Milosevic's Police Committed the Worst Abuses
Against Albanians,
US State Dept Report Notes
PRISHTINA, Feb 2 (KIC) - "The Serbian police
committed the most widespread and worst abuses against Kosovo's 90-percent
ethnic Albanian population", a U.S. Department of State Country Report
on Human Rights Practices released in late January.
A 20-page report on "Serbia and Montenegro",
covering fields where human rights abuses
occurred during the last year, demonstrates that
it was Kosova that bore the brunt of
Belgrade regime's notorious policies.
Serbia-Montenegro is dominated by Slobodan Milosevic
who controls the country through
his role as President of the Socialist Party
of Serbia (SPS), the report says at the outset.
"As a key element of his hold on power, President
Milosevic effectively controls the
Serbian police, a heavily armed force of over
100,000 that is responsible for internal
security. Serbian police committed extensive
and systematic human rights abuses. The
police committed numerous, serious abuses including
extrajudicial killings, torture, brutal
beatings, and arbitrary arrests. Police repression
continued to be directed against ethnic
minorities, and police committed the most widespread
and worst abuses against Kosovo's
90-percent ethnic Albanian population".
Under the section "Political and Other Extrajudicial
Killing" the report notes that political
violence, including killings by police, resulted
mostly from efforts by Serbian authorities "to
suppress and intimidate ethnic minority groups".
The report offers some illustrative examples
of extrajudicial killings of Kosovar Albanians,
such as Xhafer Hajdari from Mitrovica, Adrian
Krasniqi, a 21-year-old Albanian from Peja,
Besnik Restelica, an engineer from Podujeva,
and Jonuz Zeneli, who died while in police
custody.
"Crimes against citizens of ethnic minority groups
appear to have been rarely investigated,
nor were police generally held accountable for
their excesses" the report said.
Under the rubric "Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman,
or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment" the report notes that "torture and
other cruel forms of punishment, which are
prohibited by law, continue to be a problem,
particularly in Kosovo directed against ethnic
Albanians. Police routinely beat people severely
when holding them in detention".
It notes that during the early part of the year
scores of Albanians charged with supporting a
separatist agenda and terrorist-related activities,
were arrested, who were subjected to
worst police brutality during the 3 to 4 day
period of incommunicado detention.
"Ethnic Albanians continue to suffer at the hands
of security forces conducting searches
for weapons and explosives. The police, without
following proper legal procedures,
frequently extract "confessions" during interrogations
that routinely include the beating of
suspects' feet, hands, genital areas, and sometimes
heads. The police use their fists,
nightsticks, and occasionally electric shocks.
Apparently confident that there would be no
reprisals, and, in an attempt to intimidate the
wider community, police often beat persons
in front of their families...
Police also used threats and violence against
family members of suspects and have held
them as hostages. According to Albanian and foreign
observers, the worst abuses against
ethnic Albanians took place not in big towns
but in rural enclaves".
"Arbitrary Arrest, Detention, or Exile" is the
next chapter of the U.S. Department of State
Country Report which reads that "arbitrary arrest
and detention was concentrated primarily
in Kosovo and, to a lesser degree, in Sandzak".
Defense lawyers complained of excessive delays
in filing formal charges and opening
investigations and that they faced difficulties
in gaining access to detainees or acquiring
copies of official indictments. In some cases,
judges prevented defense attorneys from
reading the court file.
"In a country where many if not most of the adult
males in the Serbian population are
armed, the police, according to some members
of minorities, selectively enforced the laws
regulating the possession and registration of
firearms so as to harass and intimidate ethnic
minorities, particularly Albanian Kosovars and
Bosniak Muslims. The most frequent
justification given for searches of homes and
arrests was illegal possession of weapons.
Observers allege that in Kosovo the police are
known to use the pretext of searching for
weapons when in fact they are also searching
for hard currency", the report reads.
Under the section "Denial of Fair Public Trial"
the report said that during the last year
defense lawyers in Kosova filed numerous complaints
about flagrant breaches of standard
procedure which they believed undermined their
clients' rights. "Even when individual
judges have admitted that the lawyers are correct,
courts have ignored or dismissed the
complaints".
The report recalls that 60 Albanians were tried
during last summer and autumn in
"questionable trials" in Prishtina; they were
sentenced to imprisonment up to 20 years. The
defendants who were charged with preparing to
conspire to participate in activities
endangering the territorial integrity of the
FRY denied charges.
"Much evidence appeared to have been obtained
by authorities through forced
confessions of defendants under duress. Other
evidence was kept from defense attorneys
until right before the trial" the report quoted
the UN Spacial Rapporteur Rehn in regard to
the three trials.
The Serb police has systematically searched homes,
shops and offices of Albanians,
asserting that they were searching for weapons,
the report said, and cited the Prishtina-
based Council for the Defense of Human Rights
and Freedoms, as saying that the police
also used threats and violence against family
members of suspects and have held them
as hostages.
The chapter "Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and
Association" notes that Federal and
republic-level constitutions provide for freedom
of peaceful assembly and association but
the government restricted this right. "In Kosovo
the regime cracked down on peaceful
demonstrators during their October 1 and late
December protests, when police used tear
gas and clubs, injuring several passersby"
The report said that some ethnic Albanians are
being held as political prisoners adding
that during the year, the International Committee
of the Red Cross was allowed to conduct
prison visits in Kosovo, but its work was seriously
obstructed with respect to visiting the
ethnic Albanians charged with terrorist-related
activities who went on trial beginning in the
spring.
