concerning prisoners - 18 January 2001
Meanwhile we got information that an EU-delegation will visit Belgrade at the end of this month and press for the release of all the Kosovar Albanian prisoners.
# HLC-Natasa Kandic-Amnesty law does not
contribute to reconciliation with embattled Kosovo
(humanitarian law center,
18 January 2001)
# NAAC Denounces Serb Amnesty Law
(PRESS RELEASE, 18 January 2001)
# ALBANIANS NOT INCLUDED IN AMNESTY BILL
SAYS HELSINKI COMMITTEE.
(BETA DAILY NEWS, 17 January
2001)
# 800 gypsies killed or missing in Kosovo:
Romany union
(AFP, 17 January 2001)
# KOSOVAR LEADERS REACT TO ESTABLISHING
UNMIK OFFICE IN BELGRADE
(KosovaLive, January 18, 2001)
# FreeB92 Last update: Jan 18, 2001
22:24 CET
- Sweden recommends monitors
in southern Serbia
- The Hague Tribunal greets
Kostunica's decision
- Yugoslavia ready to cooperate
with the Tribunal: Zizic
- Seselj announces new complaint
Last update: Jan 18, 2001 17:08 CET
- I will meet Del Ponte, says
Kostunica
- Serbian Radicals give way
for new parliament
- Civil Alliance urges extradition
to The Hague
- Serbia must face its past,
writes Guardian
- We've got questions too,
says Kostunica
- Milosevic men will not be
able to run or hide, vows Batic
- Dutchman leaves Albanian
rebels
- Last obstacle to new Serbian
parliament overcome
# FreeB92 Last update: Jan 17, 2001
22:37 CET
- Parents demand their sons
return from Bujanovac and Presevo
- Police will cooperate with
Hague, new minister says
# Free Serbia Latest News
01/18/2001 21:01 GMT+1 --
Federal government announcement
FRY ready
to co-operate with the Hague Tribunal
01/18/2001 18:14 GMT+1 --
According to Italian daily
Plavsic:
I will testify against Milosevic, Karadzic and Krajisnik
01/18/2001 15:00 GMT+1 --
FRY President changed opinion
Kostunica:
I will meet Carla Del Ponte
01/18/2001 05:21 GMT+1 --
In spite of having more pressing matters to attend to…
Kostunica
said he might meet with Carla del Ponte
01/18/2001 05:19 GMT+1 --
Third Army commander
Soldiers’
parents want their children out of Presevo valley
# Almost the same old Serbia
(Guardian, 18 January 2001)
_______________________________________________________________________
Betreff: HLC-Natasa Kandic-Amnesty law does not
contribute to reconciliation with embattled Kosovo
Datum: Thu, 18 Jan 2001 16:51:10 -0800
Von: humanitarian law center <office@hlc.org.yu>
Amnesty law does not contribute to reconciliation with embattled Kosovo
Judging by the reaction of the Serbian public,
including the media and non-governmental human rights organizations which
participated in drafting the new Amnesty Law, the Federal Ministry of Justice
has come out with a legal act that places Serbia and the Federal Republic
of Yugoslavia among states in which the rule of law prevails.
The law would be just if Serbia
were known only for its “draft-dodgers.” The general amnesty of all
the men who fled Serbia to avoid military duty will certainly help to shed
light on the resistance of individuals to the militant policy and practice
of the previous government. However, there are still some 600 Kosovo
Albanian political prisoners in Serbia and most of them are not covered
by the law. Only about 200, who are due to be released in May or
June this year, will be amnestied. The majority will continue to
languish in Serbian prisons, with only the hope of the Supreme Court’s
clemency or being pardoned by the FR Yugoslavia President as Flora Brovina
was.
Who are the Kosovo Albanians
who are to remain imprisoned in keeping with the Ministry’s perception
of justice: prisoners in the Dubrava Penitentiary in Kosovo who were injured
during the NATO bombing of the institution on 19 and 21 May 1999, or wounded
by Serbian police and paramilitaries who killed over 100 prisoners with
hand launchers, grenades and small arms fire just after the air raids;
civilians from Djakovica who were first separated from their families and
then taken into custody solely because they were of military age; men tried
before Kosovo courts in 1998 against whom proceedings have not yet been
concluded; Belgrade University students who have been in solitary confinement
for over one and a half years now; members or supporters of the Kosovo
Liberation Army who were convicted of smuggling weapons into FR Yugoslavia
territory, and ordinary criminals. There is not a single one among
them who has been charged with or convicted of a war crime or killing of
non-Albanian civilians.
