Human Rights Violations against Non-albanian Kosovars
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Propaganda ? - Truth ?
# Kosovapress:_______________________________________________________________________
Artemije - Advocate of Serbia´s Genocidal Policy in Kosova
# Berliner Zeitung:
"Die Kfor kann die Serben nicht schützen"
Der orthodoxe Bischof von Prizren Radosavljevic beklagt die Vertreibung der Serben aus dem Kosovo
# AP: Verdächtige im Mordfall an Serben sind Kosovo-Albaner
# Kosovapress:
The Serb church condonned the policy of ethnic cleansing in Kosova
# Kosovapress:
The massacre in Gracka, played by Millosheviq as it's last charter
# IWPR: Tribunal Update 135. Last Week in The Hague (19-25 July, 1999):
- KOSOVO INVESTIGATION: GRACKO, NEW NAME ON THE MAP OF HORROR
- BALKAN SPIES IN THE HAGUE
(...)_______________________________________________________________________Artemije - Advocate of Serbia´s Genocidal Policy in Kosova
July (Kosovapress)
The Serbian Bishop Artemije Radosavlevic gave an interview to the German daily "Berliner Zeitung" , in which he once again defended the fascist policies of Milosevic against Albanians in Kosova, taking as a pretext, the tragic murder of 14 Serb farmers.
Belgrade´s and the Bishop´s position on security in Kosova do not vary too much, both arguing in a curiously uniform way, that KFOR´s mission in Kosova has been unsuccessful and that only the return of Serb troops who "successfully kept peace" in Kosova would protect Serbs in Kosova. The call for the substitution of KFOR troops for Serb paramilitaries and police, those same forces who committed mass murder, reveals a completely unapologetic point of view, one which must confuse KFOR and UNMIK personnel who are so eager in propping up the Bishop as a partner for peace.
It is hard to stomach the crocidile tears that fall from the eyes of Belgrade´s leadership and the Church´s position is equally cynical. It is no surprise that these 14 dead took place on the heels of a declaration of the Serbian Church signed by the Bishop stating the Church would not participate in the Council for Intercommunal Relations established by the UN, a council that brings all community leaders to the same table. The world community has been dupped so many times before by the games Belgrade and the Church plays, it may be wise to look more closely at what is being done with this Gracka incident.
Most glaringly, it should not be a surprise to anyone that the rhetoric used today mirrors that which Milosevic and Serb nationalists used in 1980 and again in 1985 to justify denying Albanian their human rights. The reference the Bishop makes to "Serbs getting killed, raped and kidnapped by Albanians," fits in perfectly Belgrade´s line today and what Artemije himself used to stir up nationalism 19 years ago. The man who the West depends to sustain an atmosphere of civility and interethnic harmony is not ashamed to tell the German Daily that he justifies Serb atrocities as conditions of war. According to this man of faith, the mass murder of Albanians was justified during war and that it was time to forget it. According to him, the murders in Gracka is a greater crime than the murder of tens of thousands of Albanians. In the course of his interview, this man of the church representing the Serbian faithful has recycled Milosevic and Sesel cries for Albanian blood, once again citing Serbs are victims of "Genocide" and that Kosova is being ethnically cleansed of Serbs under the eyes of NATO.
Failure to note the decades of murder, torture, deportation of other human beings simply because they were of another ethnic group does not fit well in the rhetoric of a Kosova envisioned by the world community.
This "moderate" spokesperson for the Serb people in Kosova utters the now hollow cry that it is the Serbs who are victims of a plot to exterminate them, conveniently forgetting the works of Garasanin, Cubrilovic, Andric and clergy from the church, all readably available in Belgrade book shops. The German publisher Rullman said that the first European holocaust happened in Kosova, when Serbia was granted in 1912 sovereignty over a Kosova populated by 80% of the population which was not Serb. Serbs like those in the Church have done well to forget it. Today, Kosova is filled with mass graves, graves that emit the stench of war crimes and planned extermination. Albanians in their tens of thousands are searching for loved ones, seeking to just know for sure the fate of their kin. This man of God, Artemije, has nothing to say to these people. He uses the words of a murderous regime in Belgrade instead of extending the hand of sorrow, comfort, and solidarity. His hatred for other people runs so deep that he even cannot acknowledge the pain of his fellow Christians, who are also of the Eastern Church. Their sin is that they are simply not Serbs.
