Yugoslavia
(Federal Republic Of)Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
Head of state: Vojislav Koštunica (replaced
Slobodan Miloševi" in October)
Head of government: Zoran Žiži" (replaced
Momir Bulatovi" in October)
Capital: Belgrade
Population: 10.6 million
Official language: Serbian
Death penalty: retentionist
2000 treaty ratifications/signatures: Rome Statute of the
International Criminal Court
The period preceding the election of a new president and the
establishment of a new government from October saw an increase in
the frequency and severity of reported human rights violations
within the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY). The majority of
these violations were directed at opposition activists, independent
journalists and conscientious objectors to military service. They
included arbitrary detention, ill-treatment, unfair trials and
prosecutions on political grounds. Hundreds of ethnic Albanian
prisoners transferred from Kosovo when Serbian and Yugoslav forces
withdrew were sentenced to prison terms after unfair trials. Some
may have been prisoners of conscience. Many reported ill-treatment
or torture during detention. The frequency of such violations was
reduced dramatically following the advent of a new government, but
cases of police ill-treatment continued to be reported. All four
prisoners of conscience identified by AI had been released by the
end of 2000. At least three death sentences were passed although no
executions were carried out.
In Kosovo, the UN Interim Administration in Kosovo (UNMIK) and
NATO-led peace-keeping force (KFOR) continued to grapple with
enormous problems in fulfilling their missions. UNMIK was headed by
a Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General who had
executive authority in Kosovo. Some progress was made during 2000,
but the human rights situation remained very unsatisfactory. At
least 3,300 people remained unaccounted for in Kosovo. Many had
been the victims of ''disappearances'' after
detention by the Serbian police or had been abducted by armed
ethnic Albanians.
Torture/ill-treatment
Members of opposition parties and of the
''Otpor'' (''Resistance'')
movement, a loosely organized opposition group with a largely
student and youth membership, were frequently detained by police
officers and questioned about their activities. Some were beaten or
otherwise ill-treated during their detention. During demonstrations
in Belgrade on 17 and 18 May against the extension of state control
to the independent Studio B television station, police used
batons and tear gas to break up the crowd. Dozens of protesters
were injured. Opposition demonstrations throughout the country
calling for the resignation of President Slobodan
Miloševi" were generally held peacefully and without
police intervention, but on several occasions police beat and
injured demonstrators.
Following the change of government, a number of police officers
accused of involvement in incidents of ill-treatment were
transferred to other duties, but no independent investigations into
the majority of these incidents had taken place by the end of 2000.
Police ill-treatment of detainees continued to be reported
following the change of government, but to a lesser degree.
- On 23 March Nenad Simonovi" was beaten unconscious by police and private security guards during an Otpor demonstration in the provincial town of Kragujevac. He returned home after medical treatment and was visited by men in civilian clothes who threatened to kill him if he did not stop his activities.
- On 8 September Miloš Kitanovi" and five others who had been called to the police station in Vladi…in Han for informal questioning were prevented from leaving by three drunken police officers. The six men were beaten on the head, body and soles of the feet, strangled with a rope, and forced to remain in a squatting position and beaten if they moved. They were released the following day. The police officers involved were reportedly transferred to other duties.
Ethnic Albanian prisoners
Trials of ethnic Albanian prisoners transferred to Serbia from jails in Kosovo when Serb and Yugoslav forces withdrew from the province in 1999 continued. Many were convicted of ''terrorism'' although the evidence against them was inadequate and circumstantial, or consisted solely of confessions which they repudiated during trial because they had been extracted under torture. Many remained in jail at the end of 2000, along with others previously convicted of similar offences, although some were released having served their sentences or after being sentenced to a period equivalent to time already held. Some had their sentences reduced to time served, following appeal.
At the end of 2000, around 800 remained in prison, of whom around 600 had been tried for political offences. Others, including minors, had been held in detention for up to 18 months without a judicial order, in contravention of the Code of Criminal Procedure, before being released without charge following the change of government.
- Prisoner of conscience Flora Brovina, serving a sentence of 12 years' imprisonment on charges of ''terrorism'', was released on 1 November.
- On 22 May, 143 ethnic Albanians were sentenced to between seven and 13 years' imprisonment on terrorism charges by the Niš district court after a grossly unfair trial which violated both FRY law and international standards. Irregularities in the pre-trial procedures were followed by a hearing in which the main evidence was the results of a test for gunpowder traces. This test is widely regarded as unreliable. Reportedly, no evidence was presented to suggest that the defendants had been involved in the particular incidents for which they were sentenced.
