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Source: http://www.hrw.org/press/2001/05/runica0529.htm Macedonian
Government Abuses in Runica Village (New York, May 29, 2001) Macedonian government forces arbitrarily shelled and burned the ethnic Albanian village of Runica and beat some of its civilian inhabitants last week, Human Rights Watch stated today. Six members of one family were wounded by mortar fire and one man was killed. Seven others civilians were severely beaten. "Our investigations show
that Macedonian forces burned civilians' homes and beat some villagers
last week in the village of Runica," said Holly Cartner, executive
director of the Europe and Central Asia division of Human Rights Watch.
"These crimes must be impartially investigated, and those responsible
brought to account."
Human Rights Watch located and interviewed witnesses from Runica, a
mountain hamlet with approximately 100 inhabitants near Kumanovo, who had
been displaced inside Macedonia or fled to Kosovo. Interviewed separately,
they provided highly consistent accounts of the attack on the village.
The government's attack began without warning around 4:00 a.m. on May
21 with mortars, tank shells, and helicopter fire, all of the villagers
said. Most of the approximately ten families that lived in the hamlet fled
immediately into the mountains to escape the shelling.
About 150 meters from their home, the Hyseni family was struck by what
is believed to have been a mortar. Six members of the family were wounded,
as well as another villager, Mexhit Hamide, aged thirty-one and father of
three. He died four days later from his injuries.
Villagers carried three of the wounded through the mountains for ten
hours to the border with Kosovo. Three men then returned to retrieve the
other three wounded they had left behind. When they arrived back at Runica,
they testified, virtually the entire village of approximately fifty houses
had been burned to the ground, including the mosque and the school, which
had been constructed with help from the humanitarian organization Caritas.
One family with four daughters did not flee the village during the May
21 attack because they could not evacuate their elderly and infirm father.
When Macedonian government ground forces entered the village, the family
was caught and badly beaten. Macedonian forces beat all members of the
family, and twice doused the thirty-one year old son with gasoline and
threatened to set him on fire. The family was walked down the only street
of the village and continuously beaten and kicked while the Macedonian
forces burned most of the houses in the village with gasoline. The men and
women of the family showed Human Rights Watch researchers the deep bruises
they had obtained from the beatings, and the bloody clothes they had worn
that day.
Fifty-six year old Advie Hamidi, the mother of the family, testified to
Human Rights Watch:
All of the villagers, interviewed separately, vehemently claimed that
the Albanian insurgency-the National Liberation Army (NLA)-had never been
present in the village, although this could not be confirmed by Human
Rights Watch. Other villages in the region, such as Slupcane and Vaksince,
had an NLA presence.
Human Rights Watch called on the Macedonian government to open an
official and impartial investigation into the incident. The European
Union, U.S. government, and OSCE, should encourage and participate in this
inquiry.
"The government's actions are at odds with its legal obligations
and stated intent to minimize civilian casualties," added Ms. Cartner.
"The U.S. and European governments should condemn the ill-treatment
of the villagers of Runica by Macedonian forces and push for and
participate in a full inquiry into these serious abuses." |
Compiled by Dr S D Stein
30/08/2001 20:58:40
© S D Stein