CONTENTS

SOLANA: ONLY KOUCHNER REPRESENTS KOSOVO IN ZAGREB SUMMIT
UN IS REQUESTED TO FUND COMMISSION FOR WAR VICTIMS
WHY UNMIK DOESN’T REQUEST RETURN OF SERB ESCAPEES TO KOSOVO
FOR ALBIN KURTI

SOLANA: ONLY KOUCHNER REPRESENTS KOSOVO IN ZAGREB SUMMIT

“I’m in ceaseless contact with Kouchner, who according to of UN Security Council Resolution 1244, is the only one from the Kosovar delegation participating in the Zagreb Summit”, stated UN Senior Official, Javier Solana while visiting Skopje and its Foreign Minister Alexander Dimitrov, the vice-president of the Macedonian government, Vasil Tupurkovski, and chief of state Trajkovski during his tour on the Balkans, reported Koha Ditore on page four.

According to Solana, November 24th Zagred Summit is a historic meeting because for the first time after numerous wars and tensions all 15 European Community states will meet the Balkan states, and a new history will be written. He adds that the Summit is important because this time it’s complete and will become reality after the latest occurrences in the FRY.

“After this meeting with Macedonia, the European Union will cement relations for association”, concluded Solana.

UN COMMISSION IS REQUESTED TO FUND COMMISSION FOR WAR VICTIMS

ICTY has sent a report to the Security Council and UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan requesting it to consider the possibility of establishing a special commission to treat the requests for compensating war victims of the last 10 years in the Balkans, adding that this Commission would be far more prepared to inspect the requests for treating compensation than ICTY, reported Koha Ditore on page four.

The first time when an international court applied for Balkan’s war victims’ reparation was when the Tribunal’s 14 judges, lead by the Head of the Tribunal, Claude Jorda, called for the victims’ right to request compensation.

“The judges, prosecutors, Defense Councils, and law officers agreed regarding the need, and maybe even the right for victims to receive compensation, it’s fundamental for the return of peace and agreement in the Balkans”, said Jorda in the beginning of the report.

The Security Council founded ICTY 1993 in order to pursue the responsibilities from a long list of criminals, including massacres, rape, expulsion and the bombing of civilians in Bosnia and Croatia after Yugoslavia’s disintegration.

Jorda pointed out that because of the great amount of work, it is difficult for ICTY to deal with such requests.  But instead “the International Commission’s mechanism based on this would be much more effective and fair, and it’s a better way to ensure that the victims’ rights would be fulfilled”.

WHY UNMIK DOESN’T REQUEST THE RETURN OF SERB ESCAPEES TO KOSOVO

The problem of the Serb prisoners accused for war crimes and genocide who escaped from the prison of Mitrovica remains an open issue; they expect the almost impossible to happen, the extradition of these persons from Serbia and Montenegro to Kosovo reported Zëri on page six.

UNMIK confirms that there is no signed treaty between UNMIK and Yugoslavia or the Serb authorities regarding the issue of the 13 escapees; UNMIK discussed this issue with the Serb authorities but did not request their extradition officially.

Co-chairwoman of the Justice Department Sylvie Pantz said that these issues get solved with a national or international arrest warrant for the fugitives released by the investigating judge, so they can be arrested anywhere. If the alleged talks were true, they would have to happen on the Kouchner-Yugoslav government level, since the UN is a kind of state in Kosovo. The accused Serbs’ case is one of those where the trial must be done where the crimes were committed, in Kosovo, stated Pantz for Zëri.

According to the other co-chairwoman, Nekibe Kelmendi, Albanian judges may release an arrest warrant; the trial of these persons cannot occur in their absence. She confirmed that the extradition is a part of the penal procedure. Kosovo’s penal procedure will be sent to the Council of Europe on 29 November for discussion. Nevertheless, Kouchner is the subject in Kosovo’s side, and in the meantime the extradition precedent has been formed, according to which it may be used in case of arresting the fugitives. The Justice Department will not meet with Yugoslav authorities until Kosovo’s independence is admitted. “UNMIK has sovereignty upon Kosovo”, stated Kelmendi, adding that only UNMIK can contact them.

Because Milosevic ruled at the time, the internationals’ did not request their arrest and return to prison from the Yugoslav government at that time. But even now, with Kostunica, nothing has changed.