Albanians of all faiths lost so much to men of this elk, it is time for the world to read the words of such people, staring right at them in widely read newspapers, to stop dreaming and understand those with whom they are dealing. Artemije is not a man of peace, but a man of hatred, one which can go so far as to brush off mass murder and manipulate the deaths of 14 men to reinstate a murderous regime of oppression, brutality and criminality.
"Die Kfor kann die Serben nicht schützen"_______________________________________________________________________Der orthodoxe Bischof von Prizren Radosavljevic beklagt die Vertreibung der Serben aus dem Kosovo
Der orthodoxe Bischof der Diözese Raska-Prizren, Artemije Radosavljevic, ist der inoffizielle Repräsentant der Serben im Kosovo. Norbert Mappes-Niediek sprach mit ihm über die Lage der serbischen Minderheit im Kosovo.
Herr Bischof, was muß die Nato tun, um die verbliebenen Serben im Kosovo wirksam zu schützen? In ihren Erklärungen heißt es plausibel, man könne schlecht neben jedes Haus einen Soldaten stellen.
Wissen Sie, das sind so Sätze für kleine Kinder. Einen Soldaten neben jedem Haus verlangen und erwarten wir nicht. Es gibt aber eine Resolution des Weltsicherheitsrats. Sie verlangt von den Nato-Truppen, daß sie die Sicherheit aller Völker im Kosovo garantieren und die Bedingungen schaffen, daß sie alle weiter hier leben können. Nach dieser Resolution haben die Kfor-Truppen zu handeln, das ist ihre Pflicht. Wenn sie das nicht schaffen, sollen sie es zugeben. Und gehen.
Wären nicht vorher einige konkrete Probleme zu lösen?
Ja, ja, ja. Alle Probleme sind konkret. Es ist auch immer die Rede von den "Einzeltätern", die Serben Schlimmes antun. Jedes Volk besteht nun einmal aus einzelnen. Ich sage einfach: Die Kfor-Truppe erfüllt ihr Mandat nicht. Sie soll Sicherheit schaffen, Bedingungen für sicheres Reisen, für die Arbeit der Schulen, Zugang zu den Krankenhäusern. Es ist ihre Pflicht, das zu tun.
Was passiert den Serben im Kosovo?
Jeden Tag hören wir von Mord, Kidnapping, Vergewaltigung. Aus Pristina werden täglich 20 serbische Familien vertrieben. Menschen hungern in ihren Wohnungen, weil sie sich nicht einmal mehr zum Einkaufen vor die Tür trauen.
Sie haben in Ihrer Osterbotschaft scharf kritisiert, was damals Serben Albanern angetan haben. Hatten Sie in der Folge Auseinandersetzungen mit dem Belgrader Regime?
Nein. Aber man hat mich in der Presse und im Fernsehen angegriffen und als Verräter bezeichnet.
Ist das, was heute Albaner mit Serben tun, dem ähnlich, was seinerzeit Serben mit Albanern taten?
In der Art der Ausführung schon. Aber es gibt einen großen Unterschied: Die Verbrechen an Serben werden begangen, während ein unterzeichnetes Friedensabkommen vorliegt. Die Verbrechen an Albanern dagegen wurden während der Nato-Bombardements begangen. Im Krieg gelten andere Gesetze.
Wie beurteilen Sie die Reaktionen der albanischen Führer?
Als scheinheilig. Weder Hashim Thaci noch der UCK-Kommandant Agim Ceku haben die Taten öffentlich angeprangert oder sich von ihnen distanziert.
Was sollte Thaci denn tun oder sagen?
Er sollte seine Anhänger von solchen Taten abhalten.
Ist es nicht einfach Rache, was dort geschieht?
Man kann das nicht einer frustrierten Bevölkerung zuschreiben. Es ist die systematische, planvolle Vertreibung der Serben aus dem Kosovo. Was in Staro Gracko geschah (dort wurden am Freitag 14 serbische Bauern ermordet - d. Red.), war geplant, da gab es sicher auch Anordnungen. Werden die Mörder nicht gefaßt, gibt es hier keine Lebensbedingungen mehr für uns.
