbia there would be some changes for the better and that innocent people would be freed from jail -- imprisoned Albanians who are incarcerated, among them myself."
     Brovina says she expected to be released sooner, but notes members of the former government of Slobodan Milosevic blocked her release for several weeks even after Milosevic resigned early last month.
     Still, Brovina expresses frustration at being among the first of more than 800 Kosovar Albanian prisoners in Serbian jails to be released by the Kostunica government.
     "I didn't want to be the first to be freed. I always wanted to stay with the imprisoned Albanians, with the political prisoners. Even though I didn't want to be first, I acknowledge the gesture by Mr. Kostunica's government. But he needs to decide quickly to free the others."
     Brovina told reporters at the Kosovo boundary last night that she has been informed that all ethnic political prisoners in Serbia will be freed as soon as the Yugoslav parliament passes an amnesty bill in about 10 days time.
     Eleven other ethnic Albanians also were freed from Serb jails yesterday.
     Prison took its toll on Brovina. She was not allowed to write and, cut off from the outside world, she confused Kostunica's name with that of an exiled Bosnian filmmaker, Emir Kusturica.
     But now she says she intends to get right back to work at her pediatric clinic.
     "I am a pediatric doctor. Tomorrow or the day after, I want to visit my children in the psychological rehabilitation center for children and women. After all I've been through, I don't want to be a patient but want rather to have the strength to care once again for children -- of whom there is no small number -- who experienced trauma."
     Brovina predicts that her release may contribute to a democratic competition between Kosovo and Serbia.
     "Obviously my release is a positive gesture which I value. I think there will be a competition of democracies. Kosovo wants to compete in a certain sense with Serbia over which one is building democracy the right way."
     The Kosovo which Brovina is returning to has changed considerably in the 19 months since she was jailed. Nearly one million refugees returned from exile and more than half the province's Serbian minority fled. The Serbian forces that terrorized the Albanian majority are gone and in their place are NATO-led peacekeepers, UN civilian police and the multiethnic Kosovo Police Service. Most important, perhaps, Kosovar Albanians for the first time in modern history are living in freedom in their own land.
     Brovina says Kosovar Albanians will never again live together with Serbs, as she puts it "in the same marriage." Rather, she says: "we want to live better, as neighbors." The UN's chief administrator in Kosovo, Bernard Kouchner, who recently called on Kostunica to release the jailed Albanians -- including Brovina -- welcomed the news of her release. He told reporters in Pristina yesterday: "President Kostunica should be congratulated in taking this crucial step toward healing the wounds that exist between the Serbian and Albanian communities."

© 1995-2000 Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty, Inc.

IFEX- News from the international freedom of expression community
_________________________________________________________________

ALERT UPDATE - FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF YUGOSLAVIA
2 November 2000

Flora Brovina arrives home after release

SOURCE: Writers in Prison Committee (WiPC), International PEN, London

**Updates IFEX alerts of 1 November, 31, 18 and 13 October, 21, 15 and 7 September, 8 June, 2 May, 28 April and 1 February 2000, 15 December, 11 and 9 November, 30 August, 23 June and 30 April 1999**

(WiPC/IFEX) - Flora Brovina, the poet, paediatrician and women's rights activist detained since April 1999 and sentenced to twelve years in prison, arrived home in Kosovo yesterday evening to a welcome by hundreds of well-wishers. She had been released on order of Yugoslav President Kostunica.
     Arrested in April 1999, she was transferred to Serbia in June, alongside around 1,000 other Kosovan prisoners,  by Yugoslav troops as they withdrew from Kosovo. In December, Brovina was sentenced to twelve years in prison on charges of alleged links with the Kosovo Liberation Army. International PEN and other human rights organisations protested the conviction, pointing out that there was no evidence to show that Brovina had been involved in violence, and that she was being held only for her public protests against Serb human rights abuses in Kosovo. Even the Supreme Court questioned the veracity of the charges used to convict Brovina and in June 2000 ordered that the case be returned to the Nis District Court for review, recommending that Brovina be released on bail. However, while the Nis District Court agreed to review the case, it refused to allow Brovina her freedom. The re-trial started in September with the next hearing scheduled for 14 November.
     A sustained campaign against Brovina's imprisonment, led by International PEN and other international and national human rights groups, had placed her case high on the agenda of incoming President Kostunica's, himself a member of International PEN. Within days of taking office, he indicated that he would order the release of Brovina. The release was hampered, however, by the refusal of the minister of justice to accede to the amnesty. Finally, on 1 November, President Kostunica's legal advisor personally delivered the order to the Pozorevac Prison that Brovina be freed.
     Brovina had stated from prison in October that she would not accept freedom for herself unless all the several hundred other ethnic Albanian prisoners who were still held in Serb prisons were freed. The new Yugoslav leader has been under pressure to order an amnesty, and a motion is due to be put to the Serbian parliament shortly to enable their release. Yesterday, Brovina told the press that she had been assured that all the remaining Kosovo Albanian prisoners would be freed by the end of November.
     International PEN applauds the amnesty granted to Brovina as a symbol of its commitment to end the pattern of arrest and persecution of those who speak out that prevailed under the previous regime. It further welcomes measures being put in place towards securing the release of all Kosovo Albanians held in Serbia.
     The WiPC office in London recommends the BBC World Service Web site report on Brovina's release which includes a televised report from BBC Correspondent Kate Adler, providing video footage of Brovina's return to Kosovo. It shows moving scenes of hundreds of well-wishers, and comments by Brovina and David Kouchner, head of the UN mission in Kosovo.

For further information, contact the WiPC, International PEN, 9/10 Charterhouse Buildings, Goswell Road, London EC1M 7AT, U.K., tel: +44 (0) 20 7253 3226, fax: +44 (0) 20 7253 5711, e-mail: intpen@gn.apc.org

The information contained in this alert update is the sole responsibility of WiPC. In citing this material for broadcast or publication, please credit WiPC.
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Brovina in Pristina

13:45 PRISTINA, Thursday - The Albanian poet Flora Brovina arrived to Pristina last night, after 19 months of imprisonment in the Pozarevac prison.
     Several hundred Albanians welcomed her at the administrative border with Serbia, and then in Pristina. Immediately upon her arrival to Pristina, she appeared on Television Kosovo, saying the Kosovo citizens should never forget what had happened to them, which did not mean they should not turn to the future and find strength for new ways and forgiving, but not forgetting, Beta reports.
     Yugoslav President's cabinet stated Brovina was released from the criminal prosecution according to the Constitution and the amnesty act.