Redzep Musaku i Bujar Himaj
were among the Albanian prisoners transferred to Serbia from Kosovo on
10 June 1999. The amnesty is meaningless for them for they both died
on 11 June 1999 as the result of the beating they were subjected to.
Virtually all the Albanian prisoners were beaten, including the sick, the
wounded and minors. During the riots in Serbian prisons last year, convicts
openly said that Albanians received smaller portions of food and slept
for months on bare concrete floors. To this day, prisoners transferred
to the Belgrade Central Prison from the penitentiary in Sremska Mitrovica
on October 2000 have to bed down on the floor.
That Kosovo Albanians were
arrested arbitrarily by police, the Yugoslav Army and paramilitary groups
during the NATO bombing is evident from the fact that the previous government
released about 1,350 of them, including those accused of terrorism.
Had their trials been fair, they would have been acquitted. But the
practice of the courts was to find them guilty and sentence them to terms
equaling the time they had spent in custody and then release them.
In this way, the courts denied them the possibility of filing actions for
unlawful arrest and custody and seeking damages. A great many Albanians
paid some judges, prosecutors and lawyers in Kosovo who promised them their
freedom. Nor is it a secret that some people in the Ministry of Justice
were involved in such fraudulent practices and deception of Albanian prisoners
and their families.
Momcilo Grubac, the Federal
Minister of Justice, said recently that he had information that “proceedings
against Kosovo Albanians were improperly conducted and, in many cases,
the charges were of terrorism although other criminal offenses were involved.”
On 11 January, Minister Grubac told a news conference that he would go
to the Serbian Supreme Court and seek information from its acting President
about appeals which have not been considered.
The Minister of Justice should
have gone to the Supreme Court before submitting the Amnesty Law for adoption.
The cause of justice and truth required him to study each individual case
in order to be sure that he was making the right decision. As it
is, he gave precedence to his political conviction that caution is necessary
in dealing with Albanian prisoners. He, who has spoken so often of
truth commissions, failed to take this opportunity to demonstrate that
the new government is morally, politically and legally prepared for a process
of reconciliation. A commission that does not know the truth about
what happened in Djakovica or the Dubrava Penitentiary will not bring about
reconciliation. The right to know the truth about the past leads
to reconciliation, and the Albanians prisoners have part of that truth.
It is evident that the sentencing of the Djakovica group to a total of
1,632 years in prison was the response of the previous regime to the indictment
of Slobodan Milosevic by The Hague Tribunal and the accusation that he
is responsible for the disappearance of 500 Albanians from the Djakovica
area during the NATO intervention. Djakovica has gone through more
than enough adversity and misfortune. The rule of law cannot be built
on the backs of the Djakovica hostages.
Natasa Kandic
_______________________________________________________________________
Betreff: [ALBANEWS] CORRECTION: NAAC Denounces
Serb Amnesty Law
Datum: Wed, 17 Jan 2001 18:00:11 EST
Von: Aferdita Rakipi <NAACDC@AOL.COM>
...
National Albanian American Council
2000 L Street, N.W., Suite 200, Washington, DC
20036
(202) 416-1627 Fax: (202) 416-1628
Email: NAACDC@aol.com
____________________________________________
PRESS RELEASE
NAAC Denounces Serb Amnesty Law
Law Represents Failure of Western Policy Toward Serbia
Washington, January 18, 2001: The National Albanian American Council issued the following statement in response to the recently enacted Serb Amnesty law.
On Thursday, January 11, 2001, the Yugoslav Parliament
passed an amnesty law ostensibly designed to secure the release of Albanian
prisoners accused of crimes allegedly committed during the war in Kosova.
In reality, the law is a sham that will result in the continued imprisonment
of hundreds of Albanians, while Serb who resisted military service will
go free and others who committed war crimes will not be arrested.
An estimated 800 Albanian
prisoners of conscience remain detained in Serbia. Both international and
Belgrade-based human rights groups have reported that the conditions surrounding
the arrest and detention of these men and women are in violation of both
international and national human rights and due process standards.