Wird denn all das zentral geplant?
Nein, es ist die allgemeine Stimmung. Seit 20 Jahren schon wird die Idee eines Kosovo ohne Serben verfolgt. Jetzt geschieht es eben unter dem Schutz der Nato.
Warum eigentlich haben Sie Prizren, Ihre Diözese, verlassen? Aus Sicherheitsgründen?
Ja, auch. Was sollte ich in Prizren noch tun? Die Serben haben die Stadt verlassen. Ich muß bei meinem Volk sein. Und das Kosovo habe ich ja nicht verlassen.
War nicht Ihr Auszug das Zeichen für die Serben, daß es für sie in der Stadt keine Zukunft mehr geben würde?
Dieses Zeichens bedurfte es nicht. In Prizren war ich faktisch in den vier Wänden meines Bischofssitzes eingesperrt. Wir haben uns hier im Kloster Gracanica versammelt, weil wir hier den wenigen Enklaven näher sind, in denen noch Serben leben. Außerdem können wir hier, nahe Pristina, leichter Kontakt zu Kfor und Uno halten.
Wie haben sich die Deutschen in Prizren Ihnen gegenüber verhalten?
Sie waren korrekt. Und sie haben gesagt, daß sie uns keine Sicherheitsgarantien geben können. Das stimmte. Im deutschen Sektor gibt es die höchste Zahl gesprengter und abgebrannter Kirchen im Kosovo.
Mit wem halten Sie Kontakt?
Mit General Korff.
Auf wessen Initiative kam der Kontakt zustande?
Ich habe mich gleich am 13. Juni, am Tag nach dem Nato-Einmarsch, an ihn gewandt.
Ein Service von Berliner Zeitung, TIP BerlinMagazin, Berliner Kurier und Berliner Abendblatt. © G+J
BerlinOnline GmbH, 31.07.1999
Verdächtige im Mordfall an Serben sind Kosovo-Albaner_______________________________________________________________________
Ermittler bestätigen Identität der drei Männer - Rugova wieder im Kosovo
Pristina (AP)Die im Zusammenhang mit dem Mord an 14 Serben festgenommen Männer sind nach Angaben der Ermittler vom Freitag Kosovo-Albaner. Weitere Einzelheiten zur Identität der bei einer Razzia am Mittwoch in Gewahrsam genommenen Verdächtigen wurden nicht genannt. Laut KFOR-Sprecher Major John Wooldridge haben sie eine Beteiligung an dem Massaker in der Ortschaft Gracko vor einer Woche sowie eine Mitgliedschaft in der Kosovo-Befreiungsarmee (UCK) zurückgewiesen.
Bei der Razzia in der Umgebung von Gracko sichergestellten Waffen, Munition und Kleidung werden den Angaben zufolge zu Untersuchungen nach London gebracht. Feststehe, daß der Angriff auf die Bauern von mehr als einer Person verübt worden sei, sagte ein Sprecher. Zudem seien die Opfer offenbar überrascht worden. Ein Mann sei mit einer Zigarette in der Hand ermordet worden. Der Vorfall vom vergangenen Freitag hatte die Spannungen zwischen Serben und Albanern im Kosovo weiter verschärft.
Unterdessen kehrte der gewählte Präsident der Kosovo-Albaner, Ibrahim Rugova, am Freitag mit seiner Familie in die Heimat zurück. Diesmal will er dauerhaft im Kosovo bleiben, wie er Journalisten vor seinem Haus in Pristina sagte. «Das ist ein großer Tag für mich und das Kosovo», sagte er. Seine Beteiligung am politischen Prozeß in der serbischen Provinz ist allerdings noch unklar. Den mit Vertretern aller Volksgruppen besetzten Interimsbeirat boykottiert Rugova, da darin seine Demokratische Liga seiner Ansicht nach zu wenig Gewicht hat.
Anders als bei seinem ersten Besuch Mitte Juli wurde Rugova nicht von Anhängern begrüßt und bejubelt. Er landete bei strömendem Regen auf dem Flughafen in Pristina und wurde von britischen Militärfahrzeugen eskortiert. Ein Sprecher der UN-Mission im Kosovo, Kevin Kennedy, begrüßte Rugovas Rückkehr und sagte, es sei unmöglich, die Zukunft der Provinz ohne dessen Partei zu diskutieren. Das zweite Treffen des Interimsbeirates am vergangenen Montag war auf unbestimmte Zeit verschoben worden.
