BALKAN WITNESS
Articles on the Kosovo Conflict: Kosovo Albanians in Serbian Prisons
Note: Each article shown below represents the opinion of the author, and not necessarily of anyone else.
Albin Kurti Released from Serbian Prison December 7, 2001
Serbian Prison Mutiny By Miroslav Filipovic, IWPR, November 10, 2000
Dr. Flora Brovina Freed Physicians for Human Rights, November 1, 2000
Humanitarian Law Center Asks President Kostunica to Release Prisoners Humanitarian Law Center, October 7, 2000
Serbian Supreme Court Vacates Activist Flora Brovina's Terrorism Conviction, Seattle Times, June 8, 2000
Report on the Trial of Albin Kurti By Vladan Vukovic, Women in Black, March 17, 2000
Kurti's Long Night By Fred Abrahams, Institute for War and Peace Reporting, March 17, 2000
Kosovo Albanians in Serbian Prisons: Kosovo's Unfinished Business By International Crisis Group, January 26, 2000
Public Pressure Aiding in Release of Kosovar Prisoners By Alice Mead, Association of Political Prisoners, January 14, 2000
Serbia Jails Kosovo Albanian Doctor Reuters, December 9, 1999
Brovina a Famous Kosovo Activist By Danica Kirka, Associated Press, November 29, 1999
Political Trial in Serbia: International Community Called to Monitor By Human Rights Watch, November 8, 1999Summaries of articles listed above
Albin Kurti Released from Serbian Prison The well-known Kosovo Albanian student leader had been sentenced to 15 years. Over 200 Albanians remain in Serbian jails. December 7, 2001Serbian Prison Mutiny International humanitarian organisations have long criticised the inadequate medical care, poor food and harsh conditions in Serbian jails. Life is even harder for Kosovo Albanian inmates, who number around 1000, according to the authorities. -- Miroslav Filipovic, Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR), November 10, 2000
Dr. Flora Brovina Freed Yugoslav President Kostunica today ordered the release from prison of the renowned ethnic Albanian physician, poet, and human rights activist. However, about 600 ethnic-Albanian political prisoners are thought to remain in Serbian prisons. -- Physicians for Human Rights, November 1, 2000
Humanitarian Law Center Asks President Kostunica to Release Prisoners Fourteen persons from Kosovo, including two minors, have been in detention for the past 17 months, without any legal grounds whatsoever. Though their 30-day police detention orders expired on 12 June 1999, no proceedings have been instituted against them to this day nor have they been notified by the judicial authorities of the reasons for their continuing detention. -- Humanitarian Law Center, October 7, 2000
Serbian Supreme Court Vacates Activist Flora Brovina's Terrorism Conviction Serbia's Supreme Court overturned the conviction of Dr. Flora Brovina, Kosovo's best-known human-rights activist, a move that could lead to a new trial and possibly her release. Seattle Times, June 8, 2000
Report on the Trial of Albin Kurti "I was a member of the presidency of the Independent Student Union of Prishtina and the representative of the Commission for International Cooperation. Our main goal was to organize demonstration to free the university because we have been thrown out by force." -- Vladan Vukovic, Women in Black, March 17, 2000
Kurti's Long Night The sentencing in Serbia of a former student activist from Kosovo highlights the West's failure to support nonviolent protesters before the war, and civil development now. -- Fred Abrahams, Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR), March 17, 2000Kosovo Albanians in Serbian Prisons: Kosovo's Unfinished Business Several thousand Kosovar Albanians in Serbian prisons are subjected to appalling conditions. While the international community does not itself have the capacity to free these prisoners, it must find ways to exert maximum pressure on Milosevic to order their release. This report provides first-hand information about Serbian prison conditions gathered in interviews with ex-prisoners and prisoners' family members, elucidates the pertinent legal issues, and proposes a series of measures that governments and non-government organisations might take toward identifying the prisoners and securing their release. -- International Crisis Group, January 26, 2000
Public Pressure Aiding in Release of Kosovar Prisoners There is reason to hope that the widespread public pressure regarding the Albanian prisoners detained in Serb prisons is leading to far more releases, stated Natasa Kandic, executive director of the Humanitarian Law Center. Her human rights organization is working for the release of all the prisoners. The vast majority of them are being held without charges or evidence and the six month holding period is long past. -- Alice Mead, Association of Political Prisoners, January 14, 2000 Serbia Jails Kosovo Albanian Doctor A Serbian court sentenced a prominent Kosovo Albanian doctor, humanitarian worker and poet to 12 years in jail on Thursday for terrorism during NATO's March to June air strikes against Yugoslavia. The judgment is likely to be greeted with anger in Kosovo, where Brovina was a well known as a leader of womens' groups distributing humanitarian aid and an organiser of protests against Serb rule. -- Reuters, December 9, 1999Brovina a Famous Kosovo Activist Her orphanage, her peace marches and her knitting workshops were deemed threatening to Slobodan Milosevic's government. The Kosovo pediatrician refused to stop working even as the circle closed around her. She delivered a baby just two hours before eight plainclothes policemen snatched her from the threshold of her apartment building in Kosovo's capital, Pristina. Now she is among this province's most famous prisoners, one of thousands of ethnic Albanians accused of aiding the Kosovo Liberation Army in its armed campaign for independence from Yugoslavia's main republic, Serbia. -- Danica Kirka, Associated Press, November 29, 1999
Political Trial in Serbia: International Community Called to Monitor "It was a great mistake that the fate of Kosovar Albanian prisoners was not a part of the agreement between NATO and Yugoslavia that ended the war," said Holly Cartner, Executive Director of Human Rights Watch's Europe and Central Asia Division. "Now, at least, the international community should monitor the trials to make sure that they meet international standards." -- Human Rights Watch, November 8, 1999