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UNMIK-OSCE-EU-UNHCR Press Briefing, 3 September 2001 UNMIK Spokeswoman Susan Manuel Susan Manuel UNMIK Spokeswoman The Interim Administration Council will meet tomorrow. They will be updated on the security situation by the Commander of KFOR and on elections preparations by the OSCE They are also expected to endorse draft regulations on cooperative witnesses, on measures against organised crime and on the protection of injured parties and witnesses in criminal proceedings. The SRSG's meeting with Serb Deputy Prime Minister Covic has been cancelled this morning, due to internal political problems in Belgrade which mandated Mr. Covic's presence there…. A new date will be set soon. The SRSG has signed a new regulation by which he will establish a
Detention Review Commission in order to establish independent judicial
review in cases of extra-judicial detention by Executive Order. There was an extensive amount of crime this weekend with three murders-all Kosovo Albanians all in separate incidents. One man, Cerim Ismaili was murdered at his home in a village near Stimle. Another KA was found murdered in his house in Lipjan. A third man was killed in Orahovac We also have reports of bombs which exploded in the houses of two LDK members in Prizren. No one was injured. Last night in Southern Mitrovica, in the confidence zone, near the east bridge over the Ibar, there was a robbery at the tax authority offices. 100,000 DMs of taxes collected along the administrative boundary with Serbia was stolen. This was approximately one week's revenue. The local guard claims six armed masked men broke into the offices. However police and KFOR at the scene saw nothing unusual around the scene. Vuckovic. On Friday, The Kosovo Supreme Court-consisting of two international judges and one Albanian judge -called for a retrial of Miroslav Vuckovic and sent the case back to the Mitrovica District Court for retrial. Mr. Vuckovic was initially convicted of genocide and sentenced to 14 years' imprisonment. The initial decision of the District Court of Mitrovica was appealed on 20 June 2001. The genocide verdict was rendered in the Mitrovica district court by a panel of mainly Albanian judges. The trial was conducted before the promulgation of regulation 64, which authorizes panels of mainly international judges in ethnically charged cases. The genocide verdict was highly criticized by international observers who charged that the conviction far more serious than the evidence against Mr. Vuckovic indicated. On Thursday, 6 September, the main hearing in the case of Afrim Zeqiri will take place in the Gnjilane District Court. The prosecutor is Michael Harmann. The presiding judge is Mr. Vagn Joensen…Mr. Zeqiri is accused of murdering three Serbs including a 4-year-old child in Cernica in June 2000. SCHOOLS Schools opened today around Kosovo. So far we have not heard of any problems… There has been a controversy surrounding the Serb School in Lipjan:
KFOR and UNMIK police removed a tent designated as a classroom as well as
bus stops where serb students have been harassed on Friday night. The municipality of Lipjan/Lipljan will construct a and is seeking agreement among the communities on a suitable location. Meanwhile, UNMIK has set up a series of containers comprising 4 classrooms and 1 teachers room which are heated,insulated and well-lit. This is a temporary, but adequate solution in order to provide the children with the full educational opportunities. Sports director UNMIK has named a new general Manger for the Youth, Sports and Cultural Center, Boro-Ramiz. He is Mr. Qemaji Hasani who takes over as of today. He is the former President of the Kosovo Youth Association and has worked for TV Pristina..He was also Director of the center in 1991. There have been ongoing discussions on who is responsible for the Center. This affected the decision on the appointment. To resolve the issue, the Dept of Civil Administration made the final selection among candidates… Police Spokesman Dean Olson In Prizren on the 1st of September there were two bombings of LDK Party member houses, one in the village of Belobrod and the other in the village of Brodosavce. At approximately 11:00pm and 11:20pm respectively, the homes of two LDK Party members were targets of explosions. They were two injuries reported initially. The victims were treated for minor injuries. Explosives dogs were sent into the scenes of the explosions and as a precautionary measure, other LDK party member homes were searched for possible devices. None were found. A vigorous investigation into these acts of terrorism is being conducted. The Political Violence Task Force has been informed. There are no suspects at this time. Sodomy A suspect has been arrested in the case of sodomy against a five year old child in the Vitina area. This happened on the 31st of August, where reportedly the suspect took the victim to a remote area and assaulted him. The suspect remains in custody. Shooting in front of AAK Building On Monday the 27th of August, a man was shot in front of the AAK Party Building on Mother Theresa Street in Pristina. The victim was taken to the hospital by an AAK Party vehicle, however the victim died of his injury shortly thereafter. The investigators in this case commend the AAK for their aid and their cooperation in this matter. The suspected shooter has turned himself into the authorities and remains in custody. Until his formal charges are brought to court, we will not release his name at this time. Wedding shots Yesterday in the late afternoon an unknown person began shooting a gun in the air in the Drenica area during a wedding celebration. Police and KFOR responded to the scene and began to search the vehicles in the party and to interview people. We realize that this is a common custom here in Kosovo, however please be aware of these facts: When bullets go up, they come down at almost the same speed at which
they were fired. Possession of weapons without proper authorization is a crime and people caught firing these weapons will be prosecuted. We warn all the people of Kosovo that if they or anyone in the wedding party begins to spray bullets into the air, do not be surprised if your entire wedding party is stopped and searched until the illegal weapon is found. It would be an unfortunate way to ruin a wedding. It would be even more unfortunate if we were to allow an innocent person to be killed by a stray bullet from the sky. Please exercise prudence and caution and encourage everyone you know to do the same. We would prefer that a wedding be a happy occasion for everyone. Weekly Summary of Statistics This week 4 murders were reported, 4 aggravated assaults, 1 kidnapping, 4 cases of arson, a total of 114 arrests, and of those arrests, three were for murder, one for grievous assault, one for kidnapping, and one for rape. There have been 5429 traffic citations written this week. UNHCR : Astrid van Genderen Stort Returnees to fYROM Refugee returns from Kosovo to fYROM have continued all over last week with a daily average of 800 a day (since 28 August). Returnees have mainly gone through Jazince border crossing leading to Tetovo and through the mountains near Prizren. From Wednesday until last night, the ethnic Macedonian protestors blocked the road toward Tabanovce border with southern Serbia in addition to Blace road to Kosovo which has been blocked for over 10 days now. Since the return movement started in July, more than 34,000 refugees have gone back from Kosovo. About 44,000 refugees remain in Kosovo, with approximately up to 30,000 people remaining in Gnilane/Gnjilane area of responsibility alone. Some of the returnees went to Skopje (Karposh area), using the by-pass
through Blace to Shutka area. Most of the returnees, however, have used
the Jazince/Globocica border crossing travelling by vans, buses, personal
vehicles and by foot. Approximately 2000 people travelled though the
mountains near Prizren, mainly by foot. All were allowed to cross the
border though several only were in possession of UNMIK registration
papers. Inside fYROM UNHCR field teams have been out daily this week in conflict?affected villages around Tetovo and Kumanovo, assessing the needs of returnees and those who have stayed through the conflict. UNHCR advocates the rights of refugees and displaced people to return to their homes, but remains concerned that NATO's limited presence in fYROM is giving a false sense of security, as illustrated by the increasing rate of refugee returns this week. Sporadic security incidents occur daily in areas where there is a security vacuum and UNHCR field teams report that there remains a credible fear and uneasiness for the future among the people who stayed in the conflict affected areas as well as among the displaced people. Questions: (In Albanian): Susan, are you expected to extend the registration deadline? SM: There may be some flexibility but there has been no formal decision
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