Derek CHAPPELL, Spokesperson

UNMIK Police Briefing Notes
09 July, 2002

ARRESTS FOR MURDERS

On the night of 20 August, 2001, a K-Albanian family (husband, wife, 4 children) were driving on a road near Koder Village (in Pristina Region) when they were halted by rocks placed on the pavement. Several gunmen then opened fire with assault rifles, killing the entire family except for a 16 year-old who was wounded but survived. A 9 year-old girl died in this brutal, cowardly attack and I have seen the photos of her bullet-riddled body next to a stuffed animal.

On 06 July, 2002, UNMIK Police arrested ten (10) K-Albanian male suspects for the murder, or for helping conceal evidence of the crime. Eight of the suspects were taken into custody during the early morning hours by an extensive arrest & search operation. The others were located and arrested later in the day. The operations were conducted in a manner consistent with the level of potential threat posed by the suspects. However, all of the suspects were taken into custody without significant incident and no injuries were reported at the time. The search operations required approximately five hours to complete and the residents of the houses being searched were treated as well as was practical. I am told that police officers provided water to the families, distributed candy to the children, and otherwise did what was possible to reduce their discomfort.

The husband of the murdered family, Hamez Hajra, allegedly worked for the Serbian authorities during the 1990s. If that was a crime, he was tried, sentenced, and executed by thugs who had absolutely no regard for the rule of law. The same thugs also viciously murdered almost his entire family.

In contrast, the suspects arrested on Saturday are considered innocent until proven guilty and benefit from the rights guaranteed to arrested persons by UNMIK Regulation. A press release detailing those rights has been distributed this morning.

Some news media in Kosovo have attempted to portray the arrests of the suspects on Saturday as being brutal and undemocratic, even unlawful. For example, one video clip portrays a small child allegedly struck in the mouth by a police officer with a rifle. No such incident occurred during the arrest operations and I believe the video clip depicts a fabricated injury, possibly one inflicted on the child in order to give weight to the lies being spread about the UNMIK Police operation. The reports also attempt to claim the arrests represent an attack on a certain organization. Nothing could be further from the truth.

UNMIK Police and the Kosovo Police Service make arrests based on the results of legitimate police investigations. We do not make arrests for other reasons.

I condemn these libellous media reports as an attempt to deceive the people of Kosovo and to promote the use of extremist violence, even terrorism, to exact revenge against people the extremists are opposed to.

I call upon the Kosovo press corps to be professional and not allow yourselves to be duped by those who would use you to spread lies and propaganda.

The information in this report is accurate to the extent of the information known at the time of it's writing. However, further investigations may result in changes to what previously have been reported.

For more information contact the Office of Press and Public Information, UNMIK Police MHQ
Phone 504-604-5071, 3rd floor, office 72