UNMIK/PR/58

PRESS RELEASE

30 September, 1999

Missing UN Staff Members had Strayed into Serbia

It is believed that the three UNMIK staff members who went missing on 27 September in the area of Mitrovica had inadvertently crossed into Serbia while doing communications work and were detained because they lacked Yugoslav visas.

Three missing staff members, who included the regional communications officer, a regional security officer and communications assistant, returned to Mitrovica Wednesday night after being detained by Serbian authorities in the towns of Novi Pazar and Kraljevo.

According to a preliminary investigation by UNMIK, the three staff members traveling in a UN vehicle crossed a bridge near the village of Vitkovici at approximately 12:30 p.m. on 27 September.

On the other side of the bridge, they were detained for two hours by the Serbian authorities. They were then taken to Novi Pazar where they were questioned for several hours.  The next morning, 28 September, they were taken to the police station and court in Novi Pazar. That evening they were taken to a jail in the central Serbian town of Kraljevo, where they were told they were charged with being illegally in the country.

At 1:00 a.m., on the 29th, they were taken back to Novi Pazar, questioned and put in jail cells. They were fed, examined by nurses, and seen by a magistrate, before having all their equipment returned, paying a 100 DM fine and being escorted  back to the Kosovo border which they crossed at about 7 p.m.