Freedom of expression
Independent media companies and journalists were heavily fined for libel under the law of public information, which fails to meet international standards on freedom of expression. On 29 December key articles of the law were pronounced unconstitutional.
On 17 May the government took control of the independent Belgrade television station Studio B and installed a new editorial team. A number of other independent radio and television stations were closed on the grounds that they had failed to obtain broadcasting licences. Studio B was returned to the control of its owners following the November elections.
- Prisoner of conscience Nebojša Risti" was released on 17 March, 26 days before the end of his one-year sentence for disseminating false information.
- Journalist Zoran Lukovi" was imprisoned on 15 August on charges of disseminating false information, and was adopted by AI as a prisoner of conscience. He was released after being pardoned on 21 October.
- Journalist Miroslav Filipovi" was sentenced to seven years' imprisonment on 26 July, on charges of espionage and disseminating false information, apparently for publishing articles on the Internet about the conflict in Kosovo, one of which contained eye-witness accounts of human rights violations committed by Serbian and FRY forces. Much of the trial, which allegedly involved ''state secrets'', was held behind closed doors. No details of the charges and evidence against Miroslav Filipovi" were made public. He was transferred to hospital, suffering from heart problems, in August but returned to jail in September despite the risk to his health. The sentence was overturned by the Supreme Military Court in Belgrade on 10 October, and he was released. The case was returned to the Military Court in Niš for a retrial.
Conscientious objectors and deserters
During the early part of 2000, prosecutions of conscientious objectors and those who had evaded military service continued. By the end of November all those serving sentences for refusing or evading military service had been released. Those who had fled the country or gone into hiding remained at risk of prosecution. Although the introduction of an amnesty law covering such cases was announced, it was not brought before parliament. Provisions for alternative civilian service failed to meet international standards.
War crimes
The Serbian and federal governments failed to cooperate with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in arresting and handing over to the custody of the Tribunal individuals indicted for violations of international humanitarian law. These included former Federal President Slobodan Miloševi"and four members or former members of the Serbian and federal governments.
The death penalty
The death penalty remained in force for aggravated murder in both the Serbian and Montenegrin Criminal Codes, although it was finally abolished in the federal criminal code in 1993. At least three men were sentenced to death during 2000. No executions have been carried out since 1992, but more than 20 people remained in jail under sentence of death.
Kosovo
Violence continued to plague Kosovo; many murders or other violent incidents had ethnic or political motivations. Members of minority groups were frequently the victims of violence, mainly Serbs, Roma or Muslim Slavs, but also ethnic Albanians in areas with a sizeable Serb population. There were also political killings of prominent ethnic Albanians representing moderate political positions. It was rare for the perpetrators of killings to be apprehended, or for responsibility for killings to be admitted by any organization.
Security, particularly for minorities, depended largely on the presence of KFOR troops. Police investigations were carried out by an international police force under UNMIK.
International officials, international police officers and soldiers operating under UNMIK and KFOR were responsible for violations of the rights of pre-trial detainees, and there were also some allegations of ill-treatment. KFOR allegedly shot and killed men on several occasions; in at least one case there were questions about the lawfulness of the killing.
The killing of Avni Hajredini
Ethnic violence erupted in and around the town of Mitrovica in the north of Kosovo in February. About 13 people were killed, 50 injured and 1,500 forced to flee their homes in a series of incidents. KFOR soldiers struggled to maintain law and order. In one incident during the violence, KFOR troops were shot and injured. Avni Hajredini, an ethnic Albanian, was shot and killed, reportedly by KFOR soldiers responding to the attack. Initial claims by KFOR that he had been shooting at the soldiers from a balcony were withdrawn, but no other explanation which might justify his killing was provided. No independent investigation into his killing was completed in the immediate aftermath of the incident. UNMIK later informed AI that an investigation into incident was under way, but no results had been made public by the end of 2000.
The criminal justice system
The importance of protecting and promoting human rights was emphasized by the UN in the creation of the international presence in Kosovo. However, the international presence failed to ensure that international human rights standards were consistently respected in the actions of the international police, KFOR soldiers and courts in the new judicial system.
