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UNMIK- KFOR-UNMIK Police-UNHCR Press Briefing, 14 May 2001 UNMIK Spokeswoman Susan Manuel UNMIK Spokeswoman Susan Manuel SRSG SRSG Hans Haekkerup will address the people of Kosovo at 7 p.m. tonight over local TV and radio stations on the Legal Framework. He will have final discussions with members of the Interim Administrative Council informally today and then present the final draft of the document to the IAC meeting tomorrow. If all goes as planned he will promulgate it tomorrow afternoon. Also today Mr. Haekkerup met with the Norwegian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Thorbjoern Jagland. IAC Draft Regulations The IAC tomorrow will discuss this and two other draft regulations: One is on the Prohibition of unauthorized border and boundary crossings. By this regulation, the SRSG will designate authorized boundary and border crossing points. Anyone crossing a border or boundary other than those designated will be committing a criminal offense with punishments of up to 500 DM or 30 days in prison. Also on the IAC table tomorrow will be the draft regulation introducing a Value Added Tax. This tax on domestic consumption of goods and services is set to go into effect on 1 July. It will replace the 15 percent sales tax and the Hotel and Restaurant tax currently in effect. The term value added comes from the value that is added to raw materials, products or goods or service. For instance, if you buy a pen at 10 DM and sell it for 12 DM, the value added is 2 DM. The tax will be on this value added. The EU pillar will hold a workshop for journalists next week to explain the new tax. Judicial Panel As many of you have already reported, on Friday a panel of three international judges, acting under UNMIK's regulation 64, ordered Sali Veseli and two others to be held in detention for 30 days pending an investigation into their connection with the murder of Ekrem Rexha one year ago. Security Companies I have the following announcement on Security Companies. Beginning May 16th all businesses in Kosovo should be aware that only 7 security companies in Kosovo will be licensed to legally operate their firms in Kosovo. Any other company that claims to be legitimate and is operating without an UNMIK license is liable for prosecution. Please see the media release in the press office. Illegal Construction News Conference Today, at 1600, the Pristina Municipal Administrator Sigfried Brenke and the president of the municipality Mr. Salih Gashi will co-host a press briefing on illegal construction, at the Pristina Municipality. Turkish Registration Registration of the Kosovo Turkish population re opens tomorrow in Prizren. KFOR Spokesman Squadron Leader Roy Brown Suspect Escapes KFOR regrets to announce that a suspect being held at the Camp Bondsteel Detention Center escaped last night. FLORIM EJUPI, who was being held on suspicion of murder in relation to the NIS Express bombing in March, made his escape between 0230 and 0425 this morning. Details of how the escape was affected or whether any other persons were involved are as yet unknown. All KFOR Multinational Brigades and sub units, as well as UNMIK-Police have been notified and photographs of the fugitive circulated. Additional road blocks and checkpoint have also been established in an attempt to apprehend him. If any body has any information as to his where-a-bouts or likely destination, they should contact KFOR or the UNMIK Police. Weapons Amnesty KFOR is encouraged by the steadily increasing flow of weapons being handed in under the weapons amnesty program. In the first two weeks a heavy machine gun and 2 rocket propelled grenade launchers have been handed in to KFOR, as well as some 21 rifles, 19 pistols, over 3000 rounds of ammunition and 43 hand grenades. Unfortunately the number of weapons seized, in search operations, still outstrips the number being handed over voluntarily. We would hope to see that trend reversed as we move into the final weeks of the amnesty. COMKFOR Point de Presse You have heard that the NAC is meeting today to consider the return of FRY forces to Sector Bravo of the Ground Safety Zone. COMKFOR, Lt Gen Thorsten Skiaker, will make a statement to the media at Headquarters KFOR Main on Wednesday. All journalists are invited to attend. Please see our Media Ops staff downstairs for more details and to sign up. UNMIK Police Spokesman Charley Johnson Murder We had a murder in the Kosovo Polje area yesterday that was reported to police about 1535 in the afternoon. The victim was a 53 year old Kosovar Albanian man who was shot several times in the driveway to his home. The suspect that we are looking for is the victim's son-in-law, a man by the name of Florim Krasniqi. We are also looking for a red BMW in that case with Kosovo license plates 247-KS-548. There is a press release outside on that case and any information should be turned into the Police as soon as possible. Weapons Amnesty Echoing what KFOR said, today marks the end of the 2nd week of the Weapons Amnesty Program. Considering the amount of weapons remaining in the theatre, the amount of illegal weapons voluntarily turned into police remains small. The most successful region is the Peje region. An unofficial tally shows that in the past two weeks we have accumulated about 79 weapons that have been voluntarily surrendered. Of that about 52 of them have been in locations in the Peje region. The total does not take into account the hundreds of rounds of ammunition that has been surrendered. KFOR and UNMIK Police have confiscated more weapons during the same period of time than have been voluntarily surrendered. A highly successful operation conducted by the Caribineri captured 82 weapons including heavy weapons and explosive ammunition in one operation. We would like to remind the people that the Amnesty period expires on the 4th of June and there is unlikely to be any such opportunities in the future. The penalties after this period for being found guilty of possession of an illegal weapon include a fine of up to 20,000 DM and a prison term of up to 10 years. The real tragedy is that as long as these weapons remain uncontrolled they will continue to kill and injure people. Commander Drini Investigation Also last week there were 5 arrests made in the Prizren region for the murder of Commander