FORGOTTEN PRISONERSBy Kurt Bassuener and Eric A. Witte
Three months after NATO halted its bombing campaign, the fate of thousands of Kosovar Albanian prisoners forcibly transported to Serbia proper before, during, and after the war remains unresolved. Many are not even charged with criminal wrongdoing.
Estimates vary as to their number, but the Serbian Justice Ministry has admitted to holding roughly 2,000, and the International Committee of the Red Cross attests to slightly more. However, these figures reflect only those identified thus far. Local non-governmental organizations estimate the number to be significantly higher, with the independent daily Koha Ditore listing over 5,000 names and the Society for Political Prisoners estimating up to 7,000. The true figure of those incarcerated, killed, missing and presumed dead, will only become clear once all Kosovo Albanian prisoners have been identified and released from Serbian prisons.
Kosovo is full of people who have been in jail – often repeatedly – for opposing the Belgrade regime. There are no misconceptions about the severe conditions these prisoners likely endure, especially after NATO troops in Kosovo discovered many Serbian-run police stations that doubled as torture centers. Some of those who have been released - only 166 thus far – can attest to the horrific conditions of the prisoners. The fact that Flora Brovina – a doctor and poet – is partially paralyzed as a result of mistreatment does little to reassure the loved ones of the known detainees. Prisoners like Ms. Brovina are the lucky ones – Serbia admits to their incarceration. The families of those missing face even more trauma.
Why should the international community make this issue a priority when there are so many other areas of Balkan policy that need urgent attention? Because we have seen hard evidence of the brutality with which ethnic Albanian prisoners were treated in Kosovo, and which these others likely face now. And critically, because securing the release of these prisoners, a priority omitted from the agreements that ended the Kosovo war, and resolving the fate of the missing will contribute to the social stability of Kosovo.
Many Kosovar refugees returned to find their fields sown with mass graves and mines, or their relatives and neighbors executed and thrown down the village well. The relatives of prisoners still held in Serbia returned to the silence of those missing. The grief of some surviving Kosovars has driven them to bloody revenge and many times to cold-blooded murder, often of innocent, elderly or infirm Serbs who could not conceivably be guilty of the “ethnic cleansing” that brought NATO intervention. While the brutal killings conducted by Serbian forces will not be forgotten, the prisoner issue is the one obstacle to future coexistence between Kosovar Albanians and Serbs that can be most easily removed. Every prisoner has family, friends and acquaintances distressed and sometimes radicalized by their incarceration. KFOR and the United Nations must do a better job of providing security in Kosovo, but their jobs could become easier if Serbia were to release the imprisoned Kosovars.
With the end of the war, the West clearly has little remaining leverage over Slobodan Milosevic short of rewarding him with reconstruction funds or lifting sanctions – both of which alliance leaders have correctly ruled out. Though there is no obvious roadmap for freeing the Serbian-held prisoners, there are several options available to the West, all of which are more likely to succeed than a policy of inaction.
A critical source of leverage on Milosevic would be a UN Security Council resolution. The Netherlands, now chairing the Security Council, should lead it in passing a resolution calling for the release of prisoners held by Serbia. Western and Russian KFOR troops, along with the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, could act as the post-transfer vetters – distinguishing true criminals, to remain incarcerated in Kosovo rather than Serbia, from political detainees. The ICRC could serve in its traditional role as the intermediary.
The West should compile and publicize a list of Interior Ministry personnel involved in the incarceration of the Kosovo Albanian prisoners, down to the prison warden level. These individuals should be individually notified that it is known what their responsibilities are, and that their dossiers will be forwarded on to International War Crimes Tribunal at The Hague. In addition, the list should be cross-referenced and added to the current European Union list of those Yugoslav citizens who are banned from receiving EU visas and have their foreign-held assets seized. This sanction has been very effective, and the U.S. and all other UN members should adopt it.
It is critical that the EU, the U.S., Canada, Russia, and as many other democracies as possible coordinate their policies - including conditions for Serbia’s participation in the Stability Pact - to exert maximum pressure on Belgrade to release the prisoners. Milosevic has long relied on divergent policies among the Western allies to help diffuse pressure and maintain power. Now that he is finally a defeated and indicted war criminal, such disunity is unconscionable.
There are no guarantees of success, but the costs of trying to free the Kosovar prisoners are minimal. The effort would bolster other critical western efforts in the Balkans and could bring freedom for these forgotten victims of the Kosovo war.
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