In November the office of the Ombudsperson, an international appointee with deputies from the Albanian and Serb communities, began to receive complaints. The Ombudsperson's mandate includes investigating allegations of human rights violations perpetrated by the international civil administration or new local institutions. However, allegations of human rights violations by KFOR were not included in the initial mandate and no agreement to include KFOR had been reached by the end of 2000.
Pre-trial detainees
UNMIK police and KFOR soldiers frequently ignored the requirements of the applicable law and of international human rights standards to bring detainees promptly before a judicial authority. For example, during the violence in Mitrovica in February, some 49 people were detained for several days by KFOR soldiers without judicial review. Fourteen of them were held for five days. It was not explained to the detainees why they were being detained, or who was detaining them (KFOR or UNMIK police). Families of the detainees were not notified of their detention, nor were the detainees able to contact their families or defence counsel. Some detainees were detained for weeks on the orders of the KFOR Commander or the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General. Since the applicable law and international standards permit detention only on the orders of a judicial authority, such detentions were arbitrary and unlawful.
One such detainee, Afrim Zeqiri, was held from 26 July to 14 September by order of the UN Special Representative. He was subsequently held for four weeks on the basis of a judicial order. His release was ordered by the district court on 31 October, but he remained in custody on the order of the Special Representative until the end of 2000.
The 'disappeared' and missing
More than 3,300 people from Kosovo were unaccounted for at the end of 2000. Most were ethnic Albanians who were believed to have ''disappeared'' in the custody of Serbian police or paramilitaries between early 1998 and June 1999. Serbs, Roma, people of other nationalities and ethnic Albanians of moderate political views or those regarded as ''collaborators'' with the Serbian authorities had also gone missing in circumstances which implicated armed ethnic Albanians in many cases. Most of these incidents occurred during or after June 1999 but there were new cases during 2000.
- Marian Melonasi, a journalist of mixed Albanian and Serbian parentage, was reportedly abducted in Pristina on 9 September. He had been reporting in the Serbian language for the state media under UNMIK control. No information about his whereabouts emerged before the end of 2000.
Exhumations of grave sites led to the identification of around 260 mortal remains during 2000, but some 1260 bodies which were exhumed in 1999 and 2000 remained unidentified. Not all grave sites had been examined by the end of the year.
Refugees and displaced persons
Some 82,000 ethnic Albanian refugees had returned to Kosovo by September 2000, about 9,000 of whom were forcibly returned by foreign governments. About 222,800 Kosovo Serbs, Roma or members of other minorities remained displaced within Serbia or Montenegro. Return to their own homes was for the most part dangerous and few tried to do so.
- On 7 November, three men and a boy from the Ashkali community (an Albanian-speaking minority perceived as Roma by ethnic Albanians) who had been displaced within Kosovo returned to their homes in Dasovac/Dashovc village in central Kosovo. The men hoped to repair their damaged homes to enable their families to return. The men themselves and international organizations negotiated with ethnic Albanian leaders before their return, seeking guarantees for their safety. However, the four were found murdered two days later. Offers to provide a KFOR guard had reportedly been refused by the men who feared that it would make them conspicuous. Local people appeared frightened or unwilling to give information about the killings.
AI country reports and visits
Reports
- Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Kosovo): Update from the field - January 2000 (AI Index: EUR 70/002/2000)
- Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Kosovo): Amnesty International's recommendations to UNMIK on the judicial system, February 2000 (AI Index: EUR 70/006/2000)
- Federal Republic of Yugoslavia: Otpor - Students and academics in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (AI Index: EUR 70/012/2000)
- Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Kosovo): Setting the standard? UNMIK and KFOR's response to the violence in Mitrovica (AI Index: EUR 70/013/2000)
- Federal Republic of Yugoslavia: ''Collateral damage'' or unlawful killings? Violations of the Laws of War by NATO during Operation Allied Force (AI Index: EUR 70/018/2000)
- Federal Republic of Yugoslavia: Still forgotten - an update on conscientious objectors after the Kosovo conflict (AI Index: EUR 70/028/2000)
- Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Kosovo): Amnesty International's recommendations on the return of refugees to Kosovo (AI Index: EUR 70/031/2000)
- Federal Republic of Yugoslavia: Continuing Concerns (AI Index: EUR 70/057/2000)
Visits
AI delegates visited the FRY including Kosovo regularly during 2000 to carry out research and human rights education activities. Two AI researchers were based in Kosovo until March 2000; an AI researcher was based in Skopje, Macedonia, until the end of the year.
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