UNMIK-UNMIK Police-KFOR- Press Briefing, 13 May 2002

UNMIK Spokeswoman Susan Manuel
UNMIK Police Spokesman Derek Chappell
KFOR Spokesman Drew Andersen

UNMIK Spokeswoman Susan Manuel

Artifacts

Today SRSG Michael Steiner is visiting the site of an extremely significant archeological find near Podujevo. In the process of beginning to build a house two weeks ago, some local residents came across several ancient terra cotta figurines. According to the Museum of Kosovo, these figures date back 3,500 years b.c., from the middle stone age. Apparently the artifacts were left behind by the Indo Europeans who predated Serbs, Albanians and Illyrians.
More work on site will be done by the Museum with support from the German government

Judiciary

Although it’s been widely reported I would like to make note of the significance of the sentencing on Friday of Roland Bartezko, found guilty by an international panel of judges of terrorism, murder, and attempted murder. He was sentenced to 23 years in prison.
The charges stemmed from the activation of an explosive device near the Centre for Peace and Tolerance of the FRY on 18 April 2001. In the attack, Alexander Petrovic, a Serbian government representative, was killed and four of his colleagues were injured.

The indictment reads that “The intentional killing and great bodily injury was done with an intent to create a serious threat to public order … and to intimidate and endanger the civilian population of ethnic Serbian-Kosovars. “

The sentence was a significant step towards the establishment of the rule of law in Kosovo as well as a good example of the cooperation between police and the judiciary in a difficult case.

In another case from the judiciary, a trial opened on 7 May in the Gnjilane district court against four Albanian men—3 from Kamenica and 1 from Presevo—indicted in the murder of Kosovo Police Officer Lazim Rexhepi on 11 September 2001. A second KPS officer was gravely injured in an incident in which the two officers were attempting to detain the group. The indictment indicates the four were part of an organized gang who were robbing houses of Kosovo Serbs in the Kamenica area.

UNMIK Police Spokesman Derek Chappell

Smugglers Arrested At Kulina Pass

Enforcement activity by Police in the Kulina Pass is leading to arrests and frequent seizures of smuggled goods. Last Tuesday night, a KPS Officer stopped a truck entering Kosovo. He searched the vehicle and found a cleverly hidden hollow space in which were concealed 70 boxes of beer. The driver was arrested and his vehicle was seized along with the contraband. That same evening, two other searches discovered 50 more boxes of beer and 50 boxes of cigarettes. Both drivers were arrested and their vehicles were seized.

On Wednesday night, another truck was searched and a KPS Officer discovered a secret compartment built into the body of the vehicle. Inside were 31 boxes of beer. That driver was also arrested and his vehicle seized. All three suspects are K-Albanians, who were stealing from the people of Kosovo by attempting to avoid paying taxes.

These successes also clearly show that the KPS is becoming very effective at anti-smuggling operations and that UNMIK is working against criminal enterprises.

Arrests For Attempted Murders

Throughout Kosovo this past week, the combination of illegal weapons and hot tempers resulted in two attempted murders. On the 9th, a 2 year-old dispute between neighbors in the village of Fericevo (Gnjilane Region) led to a 37 year-old K-Albanian man being shot through the chest by a 68 year-old K-Albanian man.

Also on the 9th, a K-Albanian man in Paledonica Village was shot in the chest after an argument between two groups at a football match escalated into violence. A dispute had erupted between the groups at another football match involving the same two teams on May 4th, and the dispute continued on the 9th. One man raised the stakes by using a stolen pistol to fire shots in the air over his opponents’ heads. They responded by firing back with a rifle. The first gunman was later confronted by his brother, from whom he had stolen the pistol. The gunman shot and critically wounded his brother during the confrontation.
All of the suspects in these two cases have been arrested.

Assassin Convicted In Fair And Open Trial

On 18 April, 2001, Aleksander Petrovic was killed and four other people seriously wounded by a bomb that was exploded on a crowded street in the center of Pristina. Last week, Roland Bartetzko was found guilty of the assassination and was sentenced to 23 years in prison.

Political assassinations are among the most difficult crimes for police to investigate and for the courts to prosecute. However, UNMIK Police not only identified the suspect and arrested him within 48 hours, we also gathered sufficient evidence for the prosecution to commence. The judicial system then conducted a fair and open trial resulting in a verdict of Guilty.
We have often talked about the importance of the rule of law. This case clearly indicates the commitment and ability of the police and the judiciary to establish the rule of law in Kosovo.

KFOR Spokesman Drew Andersen (NA)

Questions:

Q: Susan, yesterday Covic declared that the Serbs agreed, if UNMIK agrees, to creating three municipalities in the northern part of Mitrovica. Do you support that idea which Mr. Covic mentioned yesterday in Presevo during the meeting?

SM: We have no plans of creating any new municipalities in Kosovo.

Q: Derek, today coming to work I saw police patrol between Pristina and Fushe Kosova with a radar and the guy who was holding radar was not an international policeman, but a translator, and I see that often. When will UNMIK Police start to behave in the right manner?

DC: I hope you were not speeding. Did you get a ticket?

Q: No. But is that the right way of dealing with people, and the second question is why all the Kosovo regional traffic units are not allowed to go on 24 hours search of streets in Kosovo?

DC: I don’t quite understand your second question. We provide 24 hours policing throughout the whole of Kosovo, and the KPS work 24 hours shift.

Q: Yes, but that is not a given order to be 24 hours in the streets, let’s say between 11 and 5 in the morning you don’t see police on the street, you can travel for hundreds of kilometers.

DC: I think you certainly would see policeman on the street. I’ve been on the streets of Pristina and other cities at night and you do see police, in fact…

Q: But not coming from border or boundary points or customs, or areas where smuggling can come in and out.

DC: I think you are mistaken. One of the reason we are being successful at detecting smugglers is that we have a system of rotating vehicles checkpoints that we set up near the administrative boundaries and the international borders, now that major crime has decreased and we have more police resources available for routine policing, almost every major road in Kosovo was subject to road checks during the nighttime hours by ourselves and also by KFOR. So it is certainly not the case that there is any less policing at night, in fact there are probably more police at night than there are in the day time because the number of emergency calls we are dealing with are fewer, so there is more police available to check the vehicles.

Q: Why are UNMIK and OSCE vehicles not allowed to be stopped and checked by KPS.

DC: That is not correct, any vehicle that is committing driving infraction is stopped…

SM: I’ve been stopped twice by the Kosovo Police Service, although I’ve not broken the law.

DC: Let me add that because of the high number of thefts of vehicles belonging to international organizations, the police and KFOR have been instructed now to stop as many white, international vehicles as possible during the hours of darkness because of the high incidents of thefts, so that is certainly not the case that white vehicles have any immunity.

Q: Is there a Regulation on that aspect, that Kosovo Police can stop them?

DC: We have the Traffic Act, that regulates traffic throughout Kosovo and there are no special regulation limiting that enforcement for certain vehicles or certain ownership, it applies to all vehicles.

Q: Susan, last week there was an announcement made by JAT that they will resume flights to Pristina, Pristina -Belgrade flights and the UN denounced it. Are these talks that UN is holding with JAT also involving the local Ministry of Transportation?

SM: Well, the Airport and air flights are in the reserved category, so those talks are with internationals and it is true there has been no agreement made for JAT landing here.

Q: Are the talks going on?

SM: There is talk about possibility of landing here but that is in the context of discussions on other issues such as the use of air space over Serbia, which is currently not possible from Pristina, so it is not simply on that one issue.

Thank you.