Additionally, many report that prison conditions are characterized by extreme
heat or cold, denial of access to legal counsel and medical aid, beating
and torture.
Despite this, according to
Justice Minister Momcilo Grubac, the Amnesty act only covers crimes against
the Yugoslav army and some constitutional offences, but specifically will
not include convictions for "terrorism." Thus, Serb ex-patriots who avoided
the military draft will not be prosecuted, but the vast majority of the
nearly 800 Albanians who remain imprisoned would not be affected by the
new law despite the fact that many were convicted under extremely suspicious
circumstances. According to Grubac, the Albanian prisoners tried
and convicted on charges of terrorism will have to be retried and pardoned
on a case by case basis. Thus, the "Reformists" in Serbia are continuing
a policy of discrimination and persecution of Albanians.
Meanwhile, the Serb government
is not taking any real steps to investigate or apprehend the potentially
thousands of Serbs who committed horrific war crimes in Kosova. Instead,
Yugoslav President, Vojislav Kostunica, has begun political negotiations
with war criminal, Slobodan Milosevic.
Although most Albanians were
suspicious of the new government in Belgrade, they still hoped for the
best. But their hopes have been dashed. Serbia's failure to
respect the basic principles of due process and human rights undermines
the legitimacy of the Serb justice system and the vow of the new government
to restore the rule of law. Additionally, the Serb government's failure
to deliver a substantive and complete amnesty law will only serve to worsen
relations with Albanians in Kosova and further destabilize the situation
in the region.
Moreover, the flaws of the
amnesty law represent a failure of Western policy towards Serbia. The United
States and other Western governments rushed to lift sanctions on Serbia
under the belief that they were supporting democrats there. The willingness,
however, of the Serb government to continue persecuting Albanians shows
that the West acted too quickly. But, we know all too well that without
justice, there can be no real peace in Kosova or stability in the region.
Therefore, we believe that the West should take all necessary steps, including
restoring sanctions on Serbia, to ensure that all the Albanian prisoners
are released.
_______________________________________________________________________
Betreff: [balkanhr] BETA: ALBANIANS NOT
INCLUDED IN AMNESTY BILL SAYS HELSINKI COMMITTEE
Datum: Thu, 18 Jan 2001 11:32:53 +0200
Von: office@greekhelsinki.gr
Rückantwort: balkanhr-owner@egroups.com
BETA DAILY NEWS
January 17
ALBANIANS NOT INCLUDED IN AMNESTY BILL SAYS HELSINKI COMMITTEE.
The Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia
said on Jan. 16 that a bill on amnesty prepared by the Yugoslav government
"legalizes the continued detention of political prisoners in Serbia" because
it does not include people convicted of terrorism.
The Committee went on to say
that Serbia's prisons currently hold more than 600 Kosovo Albanians, 250
of whom were convicted of terrorism.
"Especially discouraging"
is the fact that the bill was not published and that there was no public
debate on it, the Committee added.
The human rights organization
rejected Yugoslav Justice Minister Momcilo Grubac's claims that giving
amnesty to terrorists would contradict international conventions on fighting
terrorism as "unacceptable" because "the trials of these Kosovo Albanians
were themselves serious violations of international standards that regulate
the right to a just trial."
_______________________________________________________________________
http://www.reliefweb.int/w/rwb.nsf/480fa8736b88bbc3c12564f6004c8ad5/9ae612b0d550511bc12569d8005a6222?OpenDocument
Source: Agence France-Presse (AFP)
Date: 17 Jan 2001
800 gypsies killed or missing in Kosovo: Romany union
BELGRADE, Jan 17 (AFP) - Over 800 Romany gypsies
have been either killed or abducted in Kosovo since the UN took over in
the region in June 1999, a Romany spokesman said on Wednesday, according
to the Tanjug news agency.
Jovan Damjanovic, president
of the Union of Romany Associations in Serbia, claims to have detailed
information on 150 gypsies he said were killed by the former Albanian separatist
militants, the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA).
He said that the fate of a
further 530 Roma who had been reported missing was still unknown and expressed
his concern over the future of refugee return programmes rehousing Romany
and Serb refugees in Kosovo.
Despite the presence of 46,000
international peacekeepers, he said that Kosovo was a living hell where
"those who are not Albanian fear for their lives and their property".
