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From: "Ivo Skoric" <ivo@reporters.net>
Date: Fri, 22 Jan 1999 23:05:29 +0000
Subject: (Fwd) Fw: [kcc-news] Press-reelase: From the office of Adem De
KLA Statement following the Racak massacre:
------- Forwarded Message Follows -------
With the attack of Serb military and police forces, representing the
criminal Serb regime, in some villages of the Nerodima Operational Zone,
in which case they brutally murdered, massacred and executed at least 46
Albanians, from the ages of 12 to 80, the office of the General
Political Representative of the Kosova Liberation Army, with
informational purpose releases this:
ANNOUNCEMENT:
1. The systematic oppression and terrorism inflicted by the Belgrade
regime in Kosova is no where near its end. The Serb regime forces'
offensives and battles have become our wild everyday lives. The
murdering of children, that are the future of every nation and society,
shows that the Serb regime wants to eliminate the future of the
Albanians in Kosova. On the other hand, the execution of tens of
Albanians, including women, children and elderly, clearly shows that the
Serb regime and country have engaged on a classical fascism, that
surpasses even that of WWII.
2. It appears that the International Community has not learned anything
from the lesson in Srebrenica and Zepa during the Bosnia war. This
community is still not reacting the way it should. It still continues
not taking the adequate measures. And it doesn't end here. It is
unfortunate that the International Community takes satisfaction and
alibi with the results of the OSCE Verifying Mission in Kosova. In all
occasions, they have proven themselves unable to assure not only the
security of Kosova population, but also not even theirs. This Mission,
not being able to assure their own security, watches the Serb committed
crimes from far. The International Community has to realize that
Albanians are suffering all of the consequences of OSCE Mission's
inability, and this inability to secure and unwillingness to use all of
their resources in stopping the Serb fascist regime only encourages the
Serb regime.
3. The Serb regime does not want a political solution to the Kosova
problem. They not only want Kosova as their colony, not only occupied,
but also without any Albanians. They want to achieve this with war,
terror, massacres, and genocide. The only guarantee for the Albanians
of Kosova in this entire situation is the Kosova Liberation Army. The
only way we can annihilate these fascist leftovers is by relying on,
joining, helping and gathering around KLA. This will be the only way to
achieve the independence of Republic of Kosova and the freedom of the
Albanian nation in Kosova.
Office of the General Political Representative of KLA
Prishtine, January 16, 1999
--
=====================================================
Adem Demaēi
Pėrfaqėsues i Pėrgjithshėm Politik i
Ushtrisė Ēlirimtare tė Kosovės (UĒK)
--<>--
Adem Demaēi
General Political Representative
of the Kosova Liberation Army (KLA)
-----------------------------------------------------
Tel&Fax : ++ 381 38 36 032
Tel&Fax : ++ 381 38 34 051
E-mail : Demaci@albanian.com
======================================================
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From: "Ivo Skoric" <ivo@reporters.net>
Date: Fri, 22 Jan 1999 23:05:36 +0000
Subject: Croatia: failure of representative system
While Milosevic keeps digging himself into a deeper hole, Tudjman
stays afloat despite, or, maybe, because of the apathy of the
Croatian political subject: just 1.65% of eligible voters in
certain recent regional elections showed up to vote....
ivo
------- Forwarded Message Follows -------
Zagreb, January 20, 1999
STATEMENT No. 87
Within the Croatian Helsinki Committee's activities for monitoring
elections in the Republic of Croatia, the Croatian Helsinki Committee
for Human Rights (CHC) sent its monitors to the town of Vinkovci where
the local elections started on January 11th and would last until January
22. By examining the decision of the Vinkovici City Council it has been
established that the elections are being carried out contrary to the
decision of the Constitution of the Republic of Croatia - by the so
called public voting. As a result of such a way of voting, the HDZ
became the absolute winner of the elections. The voters refused to come
out to the voting stations and in such a way showed their disagreement
regarding the manner in which the electoral procedure related to
elections of their representatives to the local self-governing bodies
was being carried out. At the elections held on January 11th for the
Council of the Local Committee of "Lenija" only 41 out of 2.480
registered persons approached the voting stations in order to vote.
(This means only 1.65% of voters).
The CHC wishes to draw attention of the public to the fact that such
electoral procedure is a direct violation of the provision of article 45
of the Constitution of the Republic of Croatia which says in its item II
that the "voting right shall be exercised through direct elections by
secret ballot". Furthermore, article 12 of the Law on the Elections of
Members for the Representative Bodies of the Units of the Local
Governments and Self-Governments, states that "freedom to choose and the
secret ballot" is guaranteed (Item I), and nobody has the right to
demand that the voter reveal his/her voting decision" (Item III).
