United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo UNOFFICIAL TRANSCRIPT

Briefing Notes, 01 October 2002

UNMIK Spokeswoman Susan Manuel
KFOR Spokesperson SQ. leader Tony Adams
UNMIK Police Spokesperson Barry Fletcher
OSCE Spokesperson Alexander Benz
EU Spokeswoman Monique De Groot

UNMIK Spokeswoman Susan Manuel

SRSG Michael Steiner is outraged at and has condemned the reports of multiple rapes of two minor girls from northern Mitrovcia which allegedly took place Friday night, in south Mitrovica and in Pristina.

SRSG Steiner immediately ordered the formation of a special police task force composed of Pristina and Mitrovica officers to investigate exactly what happened and to bring all the perpetrators to justice as soon as possible. Police are working closely with the Department of Justice on the case.

An international prosecutor has been designated to oversee the investigation. An international investing judge is also assigned to the case and will decide upon the detention of the suspects.

“The law must be applied in its full force,” the SRSG said.

As Barry Fletcher will report to you now, a 15-year-old Bosniac girl and a 17-year-old Serbian girl were allegedly raped by a group of men in southern Mitrovica late Friday night. They were then apparently abducted to Pristina where they were handed over to another group of men who also raped them. One of the girls was hospitalized.

Police have already detained two Kosovo Albanian suspects in Pristina.

In other information from the Justice department, the case of Idriz Balaj, plus five, has been rescheduled for 16 October. The venue is still to be decided.

The case of Ramush Haradinaj has been separated from the main case and will be heard by the Peja/Pec municipal court sometime in November.

UNMIK Police Spokesperson Barry Fletcher

Kidnapping/Rape Arrests

Yes on the kidnapping/rape case, on 29-09-02 in Pristina, police arrested two males after they kidnapped two females (one K-Serb & one K-Bosnian, reportedly ages 17 and 15 years) from Mitrovica and raped them. The kidnapping occurred on 27-09-02 in a roadway tunnel in Mitrovica South. Later, the suspects transported the victims to Pristina where four unknown suspects also raped them. The victims also sustained physical injuries during the crimes.

Homicides

Unfortunately we’ve had two homicides: On 30-09-02 in Vucitrn, a 9 year-old boy was accidentally shot and killed by his 7 year-old brother as they were playing with a hunting gun.

On 27-09-02 in Pristina Region, a 32 year-old man was found dead near a railway bridge. A mentally-ill suspect has been arrested and the weapon – a metal bar – was recovered.

Murder Arrests

On 26-09-02, UNMIK Police in Pristina Region arrested two K-Albanian men for the murder of a 50 year-old K-Serbian woman during late June of 1999. A third suspect is being sought by police.

Prostitution Arrests

Police have continued the campaign against prostitution and trafficking in Kosovo. On 30-09-02 in Prizren, a raid on a café-bar resulted in the arrest of another man for prostitution slavery. The victim had previously been rescued. On 28-09-02, police and KFOR in Jakova (Pec Region) conducted a joint anti-prostitution operation with raids on eleven café-bars. Ten of the businesses were subsequently closed for prostitution or employing juveniles or both. A total of seven business owners and thirty-one suspected prostitutes were taken into custody. Police are seeking the other business owners. At least three juveniles were rescued.

Accidental Death

On 26-09-02 in Pristina Region (Obilic town), a 31 year-old man was found dead alongside a roadway. The autopsy has confirmed that a lightning strike was the cause of death.

Monique De Groot, EU Spokesperson

Energy

On the electricity front Unit Kosovo A1 came back in service on 26th September. The load shedding continues with the ratio of 4 hours ON and 2 hours OFF. The import contract with NEK of Bulgaria is continuing with a total of 240 MW being imported.

The daily energy update report can now be found on the UNMIK web page:
http://www. unmikonline.org.

We continue to urge the citizens of Kosovo to save energy as much as possible and not to leave electric appliances switched on when not in use.

KTA

The roadshow of seminars organized by the KTA to inform the SOEs, in practical terms, of the role of the KTA and what Privatisation would mean to them have been concluded successfully. Further seminars to inform the minority areas are currently being planned.

Questions:

Q: On the rape thing – why does it take SRSG to react to this one – there were similar cases of rapes, a 13-year-old girl in Prizren, similar case in Peja, why is it so unique? Do you believe it is ethnically motivated?

UNMIK Police: I think that in this case we are looking at the crime that occurred over a 48 hours period with kidnapping, transportation to somewhere else where they were raped, transportation to Pristina where they were gang raped. There are quite a number of horrible crimes, but I think that all would agree that this one is particularly difficult. The two victims have been offered psychological assistance, and one was injured enough in the incident that required hospitalization. So this is a nasty crime. Rape is one of the most horrible things that can happen to a person, none of them good, but this one would be difficult, and that is why.

UNMIK: Yes, I mean this is certainly not a typical crime. There are not dozens of rapes here, and these are minors, these are people who have been taken, abducted, apparently traded, or exchanged from one group to another. This is, as Barry said, an extremely nasty crime and it was shocking to the SRSG and he wants action immediately on it.

Q: With these initial reports of two people arrested being ethnic Albanians and the rape victims being Serb and Bosniac – do you think it was ethnically motivated?

UNMIK Police: I don’t think we know that at this point. On level this is a crime and will require an investigation. Motive is part of the investigation and one of the things that we want to find out, but whether or not it is ethnic at this point we cannot say. It may have simple been the crime of opportunity.

Q: Question for Barry about the incident which happened in Mitrovica North last night. Somebody from the police press office said that you have the names of the suspects that attacked the international police officers. Can you give us more details about that incident/

UNMIK Police: This happened at three o’clock in the morning and it was a group of estimated 30 – 40 men who attacked 5 international policemen and one language assistant. We are investigating it, we do have information as to whom might have been involved – I am not at this time prepared to comment on the exact findings of the investigation, but it is progressing