Release of Kosovo Albanian activist hailed by head of UN Kosovo mission

1 NOVEMBER -- The head of the United Nations Interim Administration in Kosovo (UNMIK) today welcomed the news that a Kosovo Albanian activist had been released from prison in Serbia, following orders from Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica.
     With the activist, Dr. Flora Brovina, on her way to Kosovo, UNMIK chief Dr. Bernard Kouchner released a statement in Pristina, hailing her return. "Let me be among the first to say, 'Welcome home, dear Flora. You have been sorely missed, you have been in our hearts'."
     Applauding President Kostunica for taking a "crucial step" towards healing the wounds between Serb and Albanian communities, the UN official urged the President to release all Kosovo Albanian political prisoners still in Serbia. "That would be justice," he said. "That would be a major stride towards a meaningful dialogue and a lasting peace."
     Dr. Brovina had been sentenced last December to 12 years' imprisonment on terrorism charges. Calling her arrest and sentencing "absurd" and "cruel," Dr. Kouchner said she should instead receive a "medal for courage" for her work on health and children's issues, and for her commitment to peaceful alternatives to conflict.
     "She is a true heroine," the UNMIK chief said. "Her dignity, her courage and her generosity of spirit have made her a symbol to people around the world."
     In other news, Dr. Kouchner visited Mitrovica earlier today where he held one of a series of meetings with Kosovo Serb leaders regarding their participation in municipal assemblies.
     The UN Mission, which is in the process of compiling lists of candidates to assemblies in those municipalities where Serbs are a majority, hopes to have all those people named and agreed upon by 11 November, the planned date for the swearing-in ceremonies of all municipal assemblies. "This date is of course contingent on the certification of results of the elections, which we anticipate will occur early next week, maybe on Monday," an UNMIK spokeswoman said today in Pristina.

Yugoslavia frees Kosovo activist Flora Brovina

Reuters, Thursday, November 2, 2000

POZAREVAC/MERDARE, Yugoslavia - Yugoslav authorities yesterday freed a prominent Kosovo Albanian activist who was jailed last year on terrorism charges after a trial condemned by the West and human rights organizations.
     The release of Flora Brovina, a doctor, human rights activist and poet who had been sentenced to 12 years, won immediate international praise for new Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica as a step toward reconciliation between Serbs and Kosovo's Albanians.
     Hundreds of wellwishers gave Brovina an emotional welcome when she crossed nto Kosovo at the village of Merdare a few hours after leaving prison in Pozarevac. She kissed the ground on returning to her homeland.
     Brovina was among hundreds of ethnic Albanians detained by Serb forces in Kosovo last year during the NATO bombing campaign to halt repressive policies n the province under Kostunica's autocratic predecessor Slobodan Milosevic.
     Like the other detainees, Brovina was taken to Serbia before NATO-led peacekeepers took control of Kosovo. She was convicted of associating with separatist Albanian guerrillas during the bombing.
     "President Kostunica, who today ordered her release, should be congratulated in taking this crucial step toward healing the wounds that exist between Serb and Albanian communities," said Bernard Kouchner, who heads the U.N. mission in Kosovo.
     In a statement, Kouchner urged Kostunica to release other ethnic Albanian political prisoners in Serbia. "That would be justice, that would be a major stride toward a meaningful dialogue and a lasting peace," he said.
     Brovina waved to reporters standing outside the drab prison, but made no statement. She shook hands with a woman prison official before getting into the waiting International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) vehicle with her belongings in a bag.
     Around 200 people, including many children as well as her husband and son and other relatives, welcomed her back to Kosovo, some waving Albanian flags.
     They chanted "Flora! Flora!" and children carried a banner saying: "Welcome to Kosovo our mother." Brovina stepped out of the car, kissed the ground and said: "Free Kosovo."
     She told journalists that other ethnic Albanians held in Serb jails - numbering more than 818 according to the ICRC - would soon also be released. "I can't feel ree alone when I left behind a lot of people."
     A representative of the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia said the release signaled a new attitude by Belgrade following the ousting last month of Milosevic - the Yugoslav leader blamed by the West for a decade of war in the Balkans.
     "The release of Brovina is the first sign that the new government has a new way of dealing with Albanians," said Sonja Biserko outside the jail in Pozarevac.
     Brovina's conviction by a court in the southern Serbian town of Nis was greeted with outrage in Kosovo, where she was well known as a leader of women's groups distributing humanitarian aid and an organizer of protests against Serb rule.
     The trial was also widely condemned by Western governments and international human rights organizations.
     During the trial last year Brovina told the court that if freed she would work to help minority Serbs, many of whom became victims of revenge attacks by ethnic Albanians who returned home after NATO troops took control.
     "She is a true heroine," Kouchner said. "Her dignity, her courage, and her generosity of spirit have made her a symbol to people around the world."

©2000 KnightRidder.com

photo http://www.sltrib.com/11022000/images/kosovo.jpg
Flora Brovina, aethnic Albanian human-rights activist from Kosovo, center, is accompanied by her husband, Ajri Begu, left, and son Uranik Begu, right.
 (Visar Kryeziu/The Associated Press)