Der gemäßigte Rugova wurde zweimal zum Präsidenten des Kosovos gewählt; die Abstimmungen wurden aber von der serbischen Regierung und Verwaltung nicht anerkannt. Im Zuge des bewaffneten Unabhängigkeitskampfes wuchs das Ansehen von Hashim Thaci, dem politischen Führer der Befreiungsarmee UCK. Thaci stellte wie zuvor Rugova eine Exilregierung auf. Beide Gegenspieler gingen sich bisher aus dem Weg. Rugova verließ das Kosovo nach seinem ersten Besuch am 15. Juli sofort wieder mit der Begründung, er wolle seine Familie aus Italien nachholen.
Demonstration in Pristina
In Pristina demonstrierten unterdessen Hunderte für die Freilassung von Kosovo-Albanern, die in Serbien eingesperrt sind. Die Demonstranten werfen der Führung in Belgrad vor, ihre Angehörigen und Freunde als Geiseln zu halten. Nach Angaben der serbischen Behörden sind 2.100 Personen mehrheitlich wegen Unterstützung der UCK verurteilt. Die Kosovo-Albaner erklärten, während des Nato-Luftkriegs seien fast 5.000 Menschen verschwunden, die vermutlich in serbischen Gefängnissen säßen.
Rückkehrende Flüchtlinge können von Montag an auch auf dem Flughafen von Pristina landen. Wie ein Sprecher der Internationalen Organisation für Migration mitteilte, soll die erste Maschine aus Zürich kommen. Vom 9. August an könnten dann vier Flugzeuge am Tag insgesamt rund 500 Menschen einfliegen. Inzwischen sind mehr als die Hälfte der 860.000 geflohenen Kosovo-Albaner heimgekehrt.
© AP
The Serb church condonned the policy of ethnic cleansing in Kosova_______________________________________________________________________
Prishtina, July 28, (Kosovapress)
Most poeople in the world, including the Illirio-Albanian people, over the last 1000 years passed through different faiths. After strong resistance, Illirians gave up their faith in Roman Gods and recognized the Christian faith. With the division of the Roman Empire, the church also divided. This division was reflected among Albanians as well. A significant part of them became members of the Eastern Church while others became Catholics. The infusion of Slavs into Illyrian soil in the 7th century caused the contraction of the ethnic Illyrian area. Slavs, especialy Serbs began to deport the indigenous population and changed the names of places of Illyro-Albanian origin, including Albanian Orthodox and Catholic churches. According to a large number of historical documents many monestaries and churches Serbs today claim as their own were actually originally Albanian churches simply taken over or Churches built over the grounds of Albanian churches destroyed.
At the end of the XVII century and in the beginning of the XVIII century, Islam arrived to Kosova commanding the faith of many Albanians. The association with Islam, however, did not distort the consciousness of their heritage the same holds true for those of the Catholic or Orthodox faith, they are all Albanians
The Serb Orthodox Church has for many years, but especially with the fall of Yugoslavia, completely served Serb policy including ethnic cleansing. The Milosevic era has been marked by a policy of building churches in places where Serbs never lived. Such a construction policy caused Albanians to feel threatened and view a whole religion as a tool of nationalism. In those churches, Serb nationalist propaganda was openly distrubuted. Among other things, these pamphlets called for the deportation of Albanians. Today, no body should be surprised, therefore, that these churches, built as symbols of Serb fascism and in contradiction to any claim to religious norms, are being attacked and destroyed by Albanians. It would be correct for such churches built in the last ten years to be destroyed by KFOR and the international community.
These churches are now being destoyed by Albanians who lost children, wives, brothers, husbands to this ideology of hatred. The Serb Orthodox Church has firstly a moral and human obligation to apologize to Albanians and secondly, it should (if it wishes to continue to represent the Serb minority in Kosova) begin to emit rhetoric of co-existance with Albanians, respect for Albanian culture and to preach the necessity to establish good neighborly relations between the two nations, Kosova and Serbia. There is no other way for this project called Kosova to work. Albanians must be made to feel they can trust the Serb church and its clergy. It will take much work.
