UNMIK- KFOR-UNMIK Police Press Briefing, 9 April 2001

UNMIK Spokesman Michael Keats
KFOR Spokesman Major Axel Jandesek
UNMIK Police Spokeswoman Dmitry Kaportsev
UNMIK Police Spokesman Charlie Johnson

UNMIK Spokesman Michael Keats

Joint Working Group

A reminder that after this news conference at 12n the Chairman of the Joint Working Group on the Legal Framework, Mr. Johan van Lemoen and the Kosovar members of the committee, will brief the press on the latest positions of the committee's very important work.

SRSG

Today the SRSG is visiting the Danish military units stationed in Kosovo.  On Wednesday, Mr. Haekkerup will be going to Paris for a ministerial meeting of the contact group - that's representatives from Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Russia and the United States.  Mr. Haekkerup will be leaving for Tirana later Friday and will be staying for the weekend for talks with Albanian government leaders.

Powell visit

As previously announced, on Friday there will be a visit to Kosovo by the US Secretary of State Colin Powell, who will be meeting the SRSG and members of IAC.  There will be a news conference by general Powell in this auditorium.  The time will be announced later.

Bus Dedication

Tomorrow, April 10, there will be a brief ceremony at the Pristina Bus Station where seven buses, donated by Germany, will be handed over to the administration.  The busses are dedicated to the minority communities transport service.

Train Service

Also, train service from Kosovo Polje to Zvecan has resumed, running twice a day with an international driver.

Book of Missing

Tomorrow at 11am the International Committee of the Red Cross will launch the second edition of the "Book of Missing", with an updated list of names it has received from the families from all committees up until March this year.  It will be at 11am at the ABC Cinemas.

KFOR Spokesman Major Axel Jandesek

Find in Search Operation

Early yesterday morning, the Polish/Ukranian Battalion from KFOR Multinational Brigade East, in conjunction with Multinational Specialized Unit Military Police and a Greek platoon, conducted a major cordon and search operation in Seciste.  The search uncovered four stolen cars, four computers and over 200 bottles of alcohol.  Two protective masks, uniform clothing including 18 balaclavas, two military bags and two rucksacks were also recovered.  The stolen cars and alcohol were handed over to the UNMIK Police.  The computers, which are believed to have been stolen from a school in Djeneral Jankovic, were taken to Camp Bondsteel for further analysis.

UNMIK Police Spokeswoman Dmitry Kaportsev

Crime Report

The criminal situation remains stable in Kosovo with a slight decrease in both major crimes and total crime activity. There were six (6) murders reported in comparison with three (3) last week, the facts occurred in Pristina(1), Mitrovica (1), Prizren (3). The victims were K-Albanians (2), K-Serbian (2), and Roman (2) Three aggravated assaults occurred with victims all K-Albanians. Victims of the three (3) registered kidnappings were (2) K-Albanians and (1) K-Serbian. Six (6) cases of arson were reported in the Province. Victims were (2) K-Albanians, (2) K-Serbians, (1) Roma and (1) Bosnian. Total of 145 persons were arrested: 35 in Pristina, 23 in Gnjilane, 38 in Prizren, 34 in Pec and 15 in Mitrovica. There were ten arrests reported for major crimes: 3 for murders, 1 for aggravated assault, 3 for arson and 3 for rape.

Assaults against Police

During the period of time since January 1, 2001 (17) International and  (33) KPS Officers were assaulted by citizens.  Four cases of assaults registered this week are very typical but I deeply believe that most of assaults on KPS and International Police Officers happen not because the community does not like the Police. The real reason seems to be lack of knowledge, people just don't think about the way they should behave while being stopped or arrested by Police and the possible consequences. I feel that there could be a part of our as Police PIO and your as journalists fault here. We must emerge this issue more often and make Kosovars know the basic rules of behavior under above-mentioned circumstances.
They are as simple as this: Obey orders given by Police; Don't argue; Be cooperative ; Don't make unexpected quick movements; Listen to what Police tells you not to anybody else.  I would also like to remind the audience that under applicable law a person could be sentenced up to one (1) year in prison for assaulting a Police Officer, if this person insults or abuses an officer or inflicts light bodily injury on him or threatens to use a weapon he or she can be punished by three month to three years in prison.

