Anklaget for å strikke gensere til UCK
Den kosovoalbanske legen Flora Brovina, menneskerettighetsaktivist fra
Pristina, er framstilt for retten i Nis, Serbia, for å "konspirere for å
begå fiendtlige handlinger". Amnesty tviler på at Brovina vil få en
rettferdig rettssak.
http://www.amnesty.org/news/1999/47012299.htm
IWPR har en svært interessant artikkel om Brovina (artikkelen er vedlagt
nedenfor). Her kommer det fram at det i rettssalen har vært episoder hvor
det serbiske politiet ganske enkelt har overkjørt dommernes beslutninger.
Og ifølge Radovan Dedijer, advokat ved "Humanitarian Law Centre" i Beograd,
er "bevisene" mot Brovina noen medisiner tatt fra hennes kontor, et foto av
Brovina sammen med et medlem av UCK, og ull donert fra den britiske
veldedighetsorganisasjonen Oxfam, som flyktningekvinner har brukt til å
strikke gensere. "Hun [Brovina] er anklaget for å lage gensere til KLA"
sier Dedijer. Brovina risikerer å bli dømt til mellom 1 og 10 år.
Kosovoalbanere fengslet i Jugoslavia
Brovina er en av de heldige som har offentlighetens øyne rettet mot seg.
Ifølge IWPRs artikkel anslås det totale antallet kosovoalbanske fanger å
være ca. 1900. I serbiske fengsler sitter mange ukjente fanger, inkludert
kosovoalbanske barn og mindreårige, helt ned til 5 års alder. Serbiske
myndigheter har bekreftet at det sitter 12 kosovoalbanske kvinner og 25
mindreårige bare i Pozarevac-fengselet. Advokater fra "Humanitarian Law
Centre" fant under et besøk ut at den 20 år gamle kosovoalbaneren Igbale
Xhafaj fødte i fengselscellen i mai, og fortsatt har barnet hos seg.
Advokatene har ofte problemer med å få ut informasjon om hvem som sitter
fengslet.
Private fengsler i Kosovo
Ifølge IWPRs artikkel driver etniske albanere private fengsler i Kosovo.
KFOR har stengt to UCK-drevne private fengsler i Prizren og Gniljane.
UNHCHR etterforsker nå påstander om to albanskdrevne private fengsler i
Pljance og Tuslija: En kosovoalbaner skal ifølge Beograd-avisa Danas ha
tilbudt å sette fri 10 kidnappede serbere fra Kosovo mot å få sin egen sønn
løslatt fra serbisk fengsel. "Soningsforholdene" i disse private fengslene
kan vi bare gjette oss til.
Militærnektere møter fengselsstraffer: ignoreres helt i Vesten
En gruppe som overses helt er militærnekterne, men Amnesty retter nå
oppmerksomheten mot disse. Under krigen ble jugoslaviske menn oppfordret
til å desertere og å nekte militærtjeneste via løpesedler NATO slapp fra
lufta. Tusenvis forsøkte å unnslippe militærtjeneste. Mange militærnektere
lever i dag i landflyktighet i Ungarn, og mottar ingen støtte fra Vesten.
De lever i svært trange kår, og hvis de drar hjem til Jugoslavia venter
svært lange fengselsstraffer. Fra Amnestys web-sider:
"According to the Yugoslav Lawyers Committee for Human Rights, with the
proclamation of a "state of war" in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia on
25 March 1999, a number of special provisions of the Yugoslav Criminal Code
and the Law on the Army came into force. These included a sentence of one
to 10 years' imprisonment for not responding to a call-up for recruitment
or reserve duty (punishable by a fine or one year's imprisonment during
peace time); a sentence of at least five years for avoiding call-up by
going into hiding (three months to five years' imprisonment during peace
time); and a sentence of five to 20 years for leaving the country or
remaining abroad in order to avoid call-up (one to 10 years during peace
time)."
(...)
"Reports of the arrest, prosecution, sentencing and imprisonment of
conscientious objectors, draft evaders and deserters continue to be
received by Amnesty International -even though the "state of war" in the
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia has officially been ended. Estimates of the
number of such cases currently before military courts in the Federal
Republic of Yugoslavia begin at 4,000 and extend as high as 30,000. A
former head of the Legal Department of the Yugoslav Army Supreme Command
put the number of cases at 23,000, according to information received by
Amnesty International in July. The Montenegrin Helsinki Committee has
estimated that proceedings have been brought against 14,000 individuals in
that republic alone. According to a press report from July, Colonel Ratko
Korlat, President of the Belgrade Military Court, has stated that his court
is dealing with 2,400 cases - with an additional 1,900 cases under
investigation.
At least several hundred conscientious objectors, draft evaders and
deserters are already said to have been imprisoned in the Federal Republic
of Yugoslavia - most of them serving a sentence of at least five years'
imprisonment. Many of the imprisoned conscientious objectors, draft
evaders, and deserters are reportedly held in prisons at Zabela -Pozarevac,
Sremska Mitrovica, and Nis."
http://www.scanet.no/Kunder/Amnesty/ainwebek.nsf/c3b07f80f4992c6f41256720003a360
f/c6409aa9594083ed4125682000300fd6?OpenDocument
Vestens støtte til disse militærnekterne er i dag så og si
ikke-eksisterende. For et halvt år siden ble de oppfordret til å nekte av
vestlige myndigheter, via løpesedler sluppet fra luften. Dette er
skammelig, et hykleri uten like.
Øistein Holen
----------
SERBIAN JUSTICE ON TRIAL
The prosecution of a Kosovo Albanian human rights activist on terrorism
charges has exposed serious gaps in the rule of law in Serbia.