The massacre in Gracka, played by Millosheviq as it's last charter_______________________________________________________________________Prishtinë, July 27, (Kosovapress)
The tragical killing of the 14th serb farmers in Gracka, (the district of Lipjani), has hardly damaged the peaceful process in Kosova, dispite the fact that it is not known yet who were the authors of this crime.
There is no dilema that, now ,the Serb regime is under the pressio n of both by International Community and by the inside pression so it is no doubt that it will trie to take this chance to displace the peoples attention intending to rise the hate against the Albanians , in general .
In The killing of the 14th Serbian farmers is the last charter used by Millosheviq.Again, as in 1987,he said to the Kosovar Serbs "nobody dares to beat you" and the fact was that in that time nobody has been beating them,Once again he tried to homogenise the Serbian people and to sabotate the recent peaceful developments in Kosova.
In this way Millosheviqi's wish is to close the serbians eyes again, by not leting them having the chance to see the disaster, happening inside of Serbia. He is very careful with Serbian Kosovars .He wants to be avoided from any eventual protest in Belgrade held by Serbian Kosovars .He made promises to them for 12 years ,but now ,all the promises are broken..Also Millosheviqi's will is to make a real obsticle before the Sarajeva's Conference is held, because he knows very well that there, it will be disscused about the Ballkans reconstruction, and at the same time Serbia will be out of the disscutions.It is obviously seen that the main purpose of the serbian regime is to discredit the KLA which until now has had a good co-peration with KFOR and UNMIK.The Belgrade tries to deny the success of KLA and it's co-operation with The International Community.
The coincidence of the killings of the Serbian farmers with the end of the first phase of the demilitarization of KLA shows that these killings helped a lot, particularly to the Serbian Regime in Belgrade .The Serb regime is very interested to do everything that can do against the KLA and it's establishing the civil structure and public security and it's forming of The National Guard.
Nowdays, when Serbia is trieing to return to normal everybody have undersood that the 12th years of Millosheviqi's policy have bancroted totaly and as a result of this, he needs to keep the high tension and the permanent conflict in Kosova to continue. With his false myth for Kosova he intends to re-organise serb nationalists again and again , even after the hard loses that they have had in Slovenia, in Kroatia, in Bosnia and Hercegovina and now lately in Kosova.
. This time Millosheviq has less chances to sell his propaganda anymore because the Serb people is facing the damages of the four absurd wars including the NATO bombardments so they seem not to have time anymore to look after the fairy tales and mythes elaborated by the officials in Belgrade.
Now Millosheviq has just one aim ,to survive. Everybody is awared that in a country where the media is controlled by the regime every incident in Kosova will be played as the last charter remained in the hands of the criminal of war- Sllobodan Millosheviq.
(...)KOSOVO INVESTIGATION: GRACKO, NEW NAME ON THE MAP OF HORROR
A long list of Kosovo's "toponyms of horror" - Racak, Izbica, Krusha, Celine - was expanded at the end of last week to include a new one: Gracko, the village where 14 Serb farmers were killed on July 23. As in the case of Racak in January this year, Tribunal Chief Prosecutor Louise Arbour reacted promptly, immediately ordering an investigation.
Last January, three days after the massacre of 45 Albanians in the village of Racak was discovered, Arbour was prevented from entering Kosovo at the head of the investigative team. This time she faced no obstacles: the Hague investigators and forensic experts from some dozen countries have already been present in Kosovo for a month.
Announcing the beginning of the investigation of the crime in the village of Gracko, OTP (Office of the Prosecutor) spokesman Paul Risley said the Prosecutor was "alarmed by the scale of this massacre". It suggested "that the strongest deterrent message must be sent to those who are inclined to perpetuate the cycle of violence that has shattered Kosovo in the last year," he added, speaking on Saturday evening.
The international community, Arbour believes, "will be particularly outraged if retaliation is sought at a time when unprecedented efforts are being made to bring to justice those responsible for the atrocities of the preceding months."
In order to remove any doubts over the Tribunal's jurisdiction now the armed conflict in Kosovo has halted, Arbour reminds all that her Office is authorised to investigate all serious violations of international humanitarian law committed in the territory o f former Yugoslavia, including Kosovo, since 1991.