Over 200,000 Serbs and non-Albanians
have fled Kosovo since June 1999 fearing violence at the hands of the Albanian
majority, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
(UNHCR).
Meanwhile Belgrade claims
that over 1,000 Serbs have been killed or are missing in the breakaway
province since the UN moved in at the end of NATO's bombing campaign, which
ended the conflict in Kosovo in June 1999.
am/jah/tm AFP
Copyright (c) 2001 Agence France-Presse
_______________________________________________________________________
http://kosovalive.com/english/latest.htm
KosovaLive, January 18, 2001
News Edition - January 18
KOSOVAR LEADERS REACT TO ESTABLISHING UNMIK OFFICE IN BELGRADE
Prishtina, Jan. 18 (KosovaLive)
The establishment of an UNMIK office in Belgrade,
caused reactions among Kosovar leaders, when discussed at the Kosova Transitional
Council (KTC) meeting Thursday.
Related to the matter, the
leader of Kosova's Democratic League, dr.Ibrahim Rugova, said that it is
to early to discuss the issue, adding "if UNMIK opens its office in Belgrade,
then the same should happen in the neighboring countries in Europe and
in the U.S."
"The Democratic Party of Kosova
(PDK), does not agree with the opening of an UNMIK office in Belgrade,
and we have already expressed our objection to this," Hashim Thaci, PDK's
leader stated after the meeting.
Meanwhile, UNMIK's chief,
Hans Haekkerup, explained to journalists that the idea of opening the UNMIK
office in Belgrade is simply to have necessary contacts in helping with
practical problems.
"The opening of the office
in Belgrade will not change UNMIK's policy toward Belgrade, as this is
not our intention," Haekkerup said.
The issue of missing persons
and prisoners was also discussed at the KTC meeting, together with the
drafting of Kosova's legal framework and the state of security in Kosova.
Head of the Prisoner's Association,
Shukrie Rexha, requested from countries members of the UN Security Council
to ratify a Resolution for the unconditional release of all Albanian prisoners
held in Serb prisons and also give details on missing persons. (b.bala)
_______________________________________________________________________
http://www.freeb92.net/archive/e/index.phtml?Y=2001&M=01&D=18
FreeB92 Last update: Jan 18, 2001 22:24 CET
Sweden recommends monitors in southern Serbia
21:31 BELGRADE, Thursday – European Union chair
Sweden approved a motion to strengthen EU monitoring presence in the ground
security zone, Swedish ambassador to Belgrade Michael Sahlin told press
today.
Sahlin told Reuters that “the
small number of unarmed EU monitors currently in the region are not enough
to help calm down and stabilise the situation in southern Serbia'”.
The European Union is presently
in talks with Yugoslav authorities to increase its monitoring mission presence,
which was expelled under ousted Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic’s
regime.
The EU Mission in Belgrade
has already sent men to the Presevo valley, Sahlin said. (FoNet)
The Hague Tribunal greets Kostunica's decision
20:07 THE HAGUE, Thursday – Hague Tribunal representative
Florence Hartmann greeted the decision by Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica
to meet with chief prosecutor Carla del Ponte during her visit to Belgrade
next week.
"It is a sign of trust, since
we intend to present the sealed indictments to Yugoslav authorities, expecting
those people to be arrested," Hartman said. (SRNA)
Yugoslavia ready to cooperate with the Tribunal: Zizic
19:05 BELGRADE, Thursday –Readiness to cooperate
with the Hague Tribunal does not mean automatic acceptance of all Tribunal's
demands, Yugoslav prime minister Zoran Zizic said at today’s session of
the federal government.
The federal government has
demonstrated its willingness to cooperate by helping to open The Hague
Tribunal office in Belgrade, as well as agreeing to exchange evidence of
war crimes in the territory of former Yugoslavia, within the limits allowed
by Yugoslav legislation, Zizic pointed out.
"The federal government has
no interest in covering up war crimes, but has the interest of not allowing
that the crimes against Yugoslav economy, environment, country and people
should go unpunished," Zizic concluded.
Seselj announces new complaint
18:32 BELGRADE, Thursday – Serbian Radical Party
leader Vojislav Seselj announced that the party would file a complaint
next week with the Supreme Court of Yugoslavia over Serbian Parliament
election result irregularities.
He told the press conference
that the Supreme Court of Serbia "violated the law and the Constitution"
by yesterday's dismissal of the Radicals' complaint about election results.