After 20 months and 2 weeks of me working as the UNMIK Police PIO I am taking my leave.  I will direct all further questions on Police matters to Charlie Johnson who everybody knows as he was here for a long time in the Pristina region as a public information officer.

Questions:

Q: Any news on the Krevenik investigation?

AJ: I am very sorry but I cannot give you any news.  I will have to refer you to the last statement given by General Joseph Ralston on Friday.  That is the current state on the investigation.

Q: Can you give us any update on the detainees who were arrested for crossing the border and what are the charges they are likely to be charged with?

DK: The 44 are suspected of illegal possession of weapons and possibly illegal border  crossing.  The current status is that they are under the order of an international judge for an extension of detention for 30 day. Among those, I can tell you 6 are confirmed as Kosovar Albanian, the rest, which are 38, are coming from Macedonia.  The figures may change, because it is still under investigation and not everybody has proper identification papers.

Q: Since KFOR won't speak about the Krevenik investigation, maybe UNMIK police can tell us if they are getting any assistance from KFOR on the criminal investigations they have launched in the case of the journalist getting killed with two civilians.?

DK: Well our investigation will depend on the nature of the incident which is not yet established.  So for the time being we have full coordination with KFOR.

Q: Christopher Albiston launched a new procedure for weapons surrender.  Do you have any information on the process?

CJ: There is a new weapons amnesty law that is coming out and it will take effect, the weapons amnesty law, on April 30th through 4 June, at which time people will be able to turn in weapons without prosecution.  The reason for this new period is because after that point and time a newer more strict law will go into effect and the fines can be up to 20,000 DM and there can be a prison sentence from a year up to several years depending on the weapons and the circumstances beside it.

Q: Any significant surrender of weapons so far?

CJ: This does not go into effect until the 30th of April so that period has not started yet.

Q: How long does it take a normal police lab to evaluate where a weapon comes from?

DK: We normally don't investigate that type of attack because it is typically a military issue to investigate the crater of a shelling or bombing.  In real life, we mostly deal with lighter weapons so I would really like to direct that question to KFOR.

CJ: Considering normal rounds, like pistol rounds or rifle rounds, the time period can be anywhere from 6 weeks to 6 months depending upon the emphasis you put on the case when it is submitted to the lab and what falls into the criteria for their structure and how they evaluate you r case, whether it takes priority or not.

Q: How many murder cases were solved in Kosovo since the UNMIK police took over?

DK: I can come back to you with the exact numbers of arrests made in murder cases but if you compare the number of arrests and the number of murders, it will exceed 50%.

Q: To follow up, exactly how many cases?  We know a lot of arrests have been made, but for cases since the 14 Serbs were killed in 1999 when NATO entered until now, how many cases were solved?  We know a lot of arrests have been made, but we don't know that any who were arrested were charged with the case.

DK:  I would like if you would contact us later because we need to go into specifics about the definition of a solved case which is very different in different  countries.

Q: Are you extraditing Albanians from Macedonia which are being caught trying to caught the border?

AJ: As far as I know all of the suspected people who cross the border illegally are first detained and then questioned and investigated and then handed over to the responsible organization, sometimes if we know about any criminal activity to UNMIK police.

Q: Does UN Police think KFOR is providing all information on the Krevenik case.

DM: I believe KFOR 100%.

Q: What will you know with the 38 Macedonian citizens if they are found guilty of illegal possession of weapons or illegal border crossing?  Will you extradite them?
DK: To my understanding according to the applicable law in Kosovo they will have to serve their sentences here in this territory where the crime has been discovered.