This jurisdiction, Arbour has pointed out, "includes offences committed before and after the formal end of the NATO bombing on 20 June 1999". For some of these offences the legal condition requires that they were committed in the context of an armed conflict, whilst other offences may be prosecuted even if committed during peacetime.
In any case, the Prosecution's statement concludes: "existence of an armed conflict is a question of fact and question of law, informed by the jurisprudence of the Tribunal. At this stage, the Prosecutor is of the view that this, as well as other elements o f offences within the jurisdiction of the Tribunal, deserve further inquiry."
There was little reaction at the OTP last week at news that Belgrade would not recognise the results of the Kosovo investigation. According to the official news agency Tanjug, Neven Gasovic, assistant Federal Minister of Justice, said this was because it s pathologists have not taken part in the investigation, and because it was being carried out without the cooperation with the judiciary of Yugoslavia and Serbia.
Risley said it was a "curiosity" that the statement referred to Article 9.1 of the Tribunal's Statute - "The International Tribunal and national courts shall have concurrent jurisdiction to prosecute..." - whilst forgetting the next paragraph, Article 9.2 according to which "The International Tribunal shall have primacy over national courts..."
"All member-states of the UN recognise the primacy of the International Tribunal in the investigation of war crimes in Kosovo," Risley says, "so we expect the same from Yugoslavia." Apart from full cooperation in the Kosovo investigation, he adds, this should include the reopening of the OTP office in Belgrade, which was temporarily closed along with other UN offices during the NATO air campaign.
Yugoslavia has so far been hesitant to issue visas to the representatives of The Tribunal and give guarantees of safety and full cooperation.
And as far as the acceptance or non-acceptance of the results of the investigation is concerned, this is not a matter for the OTP or the authorities in Belgrade, but for the Trial Chambers.
(...)
BALKAN SPIES IN THE HAGUE
Last week's revelation that the Balkan secret services are trying to infiltrate the Tribunal, obtain confidential information and influence its work - should be come as no surprise.
This, by definition, is the task of secret services of the countries that are under the Tribunal's jurisdiction. And the task of the secret service of the Netherlands - as host country to the Tribunal - is to as far as possible prevent their Balkan colleagues from doing their job.
An annual report by the Dutch Internal Security Service (BVD), published last week, says that "various intelligence services from the Balkans targeted operations of the ICTY". As a result the BVD and the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, had "pointed out to the representatives of the countries concerned that they should refrain from intelligence activities".
Unlike last year's BVD report, which explicitly singles out the Croatian secret service and the Bosnian AID as "most active" in this field, this year's report did not point a finger at any one in particular.
When asked by the Tribunal Update "whether it is safe to assume that, more or less, the services of all countries that are under the Tribunal's jurisdiction are concerned," the press representative of the Dutch secret service, Vincent van Steen, answered affirmatively.
All that van Steen was prepared to add to what was published, was that Balkan spies are attempting in various ways to obtain confidential information from the people working in The Tribunal or in official contact with it.
They are also apparently trying to trace the witnesses in order to intimidate or influence them. Van Steen added that the Dutch service learns about such incidents from the Tribunal and from their own sources - and resolves the problem itself or in cooperation with the police.
The increased number of arrests of suspects in Bosnia by the SFOR force, the report says, represent a significant security risk for Holland, so that its secret service is taking preventive measures.
The problem is, the report says, that "the arrests were often not planned in advance or were prepared in secret" so that the Dutch authorities "often had to take security measures at very short notice."
Special concern, the report says, is expressed over "the risk of attack (on the UN prison) and attempts at freeing the accused." Van Steen says there have been no such attempts so far, but predicts that the security risk will increase when some of the political, military and paramilitary leaders named by the Tribunal's indictments arrive at The Hague. Then their supporters might plot attacks or try to help the prisoners' escape.
"We are taking such risk very seriously", van Steen says. He adds that some persons named in Hague indictments, "have a significant experience in organising prison escapes."
The Tribunal refused to comment directly on the allegations of the Dutch Secret Service about the activity of Balkan spies. Its spokesman, Jim Landale, said only that the Tribunal is taking "a number of different security measures for a number of different reasons."
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