Seselj said that the aim of
his party was to force the Constitutional Court to annul the elections
and call new ones, which would be "regular".
Last update: Jan 18, 2001 17:08 CET
I will meet Del Ponte, says Kostunica
17:07 BELGRADE, Thursday - Yugoslav President
Vojislav Kostunica said he would meet The Hague Tribunal chief prosecutor
Carla del Ponte when she comes to official visit to Yugoslavia.
Kostunica told press he changed
his mind because recent events had given him several news reasons for talks
with del Ponte.
The first reason was the use
of depleted uranium ammunition during NATO bombings, which Kostunica said
was “a very serious matter for the Hague court”.
Kostunica said that the Finnish
investigators’ report of Racak, which avoids the use of “massacre” to describe
the 45 deaths there, is another issue to discuss with del Ponte, because
“Racak was used for blackmails in Rambouillet and for bombing of Yugoslavia.”
The final reason for meeting
with del Ponte, Kostunica added, was “related to her highly unusual offer,
made in what seemed to me an unusual manner and an aggressive tone: that
she wants to hand over sealed indictments to me.”
Kostunica called the sealed
indictments a legal disgrace.
"That is why I will accept
those indictments and put them at disposal of those who should have them
at their disposal: our government and parliament," Kostunica said.
Serbian Radicals give way for new parliament
15:28 BELGRADE, Thursday – The Serbian Radical
Party has now accepted defeat and handed in its MP list to the Republican
Election Commission, giving the green light for the formation of the Serbian
Parliament next week.
The first constitutive session
will be scheduled by incumbent parliament president Dragan Tomic. It is
expected that parliament will approve Zoran Djindjic’s proposed line-up
for the new government at its third session.
The work of the new parliament
can now finally get underway after the dismissal by the Serbian Supreme
Court of complaints filed by the Serbian Radical Party over last week’s
repeated parliamentary elections.
Civil Alliance urges extradition to The Hague
15:08 BELGRADE, Thursday – The Civil Alliance
of Serbia today urged the government to “do away with the past and bring
war criminals to justice” at The Hague Tribunal.
Senior official Radmila Hrustanovic
said the party, which is headed by foreign minister Goran Svilanovic, “had
no doubts” that there was no constitutional bar to Yugoslav citizens being
extradited to The Hague as it was not a country but an institution.
“We are not selective in our
support for UN resolutions,” she said. “If we support Resolution 1244,
why question that which set up the Hague Tribunal?”
She denied that relations
between Vojislav Kostunica and Goran Svilanovic were threatened by their
opposing views on The Hague, saying that they were in everyday contact.
Hrustanovic underlined the
fact that the Civil Alliance regards any separation of Serbia and Montenegro
as “politically dangerous”. (Srna)
Serbia must face its past, writes Guardian
14:50 LONDON, Thursday – President Kostunica might
be indebted to the very men wanted for war crimes by the Hague Tribunal,
a British newspaper claims today.
The Guardian writes that the
those who stormed the parliament building on October 5 were frequently
members of police, army or paramilitary groups motivated not by desire
for democracy but because Slobodan Milosevic had become a burden on Serbia.
Gillian Sandford highlights
in particular the crucial role of the special units who refused to obey
Milosevic’s order to retake state tv. Many of these are, or could become,
indicted for war crimes by the Hague Tribunal.
She writes: “An examination
of the recent past is needed” and adds that foreign minister Goran Svilanovic’s
proposal to set up a truth commission is little more than a smokescreen.
Any thorough investigation into war crimes must be carried out in conjunction
with the authorities in Bosnia, Croatia and Kosovo.
“There is a tribunal and everyone
has signed up to it,” she writes.
“Now western policy is focusing
on creating a stable Serbia,” she reports. “Doubtless some concessions
will be sought – something beyond the trial of Milosevic. But how much
will again be swept aside by Serbia – and its new global partners – as
the demands of a new real politik once again become paramount?”
We've got questions too, says Kostunica
12:11 BELGRADE, Thursday – President Kostunica
said today that Carla del Ponte would have some explaining to do herself
if and when he meets her to discuss the Hague Tribunal indictments.
In an interview with Banja
Luka daily Nezavisne novine, Kostunica said he was not ruling out the possibility
of eventually meeting del Ponte, though her first points of contact should
be the Yugoslav justice and foreign ministers.
