Source: http://www.un.org/peace/kosovo/news/kosovo2.htm#Anchor33
Accessed 16 May 2000

Kosovo Transitional Council demands unconditional handover of all Kosovars held in Serbia

MAY 10 -- The Kosovo Transitional Council (KTC) today demanded the unconditional handover to the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) of all Kosovars held in Serbian prisons and other detention facilities.

In a major political statement endorsing tolerance, basic rights and freedoms for all Kosovo communities, the KTC also called for perpetrators of crimes against both Albanian and Serbian communities in Kosovo to be brought to justice.

The KTC demanded that the Government of the former Republic of Yugoslavia grant immediate access for the International Committee of the Red Cross to all detention facilities in Serbia where Kosovars are held.

It also demanded that Belgrade make available to UNMIK all information related to Kosovars who went missing during the past conflict and called on the UN to appoint a special envoy for detainees and missing persons at the earliest date.

In the statement, Serb members of the KTC strongly condemned the crimes, repression and discrimination suffered by the Kosovo Albanian community, while Albanian members similarly condemned abuses against Serbs and other communities that have occurred in post-conflict Kosovo.

The KTC members expressed their serious concern for the present situation of the Serb community and minorities in Kosovo, and for the limitations on the exercise of their fundamental rights. They undertook to do their utmost to improve the situation, in cooperation with UNMIK.

The KTC called on all individuals and communities in Kosovo to refrain from the use of violence, and to solve all disputes through peaceful means.

One member, Gjergj Dedaj, of the Liberal Party of Kosovo (PLK), declined to endorse the statement.