United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo

Press Briefing Notes, 11 March 2003

UNMIK Spokesperson Simon Haselock
KFOR Spokesperson KFOR Gary Bannister-Green
UNMIK Police Spokesperson Derek Chappell
OSCE Spokesperson Edita Buçaj
EU Spokeswoman Monique De Groot

UNMIK Spokesperson Simon Haselock

Announcement

KFOR Spokesman Wing Commander Anthony Adams

1. COMKFOR, Gen Mini, has asked that I pass on his and all of KFOR’s condolences to the families, colleagues and comrades of two NATO Polish soldiers, Pavel Legencki and Piotr Mikulowski who died as result of the mine incident in FYROM last week. He expressed his solidarity with the Polish contingent at this time of loss and said that his thoughts and prayers are with the families of those who perished and were injured. He added that “we should not forget that peacekeepers in the Balkans are in the front line; away form their homes and families for many months, selflessly putting themselves at risk for the benefit of others to ensure a safe and secure environment. This was an abhorrent and cowardly criminal act, which is utterly condemned by KFOR and NATO”.

2. Every week KFOR continues to deal with explosive devices such as mines, grenades or unexploded ordnances. We have been pleased and encouraged by the reaction to our public awareness campaign that has raised the peoples understanding of the dangers of these devices. This has resulted in increased reporting and in a number of cases where individuals have physically handed in the devices they discovered. I would just like to reiterate that these devices are designed to kill and are extremely dangerous. Some of these explosive devices are now quite old, but this does not mean that they are inactive; in fact they are likely to have become unstable and are more dangerous and prone to explode with the slightest movement. These explosive devices are lethal and it is crucial to remind people of the dangers, especially children – that these devices are not toys to be played with. KFOR again reiterates: that you do not touch, remove or carry such items. Leave it to the experts. Call KFOR, KPS, or UNMIK-Police and we will make the area and munitions safe on your behalf.

UNMIK Police Spokesperson Derek Chappell

Announcement

Explosion and shooting

At 10 pm last night in the Sunny Hill area of Pristina a police officer on patrol heard 5 gunshots followed by an explosion that he recognized as a hand grenade. He went to the location and found a group of men armed with a long barreled weapon. They threatened the policeman who disarmed them and arrested three suspects. In custody are three local Pristina men. No injures were caused by the shooting and only minor damage was caused to a nearby building be the hand grenade.

Human trafficker arrested

A major suspect involved in the trafficking of women into Kosovo for prostitution has been arrested. The Trafficking and Prostitution Unit had linked the 29-year-old Kosovo resident to the organized trafficking of women into the Prizren area. He was one of the main targets of investigators and had been sought for several months. Yesterday he was located in Prizren and arrested without incident. He is now in police custody.

Suspects arrested for Presevo incident

On Monday, 10 March, in the Gnjilane region, two men were handed over to the police by KFOR. Both were placed under formal arrest by officers from Gnjilane Police Station. They are being held for investigation into possible involvement in terrorist activity. One 52-year-old suspect has appeared before the local court and has been detained for 30 days. The second suspect, aged 22 years, will be taken to court today. Both men are K Albanians from the same family.

Adem Jashari Festival

Last week Kosovo celebrated the festival of Adem Jashari with many public gatherings and events. Here in Pristina last Wednesday about 25,000 people attended the Stadium and on Friday night the ‘Night of Fire’ attracted a crowd of over 100,000 persons. We are pleased to report that no major incidents took place at any of these celebrations.

Policing Mitrovica

Over the past week policing in Mitrovica has been achieving real success. On 5 March, Police were called by the public to a street kiosk that was being broken into. A male was arrested as he hid from Police inside the shop and a search of his residence led to the seizure of a small quantity of marijuana, two packets of a powder believed to be heroin, and a rifle. Two additional suspects, accomplices of the man in custody were also arrested. On the 9 March, a local man reported to Police that a dispute had led to stones, and then a hand grenade being thrown at his coffee shop. Police identified the suspect and arrested him without incident.

Police Shooting and death

On 9 March, a shooting took place inside a police camp in the Pristina region. It appears that an unknown dispute led to shots being fired by one man that resulted in the death of a fellow officer. Further shooting took place that led to the death of the suspect. Two men are confirmed dead, both policemen from the camp. One other man is injured. The entire incident took place inside the camp and did not involve any civilians or members of the public. The police have sealed off the scene and are conducting a full investigation. The bodies will be released for return to their relatives upon completion of a post mortem. The nationality of the victims is not being given until conformation is received from their government that the families have been notified.

OSCE Spokesman Edita Buçaj

Announcement
The OSCE Mission in Kosovo is sponsoring a series of live multi-ethnic radio debates on important issues for Kosovo, organized by Radio Vala Rinore (Pristine/Prishtina 94.7 FM), in cooperation with 4 other radio stations.
The other stations involved are Radio Contact (Prishtinë/Pristina – 89.8FM), Radio Contact Plus (Mitrovicë/Mitrovica – 101.9FM), Radio Vicianum (Vushtri/Vucitrn – 105.7FM) and Radio Max (Shillovë/Silvo – 102.4AM). The first in the series of these debates called “Together towards the Future” is being held tomorrow, Wednesday 12th March, and will give voice to the human rights concerns of all Kosovar communities, asking whether the law is actually offering solutions and protections for these problems.