However, he added: “Mrs del
Ponte seems to think there are a number of issues about which she could
ask questions, but I fear there are an even greater number that could be
posed by our side.”
Among the issues being brushed
aside were the use of depleted uranium, and the filing of criminal charges
against NATO for its bombardment of Yugoslavia, he claimed.
Asked about his recent meeting
with Milosevic, President Kostunica said that he had spoken with him in
his role as the leader of the largest opposition party. They had discussed
Milosevic’s security, as well as talked informally about the situation
in the country.
Commenting on demands made
by some politicians in Bosnia and Herzegovina that he should condemn the
crimes that took place there, Kostunica said there were criminals everywhere.
The logical thing, he said, would be for them publicly to apologise and
condemn their own crimes. (Srna)
Milosevic men will not be able to run or hide, vows Batic
9:51 BELGRADE, Thursday – The Serbian justice
minister-to-be pledged today that criminal charges against former regime
members will be brought as soon as the new government is formed.
Vladan Batic said the Serbian
government would be consituted within the next 10 days at the most, and
would immediately set about the process of bringing suspects to trial.
“We will take steps to seize
the passports of all suspects to put a stop to the ‘get-aways’ that seem
to be all the rage at the moment,” Batic told Belgrade daily Glas Javnosti.
“The people of Yugoslavia
can rest assured: neither the former regime leaders, Marko Milosevic or
Dragan Antic will be able to hide.” (Srna)
Dutchman leaves Albanian rebels
9:38 PRISTINA, Thursday – A Dutchman who fought
for the Albanian guerrillas handed himself in to KFOR troops on Sunday
asking for asylum.
A spokeswoman for KFOR confirmed
that Johan Johanes Indikus Makas surrended to the American base near Gnjilanovac.
He is believed to be the only
foreigner who took part in the operations of the so-called Liberation Army
of Presevo, Medvedja and Bujanovac in the buffer zone between Kosovo and
Serbia proper.
Last obstacle to new Serbian parliament overcome
12:32 BELGRADE, Thursday – The Serbian Supreme
Court has dismissed the complaints filed by the Serbian Radical Party concerning
last week’s repeated parliamentary elections.
The court decision paves the
way for the forming of the new Serbian parliament. The Democratic Opposition
of Serbia representative on the Republican Election Commission, Nenad Milic,
told Reuters: “There are no more legal avenues open to those wishing to
file complaints”.
Parliament will hold its first
session not earlier than next Monday, Milic said, and is likely to adopt
a new law on reducing the number of ministries. This will allow for the
formation of the new Serbian government, which will take place next Thursday
at the earliest.
Serbian deputy prime minister
candidate Nebojsa Covic agreed that both the parliament and the government
should be formed within the next week.
He added that he was expecting
an official announcement from the Republican Election Commission of the
results of the Serbian December elections later today. (FoNet)
_______________________________________________________________________
http://www.freeb92.net/archive/e/index.phtml?Y=2001&M=01&D=17
FreeB92 Last update: Jan 17, 2001 22:37 CET
Parents demand their sons return from Bujanovac and Presevo
22:28 NIS, Wednesday - Around a hundred parents
whose sons were conscripts or were mobilised by force to the territory
of Bujanovac and Presevo told Yugoslav Third Army commander Colonel Vladimir
Lazarevic that they demand their "children return or be replaced with other
soldiers”.
After the closed door meeting,
one of the parents told SRNA that General Lazarevic had promised the mobilised
soldiers would be returned and replaced by others after 45 days spent in
the field, emphasising that the conscripts are constantly being replaced
and occasionally sent home.
Emphasising that the forty-fifth
day in the field was expiring for the majority of Nis soldiers around January
25, parents announced that, if their sons had not returned home by then,
they would gather again. (SRNA)
Police will cooperate with Hague, new minister says
20:47 BELGRADE, Wednesday – Future Serbian Police
minister Dusan Mihajlovic said today that police under his control would
treat former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic and other war crimes
suspects professionally.
In an interview with weekly
Blic News, Mihajlovic said that he had no information that the Serbian
Ministry of Interior Affairs had already launched a procedure against the
ousted Yugoslav president, but emphasised that he knew for a fact that
the Tribunal was "working intensively on Milosevic".