Drini. The first 3 arrested are still in detention and their detention has been extended for 30 days past the original 72-hour detention. Please bear in mind that this is an ongoing investigation and there will be little detail, information or confirmation of details concerning the case. There are three reasons for this guarded approach. First, this murder investigation is being handled as any other murder investigation with the same professional level of attention to detail. Second, we do not make any comments on any affiliations by any suspects. We feel we have a right to protect their personal rights in this manner. Also, we are protective of our witnesses and sources of information in these cases. The people that have come forward in this case have the right to security. The final reason is that there is still an ongoing investigation and we do not want to unnecessarily alert potential witness or suspects as to the direction of the investigation. Traffic Fatalities There have been several traffic fatalities throughout Kosovo in the last week. As the weather improves so do the road conditions. Drivers should remain cautious when operating vehicles, especially with the large holes in the road. Crime Rate There were 4 murder cases compared with one the week before. 3 attempted murders, which is almost exactly the same as the week before. The number of kidnapping has dropped from 3 to 0. Across Kosovo 137 persons were arrested, the majority being in Prishtina, Peje and Prizren. 16 persons were arrested for major outstanding crimes, which are murder, rape and kidnapping. Overall the crime rate has decreased from 504 cases the week to 480 cases this week. UNHCR Spokeswoman Astrid van Genderen Stort Overview A total of 250 people crossed during the weekend into Kosovo, bringing the total number of arrivals in Kosovo since 3 May up to 8930 people. Once again, many that would have chosen or even tried to cross Blace crossing point were obliged to cross over the unofficial border crossing due to lack of documents. UNHCR on this side of the border also continues to stress the need to UNMIK and KFOR to provide access to this population, particularly those without documents, to Kosovo. No major problems in this repsect have been encountered. The majority of people is still coming from the Kumanovo region. On Friday several people crossed originating from Tanushevc and Gushince villages, north east of Kumanovo and displaced from their places of origin ever since fighting started in March in their area. These people find themselves presently in secondary displacement . Movement from the Tetovo area, even though limited continues. There were reports of people movement to the Belanovce/Zlokukane unofficial border crossing north west of Slupcane village, but FO Gnilane could not confirm any arrivals as of this morning. In Prizren another 46 people arrived over the weekend coming from Vesale village in the Tetovo region. UNHCR Prizren suspects that these were some of the remaining families that did not leave with the large group from the same village which entered Kosovo on Monday morning. The reports on police harassment during the travel to the border also continue. One family crossing over the unofficial border crossing reported to UNHCR's protection teams that it had to pay 400 DM in order to pass a checkpoint on the way to Blace border (near Stankovac ). Another young male reported that he was questioned aggressively by the police in Kumanovo Town as well as a t Blace official border crossing point. Media coverage has been extensive. UNHCR is concerned about the fact
that at times little consideration for or understanding of the mental
duress some of the new arrivals are facing, is shown. We would kindly
request the media to show respect and consideration to the new arrivals.
Assistance is continuing to be provided to the newly displaced as well as the group which was displaced in March. In Prizren area the international community is trying to alleviate the burden which is now being felt by some of the villages who initially in their enthusiasm took in everyone that arrived. Some of the village have increased by 40% with displaced people over the past two months. Over 17,000 people have arrived from fYROM since fighting started in March. Most of them have expressed the wish to return when fighting is over. Date Blace border(official border crossing) Blace
border(unofficialbordercrossing(*1) Jazince Border(official border
crossing) Jazince unofficial border crossing( hills/mountainsaround
Jazince into Gni.AOR) Muchibaba Bordercrossing from Preshevo
Valley Mountains into Dragash and Zhupa Valley (Prizren
AOR) Questions: Q: Does UNHCR think the civilian conditions are favorable for the
return of FRY forces into Sector B? Q: Was the Bondesteel escapee a member of the KPC? Q: You heard UNHCR is again asking KFOR's consideration on the issue of
Sector B. Is their opinion something you take into
consideration? Do you realize that there could be big fighting there
between the Serb and Albanian forces? Q: Regarding the escape from Bondsteel, can you see any difference
between the Mitrovica Detention Center and the jail at Bondsteel? Q: Will the Framework document be signed today? Q: About the detainee who escaped, when was he orginally
arrested? Q: Of the four people arrested, the person who escaped, was he the last
one in jail? Q: Can you clarify how many exactly were arrested and how many
escaped? Q: Was the arrest operation a NATO or UNMIK police one? Q: I saw on the last page of Koha Ditore an advertisement by KFOR
calling on the Kosovo people not to support, not to speak to extremists of
Presevo Valley but at the same time you speak to them. Is that
compatible? Q: Yesterday KFOR troops met with one of the commanders of UCPMB.
Did you try to convince him not to go further into Presevo? Q: Other than the fact that the detainee escaped, is there any other
physical evidence? Q: When was he transferred to Bonsteel? Q: Why? Q: Are other detainees being questioned as part of the
investigation? Q: Do you really feel that the escapee was guilty? Was he only
under suspicion or do you have proof he did this crime? Q: What is KFOR's opinion on the return of VJ forces into Sector B
after the last fighting. Are the conditions better or worse?
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