Kosovo Albanian Activist Freed

By FISNIK ABRASHI, Associated Press Writer

MERDARE, Yugoslavia (AP) - Kissing the soil of her Kosovo three times, leading ethnic Albanian activist Flora Brovina returned home Wednesday to the cheers of family and friends after Yugoslavia's new president released her after 18 months in prison.
     ``I'm overcome with emotion,'' the 50-year-old pediatrician said after crossing the provincial boundary to Kosovo by foot. She was the most prominent Kosovo Albanian prisoner freed by the new government since Slobodan Milosevic (news - web sites) was toppled last month.
     An exhausted Brovina, who was jailed on terrorism charges by Milosevic's regime, said her fight wasn't finished.
     ``What I know is that the war is over but until the moment that all people who are in Serbian jails are released, I cannot see freedom,'' she said.
     Brovina said she expected all ethnic Albanian political prisoners to be released after the Yugoslav parliament approves a general amnesty within the next two weeks.
     Eleven other ethnic Albanians also were freed Wednesday, Natasa Kandic, head of the Belgrade-based Humanitarian Law Center, told the Beta news agency.
     More than 1,000 prisoners were transported to Serbia in June 1999 when Yugoslav forces withdrew from the province under a peace plan to end 78 days of NATO (news - web sites) bombing of Yugoslavia.
     Western governments and human rights organizations have long called for the release of Brovina and other Kosovo Albanians.
     Yugoslavia's new president, Vojislav Kostunica (news - web sites), who took office Oct. 7, has been making overtures to the West in search of aid.
     Bernard Kouchner, the chief U.N. administrator for Kosovo, congratulated Kostunica for taking a ``crucial step'' toward healing by releasing imprisoned Kosovo Albanians.
     ``I urge him to take further action and release all Kosovo Albanian political prisoners who remain in Serbia,'' he said. ``That would be justice. That would be a major stride toward a meaningful dialogue and a lasting peace.''
     Brovina became a stirring symbol of Yugoslav oppression for many after taking the risk of remaining in Pristina to care for women and children during the worst fighting of the Kosovo conflict.
     Two hours after she delivered a baby, eight plainclothes policemen grabbed her from the doorstep of her apartment building and took her into custody a month after the start of the NATO bombing campaign in 1999.
     Brovina was convicted Dec. 9 of terrorism for allegedly organizing the production of sweaters and masks for members of the Kosovo Liberation Army. She was also accused of providing the rebels with food, clothes and shoes.
     In June, Serbia's Supreme Court overturned the conviction and ordered a new trial.
     Brovina, who headed a group that ran an orphanage and organized peace marches, testified that her League of Albanian Women simply provided relief aid to women and children in war-torn areas.
     She denied the allegations of terrorism and links to the KLA, whose uprising against Milosevic prompted the Serb crackdown on ethnic Albanians in February 1998.
     After being released from the prison in Pozarevac in central Serbia, Brovina was driven by Red Cross officials to the Kosovo provincial border.
     Her son, Uranik Begu, who presented her with flowers, said his thoughts were with other ethnic Albanians whose parents are still being ``held hostage'' in Serbia. ``I hope all of them will be released very soon so others can be in my shoes.''
     By last July, 1,922 ethnic Albanians had been detained throughout Serbia, the International Committee of the Red Cross said. About half have since been released.
     The issue of prisoners and the missing is one major hurdle the United Nations (news - web sites) faces in promoting talks about Kosovo's future between the Yugoslav government and ethnic Albanian residents.
     In the southwestern Kosovo town of Djakovica, dozens of ethnic Albanians seeking information about missing friends and relatives stormed out of a meeting with a Swedish U.N. envoy Wednesday after he urged them to cooperate with the Serbs.
     The envoy, Henrik Amneus, said Belgrade's new pro-democracy leadership is ready to meet with ethnic Albanians leaders. ``Don't you tell us how democratic Serbia has become and what a democrat Kostunica is,'' one of the ethnic Albanians, Istres Asllani, shouted before storming out.
     ``We know how democratic they are,'' he said. ``All the people who were killed and are still missing are the proof.''

Copyright © 2000 The Associated Press

Belgrade frees Kosovo activist

photo  http://news6.thdo.bbc.co.uk/olmedia/1000000/images/_1002840_kisses300.jpg
Dr Brovina was arrested during the Nato bombing Campaign

Kosovo's most prominent human rights activist, Flora Brovina, has arrived in the province for an emotional homecoming after being freed from a Serbian prison.
     Dr Brovina, who sentenced to 12 years last December for associating with separatist Albanian guerrillas, was set free by a special decree signed by Yugoslavia's new President, Vojislav Kostunica.
     She said on her release that she had been assured that the hundreds of Kosovo Albanians still held in Serbian jails would be released by the end of the month.
     The poet and paediatrician was arrested by Serbian forces during last year's Nato air campaign against Yugoslavia, just hours after giving birth.

Well-wishers

Correspondents say her detention was viewed in Kosovo as a powerful symbol of Serb oppression.
     The 53-year-old mother of two knelt and kissed the soil of Kosovo after crossing the border.
     She was met by her husband, her son and a crowd of around 1,000 well-wishers.
     Eleven other ethnic Albanian prisoners were also released on Wednesday, according to the Belgrade-based Humanitarian Law Center.
     But hundreds still remain in captivity.
     Mr Kostunica was applauded by the United Nations for pardoning Dr Brovina.
     Bernard Kouchner, who heads the UN mission in Kosovo, said the new Yugoslav president should be congratulated in taking a crucial step towards healing the wounds between the Serb and Albanian communities.
     He described the activist as a "true heroine."

Alleged KLA links

"Her dignity, her courage, and her generosity of spirit have made her a symbol to people around the world," Dr Kouchner said.
     The conviction of Dr Brovina, who was president of the League of Albanian Women in Kosovo and ran a humanitarian centre in Pristina, was greeted with outrage in Kosovo.
     It was also condemned by Western governments.
     Serb prosecutors alleged she gave food, clothing and medical supplies to the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), which was at that time fighting Serbian security forces.
     During her trial, she denied the terrorism allegations and said her League of Albanian Women provided relief aid to women and children in war-torn areas.
     Serbian, Albanian and international human rights organisations maintained she was innocent and had been imprisoned simply because she was a prominent Albanian.

Kosovo activist freed by Kostunica

photo http://www.cnn.com/2000/WORLD/europe/11/01/kosovo.activist/story.brovina.ap.jpg

November 1, 2000
Web posted at: 3:01 PM EST (2001 GMT)