"Miloseviv might help us all
if he followed in Biljana Plavsic's footsteps, because his was one of the
signatures on the Dayton Agreement, which includes the founding of the
Hague Tribunal. If Milosevic accepted this agreement to be valid in the
case of Radovan Karadzic, why wouldn't it be valid in his case," Mihajlovic
told the weekly.
Asked whether the Serbian
police would cooperate with the Hague Tribunal and participate in the arrests
of war crimes suspects in the Serbian territory, Mihajlovic replied that
the Serbian Interior Ministry "was not an independent institution, to decide
whom to cooperate with in the world".
Speaking about the dismissal
of the State Security chief Rade Markovic, Mihajlovic said that there was
a consensus on this within the DOS coalition and that it would be one of
the first decisions by the new Serbian government. (SRNA)
_______________________________________________________________________
http://128.121.251.38/bnews/bnews.php?language=english
Free Serbia Latest News
01/18/2001 21:01 GMT+1 -- Federal government announcement
FRY ready to co-operate with the Hague Tribunal
FR Yugoslavia is ready to co-operate with the
Hague Tribunal, which showed by opening the office of that court in Belgrade,
but it does not mean to accept automatically all requests of the court,
Yugoslav government confirmed today. The government adopted on today session
the basic requirements for talks of government members with attorney general
of the court in the Hague, Carla del Ponte and pointed out the readiness
to exchange evidence material about war crimes on the territory of former
Yugoslavia. "Federal government has no interests to hide war crimes, but
it is in its interest that war crimes against Yugoslav economy, environment,
state and people should also be brought to court", is said in the announcement
of Federal ministry of information.
Source: FreeSerbia
01/18/2001 18:14 GMT+1 -- According to Italian
daily
Plavsic: I will testify against Milosevic, Karadzic
and Krajisnik
“I will testify against Milosevic, Karadzic, Krajisnik,
people who played with the lives of Serbs in Bosnia and got rich on it”,
Biljana Plavsic told the International Court in The Hague, according to
the Italian “Republica” daily.
The daily reminds that Biljana Plavsic said on
her first hearing that she was not guilty and that she cannot be convicted
for something she has not done. “I am ready to cooperate as long as it
does not jeopardize my personal interests”, “Republica” quoted the former
leader of Republika Srpska.
Source: FreeSerbia
01/18/2001 15:00 GMT+1 -- FRY President changed
opinion
Kostunica: I will meet Carla Del Ponte
“I have changed my decision and I will meet The
Hague Tribunal chief persecutor, Carla Del Ponte”, said President Vojislav
Kostunica at a press conference.
“I do not exclude a possibility of talks, at
least so that I could start a discussion of certain issues such as giving
up of the NATO crimes investigation, depleted uranium or secret charges”,
said Kostunica.
Source: FreeSerbia
01/18/2001 05:21 GMT+1 -- In spite of having more
pressing matters to attend to…
Kostunica said he might meet with Carla del Ponte
The president of FRY, Dr. Vojislav Kostunica said
that he might talk to the head prosecutor of the Hague tribunal for war
crimes, Mrs. Carla del Ponte during her tay in Belgrade next week. "This
matter is somewhat out of my jurisdiction, still ’m not saying I will refuse
to talk, as I might us that opportunity to talk about why the tribunal
decided to drop the charges against NATO for war crimes, or alk about the
secret indictments.” He added that he won’t change his position on the
Hague Tribunal, and that there are more pressing matters to attend to at
his point…
Source: FreeSerbia
01/18/2001 05:19 GMT+1 -- Third Army commander
Soldiers’ parents want their children out of
Presevo valley
Parents of the soldiers who are currently deployed
in Presevo valley requested today from the commander of the Third Army
to “return their children or replace them with other soldiers”. General
Lazarevic hosted the closed meeting in the Nis barracks. The army promised
to issue a public notice on the topic.
One of the parents said that general Lazarevic
promised that no conscripts would be held in the zone for more than 45
days. The conscripts from Nis should, according to that return by the 25th
of January, and their parents announced further protests unless their children
return by then...
