REPORT ON THE VIOLATION
         OF HUMAN RIGHTS AND
         FUNDAMENTAL FREEDOMS
           IN KOSOVA
           DURING JULY 1998
           
 

REPORT ON THE VIOLATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS AND FUNDAMENTAL FREEDOMS IN KOSOVA DURING JULY 1998

     Military-police offensive went on in the affected regions of Kosova during the month of July 1998. Many people were killed and massacred, wounded and kidnapped, taken hostage, arrested and ill-treated in most brutal ways. Many houses and villages were burned and ruined, cattle was killed, crops were burned and wealth was looted. All these were done in order to achieve only one aim, which is ethnic cleansing. Many villages disappeared. All values were looted by the Serbian police, military and paramilitary forces. The looted goods were transported by lorries and fire was set to the houses. It was done to prevent the return of the Albanians to their ruined houses, whereas the wheat fields were burned in order to prevent food supply. As an aftermath of Serbian state terror, about 350.000 Albanians are considered as displaced, majority of whom took shelter in the forests. The humanitarian catastrophe in Kosova is threatening 350.000 Albanians, who fled their homes due to the state terror and violence. Apart from famine, diseases and epidemics are threatening them, too.
     CDHRF is deeply concerned and had duly informed humanitarian organizations and relevant factors for the consequences. Even though the appeals of the CDHRF have a moral dimension rather than preventive, we believe that the collected data has a special importance in presenting the real situation.
     According to the witnesses' statements given to the Sub-CDHRF in Deçan, on 18.07.1998, Serbian military-forces perpetrated a massacre on the border zone with Albania. Women and children, who were trying to return to their homes, were massacred. Most of them were from the district of Deçan. The attack started at 2.30 a.m., when a line of 120 people crossed the border at the place called Padesh, at C-2 pyramid. First, two mines exploded and after a minute, shelling and incessant fire from three directions was opened. Dum-dum bullets were used. This happened at the place called Rrasa e Zogut in the vicinity of the mountain huts in Junik. Women  and children were on horseback, which fell due to shelling. It is believed that at least 60 Albanians, mainly women and children, were killed. The number of the wounded is much higher. The corpses of the killed Albanians were never given to their families.
     On 19 July 1998, Rahovec was all on fire and smoke. There were many killed and wounded as an aftermath of a premeditated attack of the Serbian forces. Many women, children and elderly, who had taken shelter in the She Myhedini's masjid, were massacred in the most barbaric way. Many corpses of the killed Albanians were seen in the streets of the town. The bodies of the professors Haxhi Sharku and Ali Percaj, as well as six other bodies, burned beyond recognition, were seen at the place called "Tuba". CDHRF has registered the names of 49 killed Albanians. There are some indications that there are mass graves. The eye-witnesses that survived this massacre claim that the Serbian military, police and paramilitary units perpetrated terrible crimes on the Albanian population. First, the town itself was shelled and then the Serbian infantry entered the town. Many Albanians disappeared, were taken hostage and were arrested during this exterminating offensive.
     On 22 July 1998, Serbian authorities opened two graves in the cemetery of Prizren and, according to the eye-witnesses, buried many Albanian corpses killed in Rahovec. The following names stand on these graves: Bekim Bugari, Sadik Shala, Destan Sharki, Muharrem Kadiri, Mehmet Kadiri and Halit Hoxha. On four graves, there are no names at all. There stand only ciphers: 1, 4, 8 and 10. It is believed that there are many unidentified corpses in these graves as, according to the eye-witnesses, they were transported in two tractors. Six identified corpses were put in coffins.
     On 28 July 1998, Serbian military-police and paramilitary forces accompanied by a large number of tanks and armoured cars entered Malisheva.The inhabitants of Malisheva as well as those who had sought shelter there, had to flee. Thousands of inhabitants, mainly women, children and elderly, among whom pregnant women and ill people, are under the siege of Serbian forces in the village of Ponorc. The villages of Llazica, Balinca, Vërmica, Bubavec, Drenoc, Lubizhda, Carralluka, Turjaka e Madhe, Turjaka e Vogël, Domanek, Bubla, etc. were shelled all the time. Many were killed and wounded during these Serbian operations. All shops in Malisheva were looted and the goods were transported by lorries during the night.
Afterwards, Serbian police and paramilitary forces set fire to the houses and shops. According to the means and methods used in the war operations, one can conclude that Serbian armed forces have been applying the burned land tactics, such as in Bosnia and Croatia. It also confirms the claim of the CDHRF that the final aim of the Belgrade regime is the ethnic cleansing in some regions of Kosova.
     The Serbian Run Courts initiated investigative proceedings against 145 Albanians accusing them for being members or collaborators of the KLA. CDHRF has available information that the prisoners are transferred to the prisons of Serbia and according to the testimonies they are subjected to inhuman torture in order to sign self-incriminating statement. Therefore, CDHRF is very concerned about their security. Rexhep Bislimi (32) from Ferizaj, a former political prisoner and an activist of the Sub-CDHRF in Ferizaj, arrested with some other activists, mainly former political prisoners, on 6 July 1998, was taken to the hospital of Prishtina in a very deteriorated condition due to the free-reign violence. He was in coma for the last five days of his life. His body was all in bruises, whereas his ribs and limbs were broken.
     Destan Rukiqi, a lawyer and member of the CDHRF Board in Prishtina, was taken to the hospital of Prishtina in the same deteriorated condition. Afterwards, he was taken to the Central Prison in Belgrade.
     CDHRF concludes that the presented data are far from being complete and it fears that the number of the cases is much higher.

During the month of July:

     - 201 Albanians were killed, massacred and executed;
     - 152 Albanians were wounded;
     - 1566 Albanians were subjected to different kinds of ill- treatment;
     - 185 people were reported hostage, kidnapped and missing;
     - over 350.000 Albanians fled their homes;
     - 296 people were arbitrarily arrested;
     - 275 persons were severely beaten;
     - 26 Albanians suffered body injuries;
     - 44 families were raided, demolished and looted;
     - 73 persons underwent routine checking;
     - 12 children were subjected to ill-treatment;
     - 102 women were ill-treated, killed, wounded, arrested,
              convicted and were reported missing;
     - 42 educational, political and human rights activists were subjected to ill-treatment;
     - 145 Albanian are under investigative proceedings.

Prishtina, 17 August 1998                    Information Service