The goal of this project is to build bridges between all the communities and between different media outlets, by simulating constructive discussion on sensitive issues.

The following topics will be covered in the debates on a fortnightly basis: Crime and Violence (26 March), Unemployment and the Economy (9 April) and Reconciliation (23 April).

All the debates will take place at Internews Kosovo at 1300 with invited guests only, and will be aired Live on Radio Vala Rinore. They will be rebroadcast the day on the other stations in Albanian and Serbian languages.

EU Spokeswoman Monique De Groot

Announcement

The first meeting of the Kosovo Stabilization and Association Tracking Mechanism will be held on Thursday 13 March.

European Mission will come to Pristina to discuss fundamental principles of democracy, the rule of Law, key market economic reforms and transport and energy policy with experts from UNMIK and the provisional Institutions of self Government to ensure European compatibility in these areas.

The Stabilization and Association Tracking Mechanism for Kosovo in the framework of the EU’s Stabilization and Association Process is a technical working group, and is co-chaired by UNMIK, the Provisional Institutions of Self Government and the European Commission.

There will be a press conference after the meeting. Media will be informed about the exact timing and location.

Questions:

Q: Derek does the Police; have any indication that this group called AKSh is operating in Kosovo?
DC: The only evidence I have seen so far is their website, like we have said many times, we see no evidence of harm by extremists groups operating within Kosovo, but there is always the possibility that individuals might carry out attacks.

Q: Two people have been arrested for the terrorist activities in connection with the 7 March in Serbia. AKSh claimed that the two people, who died in that incident, where their members. Could you be more specific in what possible involvements they were arrested on?
DC: If you base your question on a statement on a website by an organization that apparently doesn’t exist apart from that website, I don’t fell the need to justify their statement. The two people were arrested by KFOR who were taken then into detention. They are now going before system and they will have an open and legal trial. I think you are basing your question on something that you should question the people who made that statement and not me.

Q: How about the involvement then, I mean what is exactly this involvement? How were they involved?
DC: I think that you will understand that the place to discuss this, is in a courtroom in front of the judge.
Q: How about KFOR?
GB: I back on what Derek says. This is a civil court matter now.

Q: But they have been accused of involvement, and I think we have the right to know what kind of involvement you are talking about?
GB: It’s like that, its just speculations.
Q: But you have arrested them on involvement, what kind of involvement?
DC: Could I explain this? The first person who went to court yesterday has not been formally charged, they are in 30 days detention, as you are aware, you can apply to a judge for a 30 day detention order and that is what it is happening in this case. The second person is going to court today, I assume we are going to ask for another 30 days detention order to give us time to gather the evidence to lay a charge, when the charges are laid, that will be public and in that time their names will be given, the charges and all of you will be invited to come to a open trial to hear the evidence for yourselves.

Q: On Saturday the UN court indicted the K-Albanian from Gnjilane region against terrorism and for illegal possession of weapons. He is probable linked between with a group of two people who earlier were indicted for the same offenses. And this group was actually accused for members of armed groups who are threatening the safe and secure environment. Can you tell us more about his indictment?
DC: Much of what you said is not so much of a question it is a statement. I am not going to identify any particularly group. I am not aware in what is in the actual indictment in this case.
SH: Before we go any further. I don’t think nobody has been formally indicted, if you are talking about indictment, they are talking about charges, what I think Derek just said is that within 30 days detention one can apply to a judge for a 30 day detention order. The point is that we don’t want to get to a circular argument about whether groups exist. Yes, people who use arms and explosives exist. Do they belong to specific groups we don’t know and we have no evidence to back that. There is a difference between individual criminal activity and whether we attribute it to an organization, we are not in the position to make any attributions to any organizations and we have no evidence to back the claims of such organizations who appear on websites or who make public statements. Thank you.

Q: Just to clarify. Its not about these two people, its about two persons who were arrested five months ago, and now they are going to be in the same group with Deliu. It’s a separate thing.
SH: It’s a very specific question and I am not trying to avoid it, its just that I don’t know the information, and I think you have to come and ask us later and we will find out for you. And I think Nebi is the next one, in the back there.

Q: Going back to you Gary, could you tell us in what way was Aslan Bajrami involved in the incident in the administrative bomb alarm line that lead to his detention by US troops?
DC: Let me just say first that, could you have named somebody it has been UNMIK police policy consistent, constantly not to name people that we arrest until such time is the charges are.
Q: The question was for KFOR.
GB: Like we said earlier, these people are detained and are now in the hands of civil authority, I don’t want to comment it any more because I don’t want to prejudice the place.
Q: But what lead to his detention. I mean, you guys said, KFOR said involvement, what sort of specific involvement, was he playing football somewhere near there, was he arrested because he is a brother of a guy who was killed two days earlier I mean, what sort of involvement?
GB: It wouldn’t be appropriate for me to go into the details of the operation that happened and the details of the detention. Its like we said earlier, it is now in the hands of civil authorities, and I don’t want to prejudice the case at all.
Q: Who would be in position to disclose that information?
GB: No one at the moment, not until the investigation is over or charges are brought or the case goes to court.

Q: Officials from Belgrade say they will stop the dialogue if UNMIK continues to transfer the powers to Kosovo’s institutions? Will you stop transferring the powers of the competencies?
SH: I think its one of those day to do it, because its something I’ve read in the press, I am not going to comment officially what has been in the press.