Source: FoNet
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http://www.guardianunlimited.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,423733,00.html
Almost the same old Serbia
The October uprising was something to celebrate, but war criminals are still unpunished
Gillian Sandford in Belgrade
Thursday January 18, 2001
Yugoslavia is entering a new dawn, it seems. The
federal parliament - burnt in the October 5 uprising - is repaired and
recently hosted an assembly of the new government of President Vojislav
Kostunica. The country, already in the United Nations and the Organisation
for Security and Cooperation in Europe, is signalling its desire to join
the European Union.
But several Serbs could not
bear to stand in the street celebrating this coming new year. Why? Because
they are voicing disillusioned fears that both everything and nothing has
changed.
Everything has changed because
Slobodan Milosevic is facing the end. "He is finished" - as the slogan
of the student-based resistance movement, Otpor, says. The best he can
get is a trial in Belgrade for electoral fraud and corruption. The worst
is one that lays at his feet secret service assassinations and war crimes,
followed - or preceded - by answering to war crimes' indictments at the
UN tribunal in the Hague.
And what of October 5 itself?
Was the revolution really a popular civilian uprising, or was it closer
to a police and military coup? It will take many years before we finally
know. But what is already clear is that the muscle that stormed the parliament
and state television station came from men who learned the trade of war
in Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo - and had past or current links with Yugoslavia's
police, army and paramilitary groups. They wanted rid of Milosevic, not
because of his international crimes, but because he had become Serbia's
albatross.
In all informed accounts of
the revolution the role of the special units is paramount, particularly
that played by the commander of the elite special police unit, the Red
Berets. Mihajlo Ulemek is a veteran of Serbia's wars and former member
of the notorious paramilitary group, the Tigers, commanded by assassinated
war crimes indictee Arkan. The Red Berets' decision to dump Milosevic and
ignore orders when called to retake state television, secured power for
the new government. But it opens up the suspicion that Serbia's new leaders,
like the old, are in deep debt to men who are - or could well be - UN war
crimes indictees themselves.
That is why some believe that
nothing has changed. One of the most powerful images of east Germany's
revolution was the ransacking of the Stasi building. Yet here, no one ransacked
secret police premises, and the head of that organisation, Rade Markovic,
still retains power. Ulemek is now a national pin-up.
The free press that receives
generous western money has not reported in detail the evidence of General
Radislav Krstic, on trial in the Hague for the massacre in Srebrenica of
an estimated 6,000 plus Muslims, slaughtered by Serbs. The recent discovery
of a Muslim mass grave near the eastern Bosnian town of Visegrad - now
totally Serb controlled - goes unmentioned. Would it have been ignored,
if under the garbage, lay the bones of slaughtered Serbs?
A new party, the party of
Serbian Unity, led by another former member of the Tigers, gained enough
votes for its MPs to sit in parliament. Taken with the vote of the rightwing
Radical party, this shows that more than one in ten Serbs still buys into
Milosevic's doomed greater Serbia project that fired the nationalist wars.
An examination of the recent
past is needed. Federal foreign minister Goran Svilanovic might seem to
have started the process when he spoke of the formation of a so-called
truth commission, composed of international and domestic experts who are
to review the facts about the war crimes committed in the past decade in
Kosovo, Croatia and Bosnia. But the proposal won't wash. How can you examine
war crimes across the federation without direct participation of authorities
in Bosnia, Croatia and Kosovo? Have they been asked? Why duplicate the
work already being done by the tribunal? And most of all, is Svilanovic
suggesting that no extraditions from Belgrade will take place until after
this commission's work is finished? Milosevic and the rest of us will probably
be dead by then.
There is a tribunal and everyone
has signed up to it. Its chief prosecutor, Carla Del Ponte wants Milosevic,
Bosnian Serb army General Ratko Mladic and Bosnian Serb political leader
Radovan Karadzic extradited. These indictees' trials could take place partly
in Yugoslavia because they might help to clarify events for Serbs, a spokeswoman
says, but they also have to be carried out in the Hague because of the
international nature of the war - and witnesses' desire for a trial on
neutral ground.
Now western policy is focusing
on creating a stable Serbia. It is now subject to the influences and pressures
that western government and donor organisations decide to apply. Doubtless
some concessions will be sought - something beyond the trial of Milosevic.
But how much will again be swept aside by Serbia - and its new global partners
- as the demands of a new real politik once again become paramount?
• Gillian Sandford is the Guardian's correspondent
in Yugoslavia.
gsandford@callnetuk.com
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers
Limited 2001
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