Calls on International Community to Investigate

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

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Human Rights Watch Condemns Violence by Security Forces in Kosovo
Calls on International Community to Investigate

(New York - March 3, 1998) Human Rights Watch is deeply concerned by credible
allegations from local human rights organizations and the international media that the
Serbian security forces committed gross abuses against the civilian population in military
actions that took place from February 28 to March 1 in Kosovo. As many as twelve people
may have been summarily executed. We urge the U.S. government, European Union and
OSCE to coordinate and intensify diplomatic pressure on the Yugoslav authorities to avert
an escalation of violence, and to undertake an immediate investigation to determine the
nature of the violations.

   The violence took place over the weekend February 28-March 1 in the Drenica region of
Kosovo. According to media reports, two Serbian policemen were killed in an ambush by
ethnic Albanians on Friday, February 27, in Likosane village near Glogovac. The next day,
Serbian security forces with armored vehicles and attack helicopters swept through the
region, sealing off between seven and ten ethnic Albanian villages. The security forces
conducted house to house raids, ostensibly looking for members of the Kosova Liberation
Army, a shadowy ethnic Albanian military organization that has taken credit for a series of
violent attacks against Serbian authorities in Kosovo over the past year.

   Local human rights groups, Albanian and international media reported that the security
forces used indiscriminate force against civilians, especially in the villages of Cirez and
Likosane. Witnesses told reporters that helicopters and APCs sprayed village rooftops with
gunfire before security forces entered the village on foot, firing indiscriminately into private
homes, although reports also indicate that the police were coming under fire from
unidentified individuals, possibly from the private homes. Sixteen ethnic Albanians were
killed, according to the Serbian authorities, although Albanian media outlets say the
number may be as high as thirty. Foreign journalists have seen the bodies of six victims,
including a pregnant woman, Rukia Nebihi, who had been shot in the face, and four
brothers from the Sejdiu family, two of whom had been shot in the back.

   According to the Prishtina-based Council for the Defense of Human Rights and
Freedoms, ten members of the Ahmeti family and two of their guests, Behram Fazliu and
Shaban Muja, were killed by Serbian security forces after having been detained, although
this has not been independently confirmed. According to the Serbian government, the
police confiscated a large amount of weapons and arrested a number of people, although
their whereabouts and the charges against them are currently unknown. Four Serbian
policemen were also killed during the action.

   Human Rights Watch recognizes that the authorities may have to use force when
confronted with an armed attack, but this force may only be applied to the extent
necessary to perform their duties. Even if the hostilities in Kosovo rise to the level of an
internal armed conflict, international humanitarian law clearly protects civilians and other
individuals who are not taking part in the hostilities, including those who have been taken
into detention. Human Rights Watch has not conducted an on-site investigation, but
credible reports suggest that the Serb security forces may have either indiscriminately
attacked civilian groups or even targeted individuals not involved in the fighting. Human
Rights Watch is especially concerned that the ten members of the Ahmeti family and their
two guests may have been killed by extrajudicial execution.

   On March 2, a large crowd of ethnic Albanians [estimates range from 30,000-100,000
people] gathered at 10:00 a.m. in the center of Kosovo's capital, Prishtina, for a one-hour
peaceful demonstration against the violence in Drenica. At 10:55 a.m., the police
intervened with tear gas and water cannons, and began to beat the protesters. Local
media report that at least two hundred people have sought medical attention for injuries
sustained at the hands of the police, although the total number is still undetermined. A
number of demonstrators were run over by police APCs, and at least four people were
injured when a civilian car rammed into the crowds.

   Human Rights Watch has confirmed that the police beat a number of ethnic Albanian
journalists, including Veton Surroi, editor-in-chief of the daily Koha Ditore, Ibrahim Osmani,
journalist of AFP and the Voice of America, Avni Spahiu, editor-in-chief of the daily Bujku,
Agron Bajrami, a journalist at Koha Ditore, and Sherif Kunjufca, a journalist with Albanian
Television. Police forces broke into the offices of Koha Ditore and beat people who had
taken refuge inside. Police officers forced photographer Fatos Berisha to jump from a
second story window. Police also broke into the offices of the daily Bujku.

   Human Rights Watch unequivocally condemns the use of force in Prishtina on March 2
against those who had gathered peacefully to express discontent with the government's
abusive and violent policies in Kosovo. Human Rights Watch is also deeply concerned by
credible allegations that the security forces in Drenica may have targeted innocent civilians
and performed extrajudicial executions.

   Human Rights Watch calls on the Yugoslav government to allow international observers
into the Drenica region to determine the nature of the violations of international human
rights and humanitarian law. The government should also make public the names of all
individuals who have been taken into custody and provide information about the charges
made against them. Based on the Serbian police's use of torture against detainees in the
past, there is reason to fear that those in detention may be subjected to physical abuse.

   Human Rights Watch urges the international community to undertake an immediate
investigation into the Drenica events. In addition, Kosovo should be a primary focus of the
newly-appointed Special Representative of the OSCE to the Federal Republic of
Yugoslavia, Felipe Gonzales.