|
UNMIK-UNMIK Police-KFOR-OSCE Press Briefing, 29 October 2001 UNMIK Spokeswoman Susan Manuel
New Venue for Press Briefings This is the last press briefing for us in this room, which will be renovated for the Kosovo Assembly. Thursday's press briefing will be held in Room C301. Then we will move over the auditorium in the old JA army HQ, UNMIK HQ. For Thursday, preferential seating will be given to journalists. Talks with Belgrade Yesterday Mr. Hans Haekkerup met with a delegation of Yugoslav authorities to continue work on a common document aiming at support of Kosovo Serb participation in elections. Progress was made and Mr. Hans Haekkerup feels agreement is close. He will meet again probably tomorrow with Belgrade representatives again here in Pristina. He will brief members of the Interim Administrative Council tomorrow on these talks. Also at the IAC, DSRSG Everts will present the Draft "Regulation of Broadcasting through the Establishment of the Independent Media Commission and the Media Appeals Board". Draft Regulation under consideration by IAC The office of the Legal Advisor will present the draft Administrative Direction establishing the Assembly secretariat and other administrative support services for the Assembly and the Draft Regulation on the Rules of Procedure of the Kosovo Assembly. The IAC will continue to consider the draft "Regulation on the use of Flags, Symbols and Emblems in Kosovo". Swearing in of two international judiciary This morning Mr. Haekkerup is swearing in two new international judiciary: Ms. Chatherine Marchi-Uhel of France will be the international judge for Pristina and Mr. Philip King Alcock of the UK will be the second international prosecutor for Mitrovica.
Anthrax Scare in Pristina On Thursday, the 25th of October, there were two cases of suspected anthrax scare in Pristina. First, in UNMIK Police Station # 4 an envelope with bizarre markings was received at the office of the Station Commander. On preliminary observation the source of the mail could not be ascertained which added to the suspicion that there could be some hazardous substance in the envelope. The second incident happened later in the day in dormitory # 3 of Pristina University, where some female residents received two envelopes containing white powder. This led to the apprehension that these could contain some hazardous chemical or biological substance, possibly anthrax. Both locations were temporarily evacuated by UNMIK Police with the help of KFOR and the suspicious packages were secured in special containers. Subsequent examination revealed that the envelope received at Station # 4 was from a legitimate source and did not require further examination. The two envelopes found at Pristina University however, have been secured by Police for laboratory tests. The results of the test are awaited. Pending the results of the test, the room where the envelopes were located has been sealed by the police as a precautionary measure. Murder Arrest -- Gnjilane On the 19th of September, in the Dramjak village of Ferizaj/Orahovac a 36-year-old K-Serbian female was found brutally murdered outside her home, hacked to death with an axe. The murder had been reported to the police by the victim's 85-year-old K-Albanian husband, who stated that she had gone out to get some firewood and failed to return home. After some time, he went out to look for her and discovered her body outside their residence. UNMIK Police had initially picked up a 43-year-old K-Albanian male from Shtime village for questioning. The Homicide Unit of Gnjilane Police had since been working on the case. Last week, following a thorough investigation of the case, the police have arrested the 85-year-old husband of the victim on charges of murdering his wife. The suspect is lodged in the Pristina Detention Centre awaiting trial. Update on Murder Investigation During the week there have been some speculations in the media regarding the motive behind the recent case of shooting in Mitrovica on a vehicle carrying three LDK party functionaries and a journalist, which resulted in the death of two persons and injury to a third. We would like to set at rest all speculations in this regard. UNMIK Police in Mitrovica is currently working on several leads relating to the case and it is still too early to arrive at any conclusions regarding the motive behind the murders. Until such time any public speculation on the matter would be an exercise in futility. We appeal to the media to show greater restraint in reporting matters being investigated by the police. Prostitution Arrests On 25th October, an 18-year-old Ukrainian female reported to UNMIK Police that she had been trafficked into Kosovo and had been sold for 2,500 DM to the owner of a Bar in Lubizhda village in Prizren. The Prizren TPIU was notified about the case. During investigations it was revealed that over the last three months the victim had been repeatedly beaten by the K-Albanian owner of the Bar and forced to work as a prostitute. In this act he had been assisted by a Moldavian female. UNMIK Police have arrested the bar owner and his Moldavian accomplice on suspicion of pimping and forcing the victim into prostitution. The victim has been interviewed by the OSCE human rights officer and admitted to the Prizren hospital to attend to some medical problems. In another case, on Wednesday 24th October at 1500 hours, it was learnt through the KPS intelligence sources that a red Volkswagen was heading for Pristina with three women who were being trafficked for prostitution. The Regional Operational Support Unit of UNMIK Police apprehended the
suspect vehicle along with a blue Ford taxi following it on the Skopje