POZAREVAC, Yugoslavia -- The Yugoslav authorities have freed a prominent Kosovo Albanian activist jailed last year for 12 years on terrorism charges.
     Flore Brovina, who was released on the orders of new Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica, had been convicted by a court in Nis, southern Serbia, of associating with separatist ethnic Albanian forces during last year's NATO bombing of Yugoslavia.
     "Justice has been served," lawyer Branko Stanic said at the prison gate as Brovina, who is married with a son, was driven away from the jail in the town of Pozarevac in an International Committee of the Red Cross vehicle.
     The West has long called for the release of Brovina and other Kosovo Albanian prisoners in Yugoslavia.
     Stanic said: "(Kostunica) is a reasonable man, a legalist, and it was clear to him that she was innocent. We thank him."
     Activist Brovina jailed under Milosevic regime
     Brovina, a 50-year-old pediatrician and women's rights activist, is among the hundreds of ethnic Albanians who have been held in Serb jails since the Kosovo conflict, which began when former president Slobodan Milosevic sent troops into the province to crush separatist sentiment there.
     Her detention became a rallying point for people in Kosovo, where the majority of the population is ethnic Albanian and many people want independence from Serb-dominated Yugoslavia.
     In Kosovo, she led a group called the League of Albanian Women. Her activities included running an orphanage and organising peace marches.
     Last year, when Milosevic's brutal crackdown on ethnic Albanians in Kosovo inspired the NATO bombing campaign, Brovina refused to leave despite the threat of arrest by Serb police, who were rounding up people believed to have ties to the Kosovo Liberation Army.
     She helped delivered a baby just two hours before eight plainclothes policemen snatched her from an apartment building in Kosovo's capital, Pristina.
     Brovina was accused of formenting terrorism by allegedly organising, among other things, the making of sweaters and masks for members of the KLA, who the Serbs considered terrorists.
     She was also accused of providing the rebels with food, clothes and shoes.
     During her trial, she denied the terrorism allegations and said her League of Albanian Women provided relief aid to women and children in war-torn areas.
     The U.S. State Department, Human Rights Watch and other international organisations had campaigned for her release.

The Associated Press & Reuters contributed to this report.
© 2000 Cable News Network

Leading Kosovo-Albanian poet freed

By STEFAN RACIN

BELGRADE, Yugoslavia, Nov. 1 (UPI) - Kosovo Albanian poet and pediatrician Flora Brovina, who was imprisoned last December on charges of terrorism, was released from the prison in Pozarevac Wednesday.
      Brovina, 51, was arrested by Serbian police in Pristina on April 20, 1999, and was charged with providing food, clothing and medicines to the militant Kosovo Liberation Army. Brovina was sentenced to 12 years in prison by a court in Nis. She was first sent to a prison in Lipljan in Kosovo, two days before international-peacekeeping troops entered the province; she was then moved to the prison in Serbia.
      Under pressure from international and Yugoslav human-rights organization, the Serbian constitutional court returned her case to the Nis court for a review of the sentence shortly before the downfall of the Milosevic regime. Brovina was founder and president of the League of Albanian Women in Kosovo.
      Her lawyer, Branko Stanic, said her release came after Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica interceded on her behalf. Stanic said she had been "relieved of criminal responsibility and is a completely free citizen."
      Brovina left the women's prison in an International Red Cross vehicle on her way back to Kosovo. The Beta news agency said her husband and other members of her family were waiting for her at Merdare, on the administrative border between Kosovo and Serbia.
      Kosovo, which is now under U.N. administration, is a part of Serbia. Militants within the province want an ethnic-Albanian homeland. Kosovo is dominated by ethnic Albanians as opposed to Serbia, which is predominantly Serb.
      Barbara Davis, director of Serbia's Helsinki committee for human rights joined Sonja Biserko, head of the U.N. Human Rights Commission, and Kostunica's secretary, Filip Golubovic, picked up Brovina in a convoy of cars.

 (Lulzim Cota in Tirana, Albania, contributed to this report)
Copyright 2000 by United Press International.

Kostunica frees Kosovo activist

Nick Wood in Pristina
Thursday November 2, 2000

A prominent Kosovo Albanian human rights activist has been released from jail in Serbia, prompting hopes that more political prisoners, estimated to number about 1,000, may soon be released.
     Flora Bravina, a 50-year-old paediatrician and longtime opponent of Serbian rule in Kosovo, was released on the orders of the Yugoslav president, Vojislav Kostunica.
     She was arrested by Serbian police in Kosovo during last year's Nato bombing campaign and transferred to prison in Serbia when Yugoslav forces withdrew from the province.
     "Justice has been served," said Mrs Bravina's lawyer, Branko Stanic, as she was driven out of a women's prison in Pozarevac.
     The order for her release was brought to the prison by the president's own legal adviser, Filip Golubovic.
     In December last year, Mrs Bravina was charged with terrorism and sentenced to 12 years in prison, based on what the court alleged were links between her and the Kosovo Liberation Army.
     That sentence was quashed by the Serbian supreme court earlier this summer. A new trial was ordered and was due to take place on November 16.
     The campaign for the release of Mrs Bravina and hundreds of other political prisoners has dominated the political debate in Kosovo over the last year, and President Kostunica has been under pressure from the west to free them.
     Some prisoners were released while Slobodan Milosevic was still in power, but hopes of more progress on the issue were raised when Mr Kostunica took over. Kosovo's three leading Albanian parties mentioned the issue of prisoners in their first response to the political changes in Belgrade.
     A motion to enable their relese is expected to be tabled before the Serbian parliament soon. Initially the prisoners' status was linked to progress on finding around 1,000 Serbs who went missing in Kosovo during and after the war.
     The head of the UN Mission in Kosovo, Bernard Kouchner, welcomed Mrs Bravina's release, adding that she had been "sorely missed" and that she should never have been sentenced to jail.
     He also urged Mr Kostunica to go further and ensure the release of the remaining political prisoners. That, he said, "would be a major stride towards meaningful dialogue and...peace".
     Mrs Bravina had earlier told her family that she would not leave jail unless her fellow inmates were released too. This prompted concern among some of the new Yugoslav government's advisers. The US and British governments have called for all political prisoners to be set free.

Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2000

Kosovo Albanians Cheer the Return of a Doctor Freed in Serbia

By CARLOTTA GALL

PRISTINA, Kosovo, Nov. 1 — Flora Brovina, a prominent doctor, poet and activist for Kosovo Albanians, was freed from a Serbian prison today by a special pardon from the new Yugoslav president. Arriving home to a tumultuous welcome, she dropped to her knees to kiss the ground as she crossed into Kosovo, her home province.
     Her first words were for some 800 Kosovo Albanians still in Serbia prisons. "I cannot feel myself free until all those mothers, fathers and brothers feel the same as I do," she said. "I am tired, and upset, full of emotions. It's not easy to leave your friends behind even though I have promises they are going to be released soon."
     Several hundred people, including children from an emergency medical center she set up during the war in Kosovo last year, were at the provincial border to greet her, singing, cheering and waving banners that read, "Welcome to Kosovo, our mother."
     Dr. Brovina, 50, a pediatrician, was arrested outside her Pristina apartment by the Serbian police on April 20 last year during the NATO bombing campaign against Yugoslavia. She was sentenced to 12 years in a Serbian court last year on charges of conspiring to commit terrorism and aiding the rebel force, the Kosovo Liberation Army.
     She was one of 2,000 Albanian detainees transferred from Kosovo when Serbian forces withdrew and NATO-led peacekeeping troops took control of Kosovo after the war ended in June 1999. Over half have been gradually released, and the return of the remaining 818 has become an urgent concern for the United Nations officials running Kosovo, who say the prisoners are an obstacle to the reconciliation of Serbs and Albanians.
     Dr. Brovina's release indicated that President Vojislav Kostunica, who has been in power for less than a month since a popular revolt forced Slobodan Milosevic to step down, regards the issue as one of human rights. A presidential representative, Filip Gobulovic, accompanied Dr. Brovina all the way from the women's prison in Pozarevac — Mr. Milosevic's hometown — to the Kosovo border. "It is a start of the procedure for the release of every political prisoner," Mr. Gobulovic said. "Here is no difference, whatever nationality they are."
     Two prominent Serbian journalists, both considered political prisoners by human rights organizations, have been released from prison since Mr. Kostunica became president, as have two Britons and two Canadians detained on what their countries called trumped-up charges. Most Albanians in prison are also considered political prisoners because many were picked up by the police, often from refugee columns during the NATO bombing, and sentenced on scant evidence of wrongdoing, lawyers say.
     Three Kosovo Albanian men, all arrested during the NATO bombing campaign, were released at the same time as Dr. Brovina, and arrived this evening. They had completed 18-month sentences. Eleven other Albanian men, still awaiting trial, were released on Saturday.
     Bernard Kouchner, head of the United Nations administration in Kosovo, welcomed Dr. Brovina's release and praised Mr. Kostunica for making a "crucial step toward healing the wounds that exist between Serb and Albanian communities."
     In a statement, he urged the release of the rest of the Albanians being held. "That would be justice, that would be a major stride toward a meaningful dialogue and a lasting peace," he said.

Copyright 2000 The New York Times Company

----- Original Message -----
From: Belgrade Women's Center <awcasv@EUnet.yu>
To: Sevdie Ahmeti <...>; <women-east-west@neww.org>
Sent: Wednesday, November 01, 2000 10:16 PM
Subject: Re: [NEWW/WEW] FLORA BROVINA RELEASED
 

1 of November 9pm
Belgrade:
dear Friends,

Today at around 2pm Flora Brovina was out, the car of the UN  Comissioner for Human Rights Barbara Davis was there, her  lawyers, women lawyers, Serbian TV, journalists....  Flora Brovina    was very mooving, according to Biljana Stanojevic a lawyer from  Helsinky Human Rights commission who was there, with whome I  spoke tongiht.  The jeep and security cars drove her to Prisitina.   The idea of some of them was to bring Flroa Brovina to Belgrade  because tonight was a great event with Adem Demaci, a Kosovo  Albanian human right activist, professor, lawyer who was 28 years  in prison in past regime, and whose politics promotes trust  between neighbours, eqaul rights to all national and ethnic  idenitites, love and living together.  But Flora Brovina left to  Prisitna, and we in Belgrade have attended  the even with full of  people who were happy to see the first Kosovo Albanian friend to  come in Belgrade on his own will and decision to speak to people  in Serbia.  It was a very touching event with him tonight. After that  in Women's Center we celebrated the freedom of Flora Brovina!

We thank all women who have though about her, took care, wrote  letters and spread women's solidarity across borders.

Many reagards from Belgrade full of good news in this post facsist  phase!

lepa mladjenovic
Info Center
Autonomous Women's Center
Tirsova 5a, 11000 Belgrade
tel/fax. +381 11 687 190
tel: +381 11 645 328
e-mail: awcasv@eunet.yu
http://www.womenngo.org.yu

FORWARDED BY:
______________________________________________________________
B.a.B.e. (Be active, Be emancipated) Women's Human Rights Group
Prilaz Gjure Dezelica 26/II, 10 000 Zagreb, Croatia
Tel/Fax: +385 1 4846 176
Tel: +385 1 4846 180
E-mail: babe@zamir.net
**NEW/NOVO** CyberBaBe: http://www.babe.hr

* News Release Issued by the International Secretariat of Amnesty International *

1 November 2000
EUR 70/059/2000
208/00

Amnesty International welcomes the release by President Kostunica of the Kosovar humanitarian Dr Flora Brovina from a Serbian prison this afternoon. Ten other Kosovar Albanian prisoners, who had been held without charge or trial for over 15 months were also released last weekend.
     Amnesty International identified Flora Brovina as a prisoner of conscience and campaigned - along with other international organizations - for her release She was arrested in Pristina in April 1999 and  later sentenced to 12 years' imprisonment for 'terrorism' and 'association for the purposes of hostile activity'. A retrial had been ordered after an appeal.
     "The release of Flora Brovina and other prisoners is a welcome step, but only one of many necessary to address the myriad human rights concerns in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia", Amnesty International said today.
     "The next stop must be the urgent release of other prisoners of conscience in Serbian jails", the organization added.
     Over 850 Kosovar Albanians are jailed in Serbia and were among the estimated 2,000 transferred from Kosovo in June 1999. Amnesty International believes that there are many prisoners of conscience among them.
     Other ethnic Albanian prisoners may be released when a new amnesty bill - commissioned by Kostunica and currently being drafted by a domestic human rights organization - is implemented.  The involvement of a human rights organization is a welcome development in itself.
     Amnesty International urges the authorities to speedily enact the amnesty bill into law, as information suggests it will bring about the release of prisoners of conscience, conscientious objectors and deserters and the re-examination of unfair trials. Many other human right violations related to the former administration remain to be addressed, including the fate of least 3,000 people who have gone missing since the start of the Kosovo crisis in 1998.

Background

Some 2,000 ethnic Albanian prisoners were originally transferred from Kosovo to Serbia in June 1999. More than 1,000 have been released after charges were dropped or sentences served. Large sums of money was allegedly paid in many cases to secure their release.  The information available to Amnesty International about the Kosovar Albanians in Serbian prisons is that many, perhaps the majority, were detained simply because they were ethnic Albanians, and not because they had participated in the armed conflict. The organization believes that many are thus prisoners of conscience. Reports of the trials show little evidence to link them with the charges of "terrorism" or similar which were brought against them. The trials were characterized by violations of the right to a fair trial, such as denial of a court decision for their detention, denial of access to lawyers and adequate facilities to prepare a defence. The prisoners were frequently brutally beaten or tortured during the initial stages of detention.

