COUNCIL FOR THE DEFENCE OF  HUMAN  RIGHTS AND  FREEDOMS
KĖSHILLI PĖR MBROJTJEN E TĖ DREJTAVE E TĖ LIRIVE TĖ NJERIUT

Report 475 

on the situation of the human rights and freedoms in Kosova from December 5 until December 12, 1999

During the period between December 5 and December 12, 1999, 5 citizens were killed, of whom 2 Albanians (one of mines), 2 Serbs and one person whose identity could not be confirmed; 3 Albanians were wounded. Two Albanian girls were kidnapped. 4 cases of attempted kidnappings were reported (3 female pupils and one child). Flora Brovina, a pediatrician, humanitarian activist and a poetess, was among those sentenced in the Serbian courts. 2 persons were reburied, another 2 Albanians (who were killed by the Serbian forces) were exhumed and the identity of another one was confirmed.

Killings

    On December 6 - An eyewitness reported to the UNMIK police that 2 Serb citizens, mother (60) and son (30), were killed in their flat in the “Dardania” quarter in Prishtina.
    On December 8 – In the early hours of the morning, an unidentified person aged about (30) was killed in the vicinity of the village of Bellopoja near Podujeva. The very same day, the organization named “Shqiponja Kombėtare” took the responsibility for this killing. According to them, the killed was a citizen of Albania and had confessed of having committed 42 acts of kidnappings throughout the territory of Kosova.
    - In the early hours of the morning, the corpse of a killed Albanian was found in Peja.

Mass graves, reburials, exhumations - the identification of the killed

    On December 9 – The corpses of 2 Albanians were exhumed from a mass grave in the village of Bresje near Fushė-Kosova and taken to the morgue of the Prishtina Hospital.
    On December 12 - Brothers Prend Zef Lleshi (35) and Memė Zef Lleshi (26) were reburied in the village of Vraniq near Gajkova. The two were KLA superiors in the Dukagjini operational zone and were killed on January 27, in the vicinity of the village of Goden, on the border between Kosova and Albania.

    SKĖNDERAJ: The corpse of Hysen H. Syla from the village of Shtutica near Gllogoc was identified in a mass grave in the village of Kryshec. Hysen was killed at the place called “Te betoni” near the village of Polac, on March 23, 1999. A large number of Albanian civilians from the municipalities of Skėnderaj and Gllogoc were executed at this place.

Mine incidents

    GJAKOVA: On December 7, Kujtim Gjelosh Pnishi (19) from the village of Meja stepped on a land mine and was killed. The mine had been laid on the banks of the Ereniku river.
    The very same day, “Handicap International”, discovered a minefield covering a surface of 3 km2 in the region of Reka e Keqe. The mines had been laid in the vicinity of the “Musė Ymeri” bridge, in the vicinity of the villages of Popoc and Smolica. In two days, this organization deactivated 20 anti-tank mines.

Woundings

    GJILAN: On December 6, in the early hours of the morning, an Albanian was shot and heavily wounded on his head.
    PRISHTINA: On December 8, Fahrije Veseli (22) from Prishtina and another person were wounded by unidentified persons in the vicinity of the “Noti” Pizzeria.

Disappearances and kidnappings

    VUSHTRRI: On December 8, an Albanian girl was kidnapped by two unidentified persons in a red GOLF. The incident happened in the evening hours. At the very same place, the soldiers of the United Arab Emirates, who were on patrol, prevented the kidnapping of a child. The kidnappers managed to escape. Last night, French soldiers searched a café in Vushtrria and found three girls who were forced to prostitution. 10 persons were arrested (including one woman).
    SHTIME: On December 9, at about noon, three unidentified persons (in a car) tried to kidnap three pupils of the “Abdullah Shabani” Primary School in the village of Carraleva.
    SKĖNDERAJ: On the crossroad between Skėnderaj-Gllogoc and Llausha, two youngsters came out of a BMW and kidnapped a 17-year-old girl.

Trials

    - On December 9, Flora Brovina, a pediatrician from Prishtina, was sentenced by the District Court in Nish (Serbia) to a prison term of 12 years. She was accused of “terrorism” and “hostile activity”.
    - The District Court in Vranje (Serbia) sentenced Xhavit Ramizi from the village of Breznica near Bujanoc to a prison term of 3 years. He was accused of illegal arms possession.