All opposition parties, except the Croatian Party of Rights (HSP), which
is the HDZ's satellite party, boycotted the elections and submitted the
request to the Constitutional Court of the Republic of Croatia to
question the legality of this electoral procedure.
The CHC is convinced that the Constitutional Court, in accordance with
its provisions, will annul the results of the elections in Vinkovci. We
would like to emphasize that if such electoral procedure, regardless of
the level at which it was being carried out, was allowed it could become
a precedent on the basis of which other elections would be organized in
the Republic of Croatia.
Vjekoslav Vidovic
CHC President
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From: "Ivo Skoric" <ivo@reporters.net>
Date: Fri, 22 Jan 1999 23:05:37 +0000
Subject: Slovenia: failure of judiciary
Today there is one million unresolved court cases in Slovenia, the
country with little more than two million people. Also, some cases,
like when a member of government sues an independent magazine, get an
express treatment, while some, like when a private citizen sues the
government for police brutality, get somewhat railroaded...
ivo
------- Forwarded Message Follows -------
6.12.1998 Slovenian Helsinki Monitor STATEMENT NO. 3
In the open in front of the Government Palace of the Republic
of Slovenia, on a makeshift bed, Mr. Darko Zupan, is on a hunger strike
for almost 90 days - a former councellor of the town community of
Velenje, and a vice-president of a small non-parliamentarian party of
Republicans, known as nationalistically oriented.
The claim of Mr. Zupan to the government has become known
through his 57 days of hunger strike in Spring, with which he persuaded
the Ministry of Justice to pay 19 million Slovenian tolars damages for
confiscated weapons in the affair Tivoli of 1992. At that time Mr.
Zupan and his party colleague Mr. torman where beaten up by masked
special policemen, who confiscated their weapons: 54 automatic guns
with silencers and amunition from the arsenal of former Yugoslav Peoples
Army (JLA). Zupan and torman bought weapons for Croatia on sale at the
company Orbis in Velenje, unimpeded by the Slovenian authorities. Trade
with weapons in Slovenia has continued despite the international
prohibition on commerce with weapons for all successor states of former
Yugoslavia, including Slovenia. Apparently Mr. Zupan and Mr. torman
were trying to sell weapons outside the monopoly spheres of greater
politics, greater quantities of weapons and greater commissions. The
owner of 800 tons of weapons found at Maribor airport , has not been
discovered, even though the party bosses accused one another of
ownership of the found weapons. Another well known Slovenian weapons
trade affair was discovered in 1991. The transporter was Uganda
Airways, forced to land at the Zagreb airport Pleso with 120 tons of
weapons, before it reached its destination in Slovenia.
On 22 May 1998 an article appeared in the daily Delo, titled >
Zupan and torman Thwarted Designs of People from the Ministry ?< ,
written by Rok Praprotnik, stating that it is more and more obvious
>that they interfered in monopoly business of some people from the
Ministry of Interior and the Ministry of Defense, who were in those
times wholesale trading with weapons of former JLA for Croatia, putting
profit in their own pockets. It has been suggested that they got rid of
Zupan and torman by the use of the repressive instrument.<
In the daily Delo of 18 Aug.1995, in an article titled
>Minister and a Scoundrel<, journalist arko Hojnik drew attention of
Mr. Andrej ter, the then minister of the Interior, who publicly
labelled Mr. Zupan and Mr. torman as >scoundrels<, that >the public is
not authorised to decide whether a person has committed a criminal act
or not<, neither can so decide the minister, but only the court - and
that such labelling of people is a criminal act itself. The journalist
has stated in his article that >also the persons who committed a
criminal act, have the right to protection of their honour and good
name. This holds true regardless of the weight of the criminal act.<
Simultaneously numerous criminal proceedings have been filed
against Darko Zupan - which were later withdrawn by the state, or which
were left aside by the state till they fell under the statute of
limitations. Some of the proceedings at court are still pending, yet the
hearings have not been called within reasonable time. They are beeing
procrastinated to fall under the statute of limitations. The result is
that Darko Zupan has been found guilty by the public opinion and not by
the court. A breach of Article 6/1 of the European Convention of Human
Rights, which guarrantees the right to fair and public hearing within a
reasonable time, and Article 6/2 that >everyone
charged with a criminal offence shall be persumed innocent untill proved
guilty by the law.<
Darko Zupan decided for a hunger strike again at the end of
August, as there have been no indications that other criminal
proceedings at court against him could be solved, and because it is more
than clear that in court proceedings with the state and in the ratio of
power of the state apparatus against the individual, with almost one
million unsolved cases at Slovenian courts (out of total two million
inhabitants of the Republic of Slovenia) an individual does not have
many chances to live to a fair court proceedings within a reasonable
time.