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IFEX- News from the international freedom of expression community
_________________________________________________________________

ALERT UPDATE - FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF YUGOSLAVIA (SERBIA)
1 November 2000

Flora Brovina released

SOURCE: Writers in Prison Committee (WiPC), International PEN, London

**Updates IFEX alerts of  31, 18 and 13 October, 21, 15 and 7 September, 8 June, 2 May, 28 April and 1 February 2000, 15 December, 11 and 9 November, 30 August, 23 June and 30 April 1999**

(WiPC/IFEX) - International PEN has received confirmation that the poet, doctor and rights activist, Flora Brovina, was released at 3:30 p.m. (Belgrade time) on 1 November 2000. She was reportedly driven from Pozarevac Prison in an International Committee of the Red Cross vehicle towards Kosovo to be reunited with her family. Her release is said to have been the result of direct intervention by President Kostunica.

PEN is currently awaiting further details and will provide an update to this alert shortly.

For further information, please contact Sara Whyatt at the WiPC of International PEN, 9/10 Charterhouse Buildings, London EC1M 7AT, United Kingdom, tel: +44 (0) 20  7253 3226, fax: +44 (0) 207 253 5711, e-mail: intpen@gn.apc.org

The information contained in this alert update is the sole responsibility of WiPC. In citing this material for broadcast or publication, please credit WiPC.
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Betreff: Re: Please help to free the kosova-albanian prisoners in serbian jails!
Datum: Wed, 01 Nov 2000 09:47:10 +0100
Von: "Joschka Fischer, MdB" <joschka.fischer@bundestag.de>
Firma: Deutscher Bundestag
An: Divi Beineke <dbein@osnabrueck.netsurf.de>

Sehr geehrter Herr Beineke,
in den letzten Tagen erreichen uns viele Mails wie Ihres zur Lage der albanischen Häftlinge in Serbien. Das Problem ist uns bewußt und es wird das Mögliche getan, um zu einer Lösung beizutragen. In diesem Zusammenhang möchte ich auf eine Presseerklärung des Außenpolitischenb Sprechers unserer Fraktion, Helmut Lippelt, verweisen, die unter der Nummer 0627 auf der Homepage der Fraktion www.gruene.frak/aktuell/pm/index.htm zu lesen ist.
Mit freundlichen Grüßen
Reinhard Weißhuhn
wiss. Mitarbeiter
_______________________________________
http://www.gruene-fraktion.de/archiv/pm/2000/00-0627.htm

PRESSEMITTEILUNG

NR. 0627/2000
der Bundestagsfraktion Bündnis 90/Die Grünen

Datum: 23.10.2000

Flora Brovina und Albin Kurti im Gefängnis Pozarevac besucht

Nach seiner ersten Belgrad-Reise seit dem Umsturz erklärt Helmut Lippelt, außenpolitischer Sprecher:

Während des 4-tägigen Aufenthalts habe ich mich neben einer Fülle von Gesprächen mit DOS-Führern, VertreterInnen von Menschenrechtsorganisationen und der Studentenorganisation OTPOR besonders um die Freilassung der noch etwa 650 inhaftierten kosovo-albanischen politischen Gefangenen bemüht.
     Der "wind of change" hat Belgrad erreicht. Das zeigte sich auch daran, dass es im Justizministerium in wenigen Stunden gelang, eine Besuchserlaubnis für die beiden prominentesten kosovo-albanischen politischen Gefangenen zu erhalten und mit beiden ein langes Gespräch zu führen. Dabei wurde Flora Brovina die Mitteilung überbracht, dass sie zum Tag der Menschenrechte am 10. Dezember den Preis der Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung für Zivilcourage erhalten wird. Sie erklärte, sie werde den Preis stellvertretend für alle anderen politischen Gefangenen entgegennehmen und zur Preisverleihung nach Berlin kommen.
     Ich habe um ihre rasche Freilassung und die der übrigen politischen Gefangenen gebeten. Gespräche mit DOS-Politikern und Beratern des Präsidenten ergaben, dass eine umfassende Amnestie geplant ist. Sie soll sowohl die kosovo-albanischen als auch die serbischen politischen Gefangenen, Deserteure und Kriegsdienstverweigerer einbeziehen.
     Der Plan des Präsidenten, seine Amtszeit als neue Epoche der Rechtsstaatlichkeit zu beginnen, bedarf eines raschen Zeichens. Er wird nur dann greifen, wenn so offensichtlich widerrechtliche Verschleppungen wie die von Flora Brovina nicht um einen Tag verlängert werden.

Bundestagsfraktion Bündnis 90/Die Grünen
Pressestelle
11011 Berlin
Telefon: 030/227-5 72 12/5 72 13
Fax: 030/227 5 69 62
E-Mail: presse@gruene-fraktion.de

Please NOTE: This is not an official UNMIK-document !

Betreff: UNMIK DPI COURSTEY DOCUMENTS
Datum: Thu, 2 Nov 2000 10:08:36 +0100
Von: "Fisnik Nimani" <nimani@un.org>

HEADLINES
2 November 2000
Division of Public Information

KOHA DITORE
·    Flora Brovina has been released but she does not feel free (after many appeals, the Albanian doctor and poetess Flora Brovina was released from prison yesterday, p.1)

ZËRI
·    Until everyone is released, there is no freedom in Kosovo?("Soon, the others will be released as well, I believe within ten days. I do not know. Those ten days can last for a long time. But, they will be released soon," said Flora Brovina after being released from prison yesterday, p.1 and 2)
·    All Albanian prisoners kept in Serbian prisons should be released (the statement of Bernard Kouchner in regard to the release of Flora Brovina, p.2)

BOTA SOT
·    Flora Brovina released from prison (ICRC brought Flora Brovina from the Nis prison to Kosovo, p.1 and 3)

KOSOVA SOT
·    Flora Brovina released from prison ("The others will be released very soon. They promised that in the next ten days the other Albanian prisoner will be released," said Flora Brovina as she entered Kosovo, p.1 and 2)