Ill treatments, attacks, provocations

    MITROVICA: On December 6, at about 11 a.m., a group of Serb women led by Lubinka Gjusiq, beat Hadije Rizah Zhubi (52). The incident happened in front of Hadije’s flat in the “Kodra e Minatorėve” quarter, in the northern part of Mitrovica. Hadija went out to buy food for her children.
    The very same day, at about 1.15 p.m., a group of Serb paramilitaries led by Miodrag Razliq and Aleksandar Lalin as well as the former policemen Darko and Boban attacked the offices of the Albanian Republican Party in the northern part of Mitrovica.
    According to the UNMIK police, at about 3 p.m., a Serb refugee from Bosnia beat an Albanian woman aged about 50. The assaulter was arrested and sent to prison. At about 6 p.m., three Serbs beat an Albanian woman.
     On December 7, a group of Serbs beat Nuredin Osmani and his two children aged 7 and 9. Nuredin was taking his children to school in the southern part of the town.
     On December 8, at about 7.30 p.m., a group of Serb hooligans (among whom) Slavisha Joviq – Pagi, Nebojsha Joviq, Ivan Pejqinoviq and Branko Bane Branislav, threw an explosive device at the house of Kemajl Mujė Hyseni (41), a Bosniac. Extensive material losses were caused. The incident occurred in the “Ibri” quarter.
    On December 9, at about 12.45 p.m., the very same group of hooligans physically ill-treated Isuf Rushit Kelmendi (34), from the “Ibri” quarter. The incident occurred in the vicinity of the Technical Secondary School, in the northern part of the town. Isuf was threatened with liquidation.
    KLINA: On December 6, at about 2.30 p.m., in the vicinity of the place called Rrasat e Gjurgjevikut, on the road between Peja and Prishtina, 3 unidentified persons came out of a car and stopped Bajram Berisha (1969) from the village of Gjurgjevik, who was traveling to Klina. Bajram was taken to the village of Llapēeva near Malisheva. Money and a mobile phone were taken from him. The assaulters took Bajram’s car and fled in it.
    SKĖNDERAJ: On December 8, in the evening hours, 5 armed persons wearing masks went to the house of Shaqir Ēollaku. Shaqir, who is temporarily employed in Italy, had come home on holidays. Three of the assaulters stood outside the house, whereas, the other two went into the house and asked for money. Shaqir’s family managed to disarm one of the assaulters and to tear the mask of the other. The assaulters fled.
    GJAKOVA: On December 8, at about 11.30 p.m., several bombs were thrown at a Roma house in Gjakova. The attack was repeated several hours later, but the bombs did not explode. Later on, the bombs were removed by KFOR soldiers. In the evening hours, two hand grenades were thrown at a house in Gjakova. One of the grenades exploded. No one was injured.
    PODUJEVA: On December 11, in the evening hours, fire was opened from the territory of Serbia towards the village of Dumnica e Epėrme. Dumnica is a village on the border zone between Kosova and Serbia.
    PEJA: Unidentified persons damaged several graves in the Catholic Cemetery in Peja.
    GJAKOVA: Edin Gusinac (1974) from Novi-Pazar (Serbia) and his companion Mirsad Zekoviq, a taxi driver, were caught after several months of fraud. The two with the assistance of of two other persons from the village of Raushiq near Peja, living in Belgrade, have deceived many Albanian citizens from Gjakova, Deēan, Peja, Vushtrria, Prishtina and Gjilan, whose relatives are in the prisons of Serbia or are missing. Edin asked for DM 500 for his services. In this way, he managed to deceive some 150 citizens and to collect some DM 75.000. In Gjakova only, he collected some DM 9500. Edin had an “ASCONA” car – NP 136 76. He was caught by the local authorities in Gjakova and handed in to the KFOR.
    ISTOG: In the vicinity of the village of Tomoc, on the road between Istog and Gurrakoc, unidentified armed persons wearing masks stopped the car driven by Rexhep Ramēaj from the village of Banja. The assaulters threatened Rexhep and forced him to go with them to the village of Veriq. Rexhep was beaten. His car and money were looted.