The Justice Department will take the matters of Kosovo’s prisons in hand. Pantz said that there will be 66 UNMIK officers, but the UNMIK police haven’t been trained in serving in prisons, so they have a lot to learn. Kelmendi, said that this is not the case  in all the prisons; a few policemen are specialized to serve in them.

According to the latest information, remanded Albanians in the prison of Mitrovica were to be transferred “for safety matters”, because in the buildings surrounding the prison are Serb snipers, threatening the lives of the prisoners’ families. Kelmendi comments on this by saying that such a step is unacceptable.

“The Albanian prisoners’ transfer means eliminating the Albanian factor from this prison, which is a ‘help’ to keep Mitrovica divided”, stated Kelmendi adding that the Albanian prisoners’ transfer is not a solution, a solution is disarming the population of North Mitrovica, which serves for the security of entire population of Mitrovica”.

*** Transcript of a column by Adriatic Kelmendi

FOR ALBIN KURTI

Koha Ditore on page five carried a column by Adriatik Kelmendi, concerning Albin Kurti and the fact that Albanians didn’t do much for his release, except call his name at the protests occurring in Pristina and all other capital cities.

Why so little has been done for Albin Kurti? This question sends even more shivers down the spine when asked by someone who experienced the same suffering, Flora Brovina. Flora asked this question a few days before she was released from prison, she expressed her surprise that even the students haven’t done more for the release of the person that is their path leader.
Albin has done a lot, maybe too much. On September 1st, together with his friends he has done what can’t even be imagined. They have thrown the first stone that lead to today. This made possible the population’s trust for a better future, when the youth’s started to work, and they had courage for even greater deeds. Albin decided to take the most courageous step at that time; he became the spokesman of KLA of the political representative of the general staff, Adem Demaçi. This act of his is defined as “most courageous” because of the fact that the Serb government wasn’t interested in punishing his chief anymore, who had been imprisoned for 28 years and still wasn’t convinced, so Demaçi had a surprising “immunity”. On the other hand, Albin was young and joined his friends in the woods, but differing from them, who had weapons to defend themselves and places to hide, Albin was present in Pristina, wasn’t protected, he was in the mouth of a dangerous wolf.

* * *

Albin is now in Serb prisons for a year and a half. In his last interview, he said that he considered himself a “war hostage”. This is obvious to each and everyone here, away from the place where people sleep on the cement floor, and where to receive a meal two times per day, is considered fate. This know his “war” friends, who former members of Students Independent Union. His friends, after the end of the war received important posts, which doesn’t have to mean that through these positions they did something for Albin. A concrete example are Bujar Dugoli, who was lead the Ministry of Youth and Sports in QPK, Driton Lajci, who co-leads UNMIK’s Youth Department, have never recalled their former fellow traveler. Even though they could of done this much.

No one else thought about doing something more except call his name out loud in the protests. Maybe they thought U2, whose revolutionary music Albin loved to listen to, was supposed to do something.

If this was possible, imagine how Albin would have felt. Nevertheless, Albin never went down on his knees. Even when they put him in a cellblock and thought they cut break him by cutting off his long hair. How wrong they were. They should have known that Albin isn’t Samson and that his will and strength comes from his heart- where he pressed his immense wish for freedom.  Unique as he was, bald, tired and weak from staying in prison, managed to humiliate an entire state. He did not accept the state that accused him, his president nor did he accept to be defended by lawyers, because he believed that he had no blame, for which he should justify himself. He slammed infamy on the judges’ snouts, by saying that he accepts only his nation’s trial, and that he doesn’t care if he gets punished. As a result, the court of Milosevic’s regime said that Albin was “guilty” because he didn’t want his and his nation’s freedom, according to them this should be sanctioned with 15 years imprisonment.

Nevertheless, the regime that considered ones freedom as guilt, the new regime that likes to call himself “democratic regime” has sent signs that even if all Albanian prisoners will receive amnesty, this doesn’t go for Albin as well. Does Kostunica as well, think Albin guilty because he wanted freedom? Does he think Albin is guilty because he listened to U2 and was inspired from songs such as “Sunday Bloody Sunday”?  We will see.

But if tomorrow we see our Albanian prisoners returning to Kosovo, and Albin is not among them, I don’t know what the justification can be. Afterward, not even the music of U2 will make sense to us anymore.