highway south of Pristina. The suspect was released after questioning while the females were taken for interviewing by the police. The case is under investigation. Impersonating Police Officer On 21st October in Vitina a K-Albanian male attempted to con another K-Albanian male by posing as a police officer. The suspect telephoned the victim and identified himself as a Border Police Officer. He then told the victim that his stolen car had been recovered and was at the Border Police Station. The victim was asked to pay 1200 DM for the return of the car. The victim however was sensible enough to approach the Police with the information. As a result, the suspect has now been arrested by UNMIK Police for impersonating a police officer and is currently lodged in detention. We take this opportunity to warn the people to beware of such conmen
and in case of any suspicion verify their credentials with the nearest
police station. Political rallies continued peacefully across Kosovo through the week. An estimated 10,000 persons attended 61 political rallies organized by various political parties in different parts of Kosovo. No incidents have occurred and no arrests made. Overview Looking back on the past week, there were three murders reported as against five in the week before. One kidnapping was reported which was the same as in the previous week. Cases of arsons too remained at the last week's level of two. Across Kosovo, 108 persons were arrested, the majority being in Gnjilane, Pec and Prizren. 9 persons were arrested for outstanding major crimes like murder, attempted murder and rape. The overall crime rate decreased from 487 cases the week before to 478
cases this week.
Weapons Seizure I know that many of you may find my weekly list of weapons finds a little repetitive, but this vital work in ensuring that a safe and secure environment is maintained here in Kosovo, and this week has been a particularly successful one. In one instance, on Wednesday, an Multination Brigade Center patrol discovered 5 rocket launchers, 7 handgrenades, 3 rifles, 3 pistols and over 5000 rounds of ammunition in Gracanice / Gracanica and a Special Police Unit patrol in Multinational Brigade South arrested two men after they found 48 shotguns in the boot of their car. In total we have confiscated; nearly 1500 rifles and pistols, 1300 antitank, rockets and missiles, 1900 grenades and most notably over 190,000 rounds of ammunition since Jun this year. I am sure you will all agree that this is a significant number of weapons and that Kosovo is a safer place as a result of this work. Again last week there were instances where members of the public reported weapons finds to KFOR and UNMIK-Police. KFOR ensures the safety of all of you and your families, however the local population must act with us, these instances show a growing sense of civil responsibility, and we encourage all of you to report the location of any illegal weapons to KFOR and UNMIK-Police. Illegal Entry The number of reports of people attempting to enter Kosovo illegally fell to three last week. A man who claimed to be a Bosnian policeman tried to pass through Gate 1 to go to Leposaviq / Leposavic but was refused entry and two men who tried to illegally cross the border from FYROM into Kosovo were seized north of Kobilica and handed over to MP's. After a search, the MP's found five ID cards and 15,000 DM. The men were handed over to UNMIK Police. Security Environment Calm I have little else to add, except that the security environment is very
calm at the moment and KFOR is doing its utmost to maintain this
situation. We hope that the elections will be peaceful, free and
democratic and that this will allow for full participation. That
said there are still incidents of intimidation of minorities with
vandalism of their property, mainly by juveniles. The behavior such
as the stoning of the train is not only illegal and irresponsible but it
will do nothing to encourage the minority communities to take part in the
elections. It is a parent's obligation to take account of the
actions of their children. I return to the point of civil
responsibility, the responsibility for ensuring the safety and security of
the minorities lies with the majority of the population and you must start
to work with KFOR and UNMIK to ensure that they not only are safe but feel
secure in Kosovo. Election It is now less than three weeks until the election, and the preparations are going very well. The final voters list is being printed in the UK this week. This year it will be much easier for people's names to be found on the list as it is being organised alphabetically, rather than by numbers on the registration slip. This should make it much easier to find people's names on the list and so should cut down some of the confusion on election day. Our main concern now, is that we still have not got the agreement with the Belgrade authorities to prepare elections in Serbia proper and montenegro. We still need to identify the polling centres, train staff in OSCE procedures and so on. I want to make it very clear that we are talking about two different things -- technical preparations and political endorsement. We have to be able to make the technical preparations - the appointment of polling centres and the training of staff - in order to hold the election. While it would be good to get the political endorsement as soon as possible - that the Serbian community does decide to take part - we have to have the technical agreement in order to hold the election. Political endorsement wont help anyone if people do not have anywhere to vote. As Ambassador Everts has said "we are getting very concerned that the 100,000 people who are eligible to vote in Seria and Montenegro will be disenfranchised because Belgrade is delaying our start." Young Voices On Wednesday the OSCE will be joining UNICEF in launcing the Young Voices project. It is a survey of the views of young people in Kosovo - and may be they should be listened to. Seventy eight percent of them think that voting in an election is the way to improve things here. The launch is at the Faik Konica school in Prstina at 10.30 on Wednesday morning.