The prisoners

    PRISHTINA: On December 10, “Koha Ditore” published a list with the names of 20 Albanian prisoners, a number of whom had not previously figured in the lists of those imprisoned. The following are imprisoned in Nish:
      Gazi Dervish Fazliu and
      Berat Ramadan Xhezairi – Prizren;
      Elez Durzim Haxhillari – municipality of Prizren;
      Fatmir Shashivar Memaj,
      Kujtim Ekrem Memaj,
      Nexhmedin Haki Ajazaj,
      Elez Kurtaj and Tahir Ademaj – Zhur;
      Ibrahim Adem Tahiri – Lybeēeva,
      Shaban Kamber
      Xhimbedi – Lubizhda, and
      Afrim Muhamed Berisha – Lez (Prizren);
      Agim Isa Krasniqi and
      Engjėll Prenk Zefi – Ēeskova (Klina);
      Ilaz Avdi Hoxholli – Hajvali (Prishtina),
      Jeton Dalip Krasniqi – Buēa (Dragash),
      Fazli Xhevat Fazliu – Breznica (Obiliq),
      Nijazi Selim Krasniqi – Pastasella (Rahovec),
      Avdyl Jahir Morina – Arllat (Gllogoc) and
      Islam Imer Thaēi – Beograd.

      Xhevat Mustafa, aged between 20-30, is in the prison of Mitrovica e Sremit

Eastern Kosova – (Presheva, Bujanoc, Medvegja)

    PRESHEVA: On December 8, at about 3 a.m., there was a powerful blast at the cattle farm in the vicinity of the police station. Extensive material losses were caused and many windows were broken in the neighboring houses.
    BUJANOC: On December 11, at about 10.30 p.m., there was a powerful blast in the vicinity of the “Branko Radiēeviq” Primary School which is located near the police station in Bujanoc. The blast disturbed the citizens. The windows of the school as well as those in many neighboring houses were broken.

KFOR and UNMIK interventions

    MITROVICA: On December 6, at about 7.40 a.m., in the village of Zhabar i Poshtėm, Danish soldiers arrested Liridona Afrim Ferati (14), a pupil of the “Migjeni” Primary School in Mitrovica. The children were throwing snowballs at each other when a bus full of Serbs under the escort on Danish soldiers passed by. Liridona was first taken to Zubin-Potok and then to Mitrovica, where she was handed to the UNMIK police. Later on, Liridona was released but has suffered traumas.
    SKĖNDERAJ: On December 6, after midnight, Russian soldiers stationed in the vicinity of the Buroja Mill, looted 75 boxes of cigarettes and 35 boxes of chewing gum (estimated to DM 1500) from the shop owned by Rrahim H. Thaēi from Buroja.
    PRISHTINA: On December 8, Bernard Kouchner, the UN civil administrator for Kosova, suspended Ph.D. Agron Dida, an engineer, the general director of the PTK, and replaced him with Mr. Gerard Fischer, the director of the UNMIK department for Economic Issues and Natural Resources. Mr. Dida was suspended under the pretext that he had refused to sign the contract with the French Company “Alcatel”. Mr. Dida stated that “by doing so the UNMIK Regulation no. 12, which was signed by Mr. Kouchner himself, was violated”. Due to his newly gained competences Mr. Fischer can decide by himself on the implementation on the PTK contract.

Evidence on war criminals

    VITI: In the municipality of Vitia, many lists were found with the names of the Serbian military and paramilitary forces implicated in the killings and the persecution of the Albanian population. A list was found with the names of the following 20 policemen (members of a special police unit): Bogosav Kėrēmareviq, Canko Spasiq, Dragan Nojkiq, Nebojsha Arsiq, Novica Jakovleviq, Dragan P. Stanishiq, Miodrag Stanishiq, Dragisha Dinēiq, Slavisha Maksimoviq, Zoran Cvetkoviq, Nebojsha Stanojeviq, Branko Arizanoviq, Nenad Pėrzhiq, Momēilo Vasoviq, Vidosav Kojiq, Milovan Ivkoviq, Miroslav Mihajloviq, Sasha Vujiq, Stanislav Vukiq and Sasha Jeremiq. The above mentioned were active in Kosova starting from May 19.
 

Prishtina, December 12, 1999                      Information Service

Rr. Zdrini, 38000 Prishtinė-Kosovė; tel. 381 (0) 549006  fax: 381 (0) 38 549007
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