"There were credible reports that Muslims and
ethnic Albanians continued to be driven
from their homes or fired from their jobs on
the basis of religion or ethnicity" the chapter
"National,Racial, Ethnic Minorities" of the report
reads.
_______________________________________________________________________
Date:
Mon, 2 Feb 1998 16:46:28 -0500
From: Nicolas Alempijevic <nikol@juno.com>
Subject: [ALBANEWS]
News: Enter Feb 2
TIRANE, 2 FEB /ENTER/-Serbia-Montenegro, a constitutional
republic, is dominated by
Slobodan Milosevic who, after two terms as President
of Serbia, became Federal
President in July. President Milosevic continues
to control the country through his role as
President of the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS)--a
dual role arrangement proscribed by the
federal Constitution--and his domination of other
formal and informal institutions. Although
the SPS lacks majorities in both the Federal
and Serbian Parliaments, it controls
governing coalitions and holds the key administrative
positions. Serbia abolished the
political autonomy of Kosovo and Vojvodina in
1990, and all significant decisionmaking
since that time has been centralized under Milosevic
in Belgrade. The Milosevic regime
effectively controls the judiciary and has used
this power to manipulate the election
process, most notably to reverse opposition victories
in Serbian municipal elections over
the winter of 1996-97--an effort that the regime
abandoned in February after sustained
domestic and international pressure.
During 1997 the international community continued
to work intensively with the Milosevic
regime to implement the Dayton Accords, a step-by-step
process designed to end the war
in Bosnia and secure the peace. United Nations
(U.N.) sanctions against the "Federal
Republic of Yugoslavia" (FRY) were formally lifted
in 1996. The FRY is still not permitted to
participate in the United Nations (U.N.), the
Organization for Security and Cooperation in
Europe, or other international organizations
and financial organizations. The United States
and the international community do not recognize
Serbia-Montenegro as the successor
state to the former Yugoslavia. As a key element
of his hold on power, President Milosevic
effectively controls the Serbian police, a heavily
armed force of over 100,000 that is
responsible for internal security. After his
move to the Federal presidency, Milosevic
precipitated a crisis when he tried to wrest
control of the Montenegrin police from
Montenegrin Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic. Serbian
police committed extensive and
systematic human rights abuses. Despite the suspension
of U.N. sanctions, economic
performance has been anemic. Unemployment and
underemployment remained high as
the Government was unable or unwilling to introduce
necessary restructuring measures.
The Government has not implemented sweeping economic
reforms, including
privatization, which could undermine the regime's
crony system. Largely as a result of the
central bank's tight monetary policy and the
partial sell off of the state telecommunications
entity, inflationary pressures were kept relatively
in check.The Government's human rights
record continued to be poor. The police committed
numerous, serious abuses including
extrajudicial killings, torture, brutal beatings,
and arbitrary arrests. Police repression
continued to be directed against ethnic minorities,
and police committed the most
widespread and worst abuses against Kosovo's
90-percent ethnic Albanian population.
Police repression was also directed against the
Muslims of Sandzak and detainees and
citizens who protested against the Government.
While under the Constitution citizens have
a right to stage peaceful demonstrations, the
police seriously beat scores of protesters
throughout the country, sending many to hospitals.
The Government used its continued
domination of Parliament and the media to enact
legislation to manipulate the electoral
process. In practice citizens cannot exercise
the right to change their government. The
judicial system is not independent of the Government
and does not ensure fair trials. The
authorities infringe on citizens' right to privacy.
The Government used police and economic
pressure against the independent press and media
and restricted freedom of assembly
and association. The Government infringed on
freedom to worship by minority religions
and on freedom of movement. The Government continues
to hinder internationa land local
human rights groups and reject their findings.
Discrimination and violence against women
remained serious problems. Discrimination against
ethnic Albanian, Muslim, and Romani
minorities continues. The regime limits unions
not affiliated with the Government in their
attempts to advance worker rights. Montenegro
was the only relatively bright spot,
although Milosevic's influence threatens to complicate
the republic's as yet unproven
efforts at democratization. In July Montenegro's
increasingly reformist Prime Minister, Milo
Djukanovic, successfully fought off an attempt
by Milosevic to change the Federal
Constitution and boost the powers of the Federal
presidency. Djukanovic appears to be
resisting attempts by Milosevic to consolidate
Montenegro's security apparatus-with its
relatively clean human rights record since 1995-under
the Belgrade regime. The results of
the October presidential election, in which Milo
Djukanovic defeated the incumbent, Momir
Bulatovic, were questioned by the central authorities
despite being endorsed as free and
fair by the Organization for Security and Cooperation
in Europe (OSCE). As a signatory of
the Dayton Accords, Serbia-Montenegro is obliged
to cooperate fully with the International
Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia by
turning over to the Tribunal the five
persons on its territory who were indicted for
war crimes. The Government has so far been
uncooperative. According to credible reports,
some of those indicted live in Serbia, and
others freely travel in and out of Serbia. Over
the summer, suspected war criminal Ratko
Mladic vacationed in Montenegro and earlier,
according to press reports, attended his
son's well-publicized wedding ceremony in Belgrade.
senden