Q: I have a question for UNMIK Police. You said that since the election campaign began, there has been no violence. In Lipjan, KFOR soldiers stopped, checked and searched one of the leaders of the Alliance for the future of Kosovo, Ramush Haradinaj. Don't you consider that to be a case of election violence? NKS: I would not like to comment on what KFOR soldiers have done in Lipjan. I think that is something for the KFOR spokesperson to really look into. But what we have been trying to say in fact is that these political rallies, which have been held with thousands of people attending have been held very peacefully and without any kind of incidents. And that we do want to juxtapose these against some isolated cases of political violence, which are happening in isolated parts of Kosovo. But what we are trying to say is that the general trend indicates that people are largely willing to participate in the peaceful manner in the political process. Q: Claire, do you think the freedom of conducting political rally has been violated by this intervention of the Finnish battalion in Lipjan? CT: I quite agree with the UNMIK Police, this is something for KFOR. We are working very closely with KFOR and UNMIK Police to make sure that it is a very peaceful election. On specific instances you would have to talk to the organization involved. Q: Question for KFOR. Do all your soldiers, especially the Finnish battalion, know that there are elections in 45 days in Kosovo? DS: Yes, I am sure that all of our soldiers are aware that there are 45 days to the election day. Q: Apparently, there was a murder over the weekend in Pristina, a man was found shot dead in his car. Who was he and what was the motive? NKS: We did find a body of a person in a car but from the preliminary indications it appears to be a case of suicide. He shot himself from what appears at the moment. Q: You said that there were some positive steps taken yesterday in the meeting between the Serb delegation and Hans Haekkerup. From what I see in B 92, Beta and other Serb news agencies, the negotiations have failed. SM: I did not see anywhere in the Belgrade media that said the negotiations have failed. They could not have failed because they are still talking. Q: I have here all the excerpts from the Belgrade media to show you. What kind of concessions are you going to make to the Serb delegation except for the concession on the university in the northern part of Kosovo and the amnesty law, which is being prepared by Hans Haekkerup? SM: Would you like to come up and give the briefing on these because I haven't heard about any of this that you are talking about. First of all I don't know what you are talking about in terms of an amnesty law. Second of all we are preparing various points to show, as we have said for the last two weeks, improvements on the crucial issues for the Serbs, which are the missing, the judiciary, the returns, and primarily security and freedom of movement. We don't call those concessions, we call them points from where we are trying to improve on the conditions that exist for Kosovo Serbs now. It is not about concessions, it is about fulfilling our duties and fulfilling them better, basically. I don't know what you are saying about an amnesty law under preparation. There is no amnesty law under preparation by Mr. Haekkerup. Q: For the Serbs? SM: No. No such thing. About the Serb university in the north, preparations are being made to include that under the UNMIK administration and the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology to be created after the 17th of November. Q: My first question is for KFOR. Are you able to add any comments to recent reports on the findings of depleted uranium ammunitions in and around Kosovo? Are you able to speculate as to which towns in the region maybe be in danger or maybe exposed to these ammunitions? DS: I think the report you are referring to has been issued yesterday and that basically said that there is no link between he use of depleted uranium and any cases in Kosovo and in the region. So other than what was contained in that report I am not in a position to comment or speculate any further than that. Q: This is for Claire. It is clear that even if the Serb vote is not endorsed by Belgrade, the elections will still go ahead. And that is not the reason for invalidity of the elections. But what about the technical preparations if Belgrade is not able to set up voting preparations for people in those areas that you mentioned. Will the elections still go ahead? CT: Well, the Kosovo elections will still be valid. Our problem, as we
have been saying, are the actual preparations. Obviously we are literally
running out of time. It is very hard to organize a whole election
structure in just over two weeks. There will come a point when we are
going to have to turn around and say we cannot organize elections in
Serbia and Montenegro. We are not at that stage yet, but it could happen.
|