RILINDJA
·    Prisoners to be released and the missing to be found (Henrik Amneus met Gjakova families of the prisoners and missing persons, p.1 and 2)
·    Flora Brovina released from prison (the Albanian poetess, doctor and humanist, Flora Brovina released yesterday from prison with the order of the "Yugoslav" president, Kostunica, p.1 and 2)

DITA
·    Flora Brovina has been released from prison (Brovina said that she has been told for ten days, when the amnesty law will function, all Albanian prisoners will be released, p.2)

Prominent Kosovo Activist Released From Serb Jail

By Fredrik Dahl

POZAREVAC, Yugoslavia (Reuters) - Yugoslav authorities Wednesday freed a prominent Kosovo Albanian activist jailed last year for 12 years on terrorism charges.
     Flora Brovina, released on new Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica's orders, left prison in the eastern Serbian town of Pozarevac in an International Committee of the Red Cross vehicle. She was expected to reach Kosovo later in the day.
     Brovina was among hundreds of ethnic Albanians detained by Serb forces in Kosovo last year during the NATO bombing campaign to halt Belgrade's repressive policies in the province.
     Like the others, she was brought to Serbia proper before NATO-led peacekeepers took de facto control of Kosovo. She was convicted of associating with separatist Albanian guerrillas during the bombing.
     Brovina, a doctor, human rights activist and poet, waved to reporters standing outside the drab prison building, but made no statement. She shook hands with a woman prison official before getting into the waiting car with her belongings in a bag.
     ``She is a free woman now,'' defense lawyer Branko Stanic said outside the prison, describing her detention as illegal.
     ``I don't want to make propaganda but I think I have the right to say Kostunica took this very seriously because he is someone who respects the law,'' he said, emphasizing the president's role in securing her release.

New Attitude

A representative of the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia said the release signaled a new attitude by Belgrade following the ousting last month of autocratic Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic.
     ``The release of Brovina is the first sign that the new government has a new way of dealing with Albanians,'' said Sonja Biserko.
     Barbara Davis, Belgrade representative of the U.N. Commission on Human Rights, also welcomed the move. ``Doctor Brovina should never have been detained in the first place,'' she told Reuters.
     Brovina's conviction by a court in the southern Serbian town of Nis was greeted with outrage in Kosovo, where she was well known as a leader of women's groups distributing humanitarian aid and an organizer of protests against Serb rule.
     The trial was also widely condemned by Western governments and international human rights organizations.
     The supreme court in Serbia, the dominant Yugoslav republic, ordered a retrial four months ago but the case was postponed in October. The judge handling it was reported to have fallen ill.
     As late as last week, outgoing Justice Minister Petar Jojic of the ultra-nationalist Radical Party said he had rejected an order by Kostunica to release Brovina.
     During the trial last year Brovina told the court that if freed she would work to help minority Serbs, many of whom became victims of revenge attacks by ethnic Albanians who returned home after NATO troops took control.
     Brovina's lawyer said she was concerned about other people in the same situation she had been in, regardless of their ethnicity.

Copyright © 2000 Reuters Limited.

Serbs free jailed Kosovo activist

Flora Brovina, one of the best-known Kosovo Albanian activists who was serving 12 years in a Serb prison on terrorism charges, has been released.
     She left prison in Pozarevac this afternoon, escorted by Red Cross officials, and was being taken back to Kosovo.
     "Justice has been served," said her lawyer Branko Stanic at the prison gate as Ms Brovina was driven away.
     President Vojislav Kostunica's legal adviser, Filip Golubovic was present and brought the presidential order for Ms Brovina's release, human rights officials said.
     In the Kosovo capital Pristina, ethnic Albanian human rights activists said Ms Brovina was expected to arrive in the majority Albanian province tonight.
     Her husband and son were driving to the border to welcome her, they said.
     Ms Brovina, a 50-year-old paediatrician and women's rights activist, had become a rallying cry for Kosovo Albanians who are demanding the release of all ethnic Albanians still held in Serb jails nearly 18 months after the Kosovo conflict ended.
     She was jailed last year.
     Hopes for their release have risen with the overthrow of authoritarian president Slobodan Milosevic.

Last updated: 15:30 Wednesday 1st November 2000.
Copyright © 2000 Ananova Ltd

Brovina released

17:27 POZAREVAC, Wednesday – Yugoslav authorities today released the president of the Women’s League of Kosovo, poet Flora Brovina, from a prison in Pozarevac.
     Brovina was sentenced in December last year to twelve years’ imprisonment after being convicted of conspiring for terrorist activity.
     She was driven from the prison at about 3.30 p.m., in a vehicle belonging to the International Red Cross, towards Kosovo to meet family members in the company of UN officials.
     Radio B92 learnt that Brovina was released on the direct instruction of Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica.

Yugoslav President frees Kosovo activist

Reports from Yugoslavia say the authorities have released a prominent Kosovo Albanian human-rights activist from prison.
     Flora Brovina was jailed last December for twelve years on terrorism charges.
     Eye witnesses say the activist -- a famous paediatrician in Kosovo -- walked out of prison in the Serbian town of Pozarevac and was taken away in a vehicle belonging to the International Committee of the Red Cross.
     Correspondents say Dr Brovina was released on new orders from the Yugoslav President, Vojislav Kostunica. She had been convicted of associating with separatist ethnic Albanian militants during last year's NATO bombing of Yugoslavia.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service

FLORA BROVINA IS RELEASED FROM PRISON

Right at this moment we learn that Flora Brovina has been released from the prison in Pozarevac. Everyone is amazed with the news of the day. OSCE has confirmed that a delegation has picked up Flora Brovina from the Prison of Pozarevac and that she is on her way back home.
     Flora Brovina has been detained on April 21, 1999, during the NATO airstrikes against Serbia. She was arrested at her home, actually at the entrance of the apartment where she lives. According to the first reaction of the community here in Kosova, every single person is pleased with the news of the day, but all the families of the detained in the prisons of Serbia long time ago, especially arrested during the bombing, are getting substantional hopes that one day, very soon, who knows, perhaps tomorrow, their dearests shall be released, including those arbitrarily sentenced to serve prison.