By Laura Rozen in Nis
Flora Brovina, a paediatrician, poet and human rights activist from
Pristina, appeared in court in Nis, Serbia, November 11, to face charges of
"conspiring to commit hostile acts" and terrorism.
There has been considerable concern that Dr. Brovina, one of the most
prominent Kosovo Albanians in Serb custody, will be denied a fair trial by
the Serbian authorities.
One incident at the end of the day's court proceedings added credence to
these concerns.
According to one international observer, who wishes to remain anonymous,
Brovina's husband, Ajri Begu, asked the judge if he could speak to his wife
as she was led away.
One of the judges said, "Go right ahead." But when Begu approached his
wife, the police taking Brovina out of the room said he was not allowed to
speak with her. Legally the police do not have the right to tell a court
what to do, but in this instance their arbitrary decision went unchallenged.
"It was obvious which was more powerful: a court decision or police
instructions," said Nikola Barovic, a Belgrade attorney and legal advisor
to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR). "The police are
stronger than the court. The police said no and it was no, who cares for
the judge. That frightens me."
Barovic has voiced fear that the rule of law in Serbia is disintegrating.
Cases of people convicted and sentenced to long jail terms on the basis of
little or no evidence are on the increase, as are incidents of police
ignoring or failing to implement court rulings.
Brovina, 50, was arrested on April 20 in Pristina and later transferred to
Pozarevac. She had been working for several months at a clinic for
internally displaced refugees.
"The whole indictment is based on items confiscated from Dr. Brovina's
medical clinic," explained Radovan Dedijer, a lawyer with the Humanitarian
Law Centre in Belgrade.
"The 'crucial evidence' is some medicines they have taken from her office,
a photo of Dr. Brovina with a member of the KLA [Kosovo Liberation Army],
and wool donated by the British charity Oxfam, which the refugee women were
using to knit sweaters. She is accused of making the sweaters for the KLA,"
he says.
One of Brovina's two defense lawyers, Husnije Bytyqi, an Albanian from
Belgrade, requested the trial be postponed as he had yet to receive a copy
of the indictment against Brovina. His request was denied.
Brovina, who is reported to have suffered a stroke while in police custody,
appeared dishevelled but otherwise well. She was escorted into the dock in
handcuffs by three large security guards.
In her defense statement Brovina said her clinic was properly registered
and was providing medical help "to children and women who were mostly
refugees who had fled to Pristina". She said she was not a member of the
self styled 'Kosovar government', but a member of a council on the
emergency situation in Kosovo, in the capacity of medical adviser.
If convicted Brovina faces a prison term of between one and 10 years.
Human rights groups are eager to ensure that the fate of Kosovo Albanian
prisoners less well known than Brovina are paid due attention. At least
1,900 Kosovo Albanians are known to be in Serbian custody.
The UNHCHR has called for the immediate release of four vulnerable groups
of prisoners: women, minors, the elderly, and the sick.
Lawyers with the Humanitarian Law Centre found a five-month-old baby on one
visit to prisoners in Pozarevac. The baby's mother, Igbale Xhafaj, 20, from
Urosevac, gave birth in her prison cell in May.
Serbian authorities have confirmed that there are currently 12 Kosovo
Albanian women and 25 minors in Pozarevac prison. Aside from the baby, the
youngest prisoner is Sabri Muzliu, 5, from Strubllove, a village near
Glogovac, who is being held along with her sibling Shemsi, 14.
Another concern for human rights groups is the lack of transparency in the
Serbian prison system. Lawyers complain prison authorities simply deny an
individual is in their custody and refuse to provide information on their
whereabouts or well being. There is some evidence that deaths in custody
often go unreported.
Rumours abound of families buying the release of relatives and of prisoners
being murdered in custody.
Now stories are surfacing of private prisons run by ethnic Albanians in
Kosovo where missing Serbs may be being detained.
On November 3, the Belgrade newspaper Danas reported claims by the owner of
a private detective agency in Kragujevac that the father of an ethnic
Albanian had approached him to search for his missing son.
According to the news story, the father offered to pay $20,000 or to
arrange a prisoner exchange. The father allegedly offered to secure the
release of 10 kidnapped Kosovo Serbs.
The father claimed he knew of two private prisons - one in an old brick
factory in the village of Poljance, 12 km outside Srbica in central
Drenica, the other in the village of Tuslija, above Devic monastery. The
report claimed the Serbian prisoners were hidden from KFOR forces in the
mines.
Barbara Davis of the UNHCHR says the commission is investigating these
reports, but they are as yet unconfirmed. KFOR has already shut down two
KLA-run private prisons in the cities of Prizren and Gnjilane.
Davis' commission is trying to compile a comprehensive list of all detained
people, of all ethnic communities, and to identify those considered
vulnerable in order to press for their immediate release.
"It's not just peoples' lives that are being ruined in these trials," says
Davis. "It's the entire state of rule of law. And whether or not there can
be rule of law and respect for the rule of law is at stake."
The conviction of Kosovo prisoners on the basis of no evidence, as well as
the growing number of arrests of Serbian pro-democracy activists on no
legitimate charges, has convinced some human rights activists that there
can be no rule of law in Serbia without major political change.
"Elections on the republic level is the only way to stop this chaos,"
Barovic, the lawyer, added. "Only with a change of government will there be
a chance to reform Serbia's legal system."
Brovina's trial is scheduled to resume on November 25.
Laura Rozen, a regular contributor to IWPR, is a journalist specialising on
the Balkans.
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