* News Release Issued by the International Secretariat
of Amnesty International *
AI INDEX: EUR 70/11/98 3 MARCH 1998
PUBLIC STATEMENT Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
Violence sweeps through Kosovo province:
international effort needed now to prevent further
killings and beatings The shooting of at
least 16 ethnic Albanians in Kosovo province
at the weekend and the beating of hundreds
of ethnic Albanians who demonstrated at
this news raises the spectre of the repeat of the
gross human rights violations in the former Yugoslavia
which horrified the world in recent
years.
Amnesty International
is calling for the international community, particularly the
European Union and Organization for Security
and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), to
make concerted efforts to see that allegations
are investigated and the developing
situation is monitored.
The police and security
forces must respect international law enforcement standards
which prohibit the intentional lethal use of
firearms except when strictly unavoidable in
order to protect life.
Yesterday, police broke
up peaceful demonstrations in Pris[u]tina and other towns,
using tear-gas, water cannons and truncheons.
Hundreds of demonstrators, who
appeared to have been largely peaceful, were
beaten. Demonstrators were reportedly
chased from the streets into offices and houses.
The demonstrations arose
in response to the killing of at least 16 ethnic Albanians
during the weekend. Although 16 victims have
been acknowledged by the Serbian
authorities, ethnic Albanians report the return
of 22 bodies for burial. Although some of the
dead may well have been men engaged in armed
attacks on the police, Amnesty
International believes allegations from ethnic
Albanian sources that some of the victims
were civilians not involved in the fighting are
credible and that it is absolutely essential that
they are thoroughly and properly investigated.
Four police officers were also reportedly killed
during the conflict.
Given the tense situation
it is important to ensure impartiality of such investigations and
involve representatives of the international
community. Moreover, it is clear that further
events in Kosovo province must be subject to
intense international scrutiny.
On 28 February police
reportedly clashed with members of the UC[,]K (Ushtria
C[,]lirimtare e Kosove[:]s - Kosovo Liberation
Army) in the village of Likos[u]ane, near
Glogovac town. Two police officers and five Albanians
were killed. Serbian sources allege
that the police were initially ambushed by armed
ethnic Albanians. Ethnic Albanians claim
that at least seven ethnic Albanians, and
possibly many more, were shot in Cirez village
near the town of Srbica the same day. The police
allegedly shot some of the victims from
helicopters before moving in with armoured vehicles.
The victims allegedly included a
pregnant woman, and four brothers from another
family in the village. Both Cirez and
Likos[u]ane are in the Drenica region, where
UC[,]K activity is strongest, and where police
have restricted their movements in recent months
because of earlier clashes with armed
ethnic Albanians.
Serbian press and government
sources have been alleging that there have been
further attacks on Serbs, including civilians,
in some cases resulting in people being
injured.
Amnesty International
recognizes that the authorities may have to use force when
responding to violent attacks upon them, but
such force must be only that which is strictly
necessary and no more than to the extent required
in the performance of these duties. It
is alarmed that the police have used brutal
tactics to break up peaceful demonstrations.
The organization is urgently calling on the Serbian
authorities to initiate a thorough, prompt
and impartial investigation into the beatings
and shootings, and to ensure that any police
officers found to be responsible for beating
demonstrators or unlawfully killing or wounding
people be held to account for their actions.
An unknown number of
people have been arrested in the course of the fighting and the
demonstrations. Amnesty International also
fears that arrested ethnic Albanians, both
those alleged to have been involved in terrorist
acts, and those involved in the
demonstrations, will be subject to torture and
ill-treatment in detention as has happened so
frequently in the province. It is urging
the Serbian authorities to ensure that the
defendants are protected, particularly by ensuring
that they be given full access to defence
lawyers, family and, where necessary, medical
treatment. The organization also fears that
any eventual trials of the detainees will also
be grossly unfair.
Background Information
In July 1990 the Serbian
parliament suspended the Kosovo parliament and
government after ethnic Albanian deputies of
the Kosovo parliament declared Kosovo
independent of the Republic of Serbia.
Since then, the majority of ethnic Albanians in
Kosovo province (where they constitute around
90 per cent of the population) refuse to
recognize Serbia's authority in the province
and a number of "parallel" institutions have
been established by ethnic Albanians.
The leaders of the main
ethnic Albanian parties in Kosovo province have advocated
the province's secession by peaceful means only.
However since 1996 violent attacks on
Serbian police and Serbs or Albanians associated
with the authorities have occurred with
increasing frequency.
Responsibility for many
of these incidents has been claimed by the clandestine
organization, the UC[,]K. Since certain clashes
with the UC[,]K in late November 1997
police have reportedly restricted their movements
in certain parts of the province, which
have been dubbed the "liberated territory" by
ethnic Albanians. The new clashes may
herald police operations to reestablish their
control in these areas.
ENDS.../
senden