Reported by,
Sevdie Ahmeti

Betreff:  [ALBANEWS] News: Brovina released
Datum: Wed, 1 Nov 2000 10:52:05 -0500
Von: Dardan Blaku <dardan@ALB-NET.COM>

Kosovo Albanian Activist Freed

Updated 10:10 AM ET November 1, 2000

POZAREVAC, Yugoslavia (AP) - Prominent Kosovo Albanian activist Flora Brovina, sentenced to a long prison term last year for terrorism, was released Wednesday, witnesses and her lawyer said. Brovina left the prison here late Wednesday afternoon escorted by officials of the International Committee of the Red Cross, the U.N. human rights representative in Belgrade, her lawyers and officials of non-government human rights groups.
     "Justice has been served," lawyer Branko Stanic told reporters at the prison gate as Brovina was driven away.
     Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica's legal adviser, Filip Golubovic, was present at the prison. He brought the presidential order for Brovina's release, human rights officials said.
     In Kosovo's capital, Pristina, ethnic Albanian human rights activists said Brovina was expected to arrive Wednesday evening. Her husband and son were driving to the boundary at Medare to welcome her, they said.
     Brovina, a 50-year-old pediatrician and women's rights activist, has become a rallying point for people in Kosovo, a majority-ethnic Albanian province in southern Yugoslavia. Hundreds of ethnic Albanians have been held in Serb jails since the Kosovo conflict, which began when then-Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic sent troops into the province to crush separatist sentiment there.
     Hopes for the prisoners' release have risen with Milosevic's ouster from power last month and his replacement by Kostunica.

Dear pall,
according to info which Ms Kandic had about 1 PM, Ms Flora Brovina was supposed to be released from the prison in Pozarevac at 2 PM.
sincerely
Jelena

Many thanks to Jelena for her „small contribution, a rough translation of a letter about Albin Kurti“ !
_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Do not forget Albin Kurti

Respectful redaction,
Bearing in mind that the time has come for correction of  at least some of injustices committed during last years, as well as that Mr. Miiroslav Filipovic, a college of yours is already free and that pressure for release of Ms Brovina is stronger and stronger, I have to stress out  a case of one more person, for whom I strongly believe, should be released as soon as possible.
     It is a case of a student of  electrical engineering  and a student activist from Pristina, a brilliant and  young person, European by all possible means.  Since 1997 he worked in the Independent Student Union in Pristina, heading the peaceful student demonstrations which demands were, do not forget,  the least possible -learning in the University buildings.
     Afterwards he was active in the Mr. Adem Demaci office. He personally newer participated in war activities. During NATO attack he was arrested while in one refugee row, and detained. Since the end of the bombardment Albin is in one of  the Serbian jails.  It is not relevant whether Albin Kurti will be released in a renewed court trial or by an act of amnesty by President Kostunica.  Worldwide the picture of Serbia  is already good enough, and this act will not change it a lot. What is important is that Albin does not rotten in some jail any more. There are no many modern and brave young people in public life, here in the region, and they are needed.  Maybe it is Kosovo which needs them most.

Zoran Nikolic,
Getingen, Germany

Betreff:  [balkanhr] FRY (Serbia) report (ANEM's weekly report on media repression)
Datum: Tue, 31 Oct 2000 22:49:12 +0200
Von: "IFEX Action Alert Network" <office@greekhelsinki.gr>
         (by way of Greek Helsinki Monitor <office@greekhelsinki.gr>)
Rückantwort: balkanhr-owner@egroups.com
(...)

KOSTUNICA INITIATES BROVINA'S RELEASE

BELGRADE, October 22, 2000 - Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica today initiated procedures for the release of the jailed Kosovo Albanian doctor and poet Flora Brovina, who has been sentenced to twelve years imprisonment for aiding Albanian separatist movements during the Kosovo conflict last year. Beta reports that Kostunica requested that the Yugoslav justice minister begin procedures to grant Brovina a pardon, stating that there were justifiable reasons for such action.

JOJIC: NO GROUNDS FOR BROVINA AMNESTY

BELGRADE, October 27, 2000 - The Federal Minister of Justice Petar Jojic has not accepted Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica's initiative to begin procedures for the permanent release of Flora Brovina. In a letter to Kostunica, Jojic reminded the president of the trial chronology and remarked there were no reasons to begin the amnesty procedure. "The authorised court in Nis should deal with the Brovina case and repeat the trial in order to establish the truth and make a legal decision," Jojic said.

BROVINA SHOULD BE RELEASED THROUGH LEGAL PROCEDURES

BELGRADE, October 27, 2000 - Defenders of the imprisoned Albanian poet Flora Brovina, sentenced to 12 years for terrorism and conspiring against the state, sated yesterday that her release should not be carried out politically, by means of a pardon, but through legal procedures.
     "Flora Brovina is the innocent victim of an unfounded and groundless persecution, in addition to which she has spent most of her time in custody illegally and against the law," one of her lawyers, Branko Stanic, told Beta.
     Stanic explained that Brovina had been imprisoned based on an illegal act, whose creator should answer for the violation of the law before a judge.
     "They have launched a political procedure to resolve her case, one which overrides the legal procedures we have filed with the Supreme Court. Who would have expected the ministry, headed by Jojic, to accept a pardon proposed by Kostunica", Stanic concluded.

Brovina for release tomorrow

22:44 POZAREVAC, Monday – Albanian poet Flora Brovina is expected to be released from Pozarevac prison tomorrow, her lawyer, Branko Stanic, said today.
     Stanic had earlier told media that Brovina would be released today, on the instruction of the Serbian Justice Ministry.
     A source in Pozarevac prison quoted by Beta today said that the necessary documentation from the ministry had not been received by 3.00 p.m. and prisoners could not be released after that time.
     Brovina was sentenced to twelve years imprisonment last December on charges of conspiring for terrorism. The trial attracted international attention for its slipshod legal procedures and lack of evidence.

10/30/2000 13:57 GMT+1 -- The lawyer of Albanian poetess announced...
Flora Brovina walks free today

Albanian poetess and a doctor,Flora Brovina should be released from the prison in Pozarevac today,said one of her defenders Branko Stanic, as reported by Radio Index. "I can claim, with regard to my source, that Flora Brovina will be released today". He went on to say that " the way and manner it has been done is of no importance in this situation, but if any of these had been chosen, it would have been completely legal".
Source: FreeSerbia

Brovina to be released today

11:29 Albanian poetess Flora Brovina should be released from a prison in Pozarevac today, said one of her attorneys Branko Stanic. "Regarding the source, we can be pretty sure she is going to see the light of freedom today," Stanic explained and added that "the manner this is going to be accomplished is less important now, but any of them will be absolutely legal."

© FreeB92, 2000

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