Not taking sides on justification of Mr. Zupan's demand of an
indemnity of 170 million Slovenian tolars for character assassination,
police violence and humiliating treatment, it is certain that the
Ministry of Justice is responsible for extrajudicial settlement in
cases between individuals and the state and in cases where the court has
made a mistake.
It is a fact, that the government to which Darko Zupan
addresses his demand, has not responded publicly, even though it is an
urgent matter for which the striker has pledged his life. In the
meantime the government has not pledged, has not risked anything, it
does not stand for any public argument or equitable principle, but
ignores the demand of the citizen from the position of power. There by
all means is more and more uneasiness in the Ministry of Justice and the
government with a hunger strike at its door step, as in the case of
death of Darko Zupan, de facto and de iure persumed innocent, many a
thing will have to be explained - for Slovenian judiciary a doomsday.
Aside of a thorough explanation, requesting an immediate reform of the
function of the Slovenian judicial system - as the case of Zupan is in
fact a case of inefficient judiciary, or even a case of its abuse. What
could otherwise be the meaning of a statement of the minister of justice
Mr. Toma Maru i in the daily Dnevnik, on 23 May 1998 that >out of
humanitarian reasons an indemnity of 19 million Slovenian tolars have
been approved for confiscated weapons - while, per one hungry person
it is possible to get at Caritas or Red Cross 1 kg of flour, 1 kg of
sugar, 2 kg of pasta, 1 l of oil and two fish cans per person per month?
How can a statement of Mr. Mirko Bandelj, minister of the Interior, be
explained, that the paid indemnity is at the border line of legitimacy,
yet only care for Zupan's health was in their mind - while the
employees of the Ministry of Interior have beaten up and injured Mr.
Zupan several times, without exhibiting any care for his health?
Ministry of Justice directs Mr. Zupan to address the court
for exaction of the assumed debt of the state to him. In this way the
state of law could be demonstrated by the right of a citizen to file
law suits for which there is no hope to be brought to an end. An idea of
the authorities that the state of law can be proven at court in one
million of unsolved cases out of two million of inhabitants is a
peculiar anomaly of a state, the state administration of which does not
function in an adequate manner, and as a result it is necessary to seak
solution at court for the most self understanding matters.
Barren advice of the Ministry of Justice are all the
directives to Darko Zupan to file law suits against the state - with
courts burdened with one million unsolved cases (according to an
information given by the minister of justice, Mrs. Meta Zupan i to
Helsinki Monitor in January 1996 - there were approx. 860,000 unsolved
cases at courts). Extrajudicial settlement in the case of Zupan could by
all means be the fastest solution in the situation where the court
seems to be in no hurry to finally sentence Darko Zupan for the
indictment of criminal acts, where the court only withdraws from
prosecution or lets the cases fall under the statute of limitation. In
criminal case Seno e e, at the Koper court, no hearing has been
announced in three years, even though a severe criminal act of
>production and trade of weapons< has been brought up by the state
against Mr. Zupan. Proofs of this criminal case have misteriously
disappeared - all police photographs of the scenery of the arrest,
blast shooting and destruction of torman's car - while a suggested
reconstruction of the events by Mr. Zupan has been refused by the court
(violation of Art. 6/3d of the European Convention - the right to
attendance and examination of witnesses on his behalf).
What are the priorities of the Slovenian judicial branch of
power can be seen from the comparison with the court case of Mr. Marjan
Podobnik, deputy prime minister, who in his private criminal prosecution
of the magazine Mladina for the presumably untrue news on illegal
financing of Mr. Podobnik's Slovenian People's Party, succeded in
getting an express hearing at court in a few months time - being party
colleague of Mr. Maru i , the minister of justice. By this parallel a
question arises, which of the two criminal cases is more important to
the state: Podobnik versus the Mladina for the mental pains of Mr.
Podobnik, or the state versus Zupan for the supposed production and
trade with weapons. The scissors and the linen is in the hands of the
state administration which determined its priority - the clarification
of the mental pains of its deputy prime minister, while the hearing
against Zupan et al has been announced after three years of silence,
only due to the presure of Zupan's first hunger strike.
Unfortunately there are some other facts, aside of a
permanent practice of the state apparatus to ignore the demands of
individuals, more and more marginalized citzens, in this concrete case
burden the government, or its Ministry of the Interior. Mr. Zupan has
been beaten up by the police three times already. The first time in
1992, when the masked special police unit confiscated his weapons of
smaller quantities, while as it seems some politicians and state
employees traded with greater quantities of weapons (>legally< despite
the law on incompatibility of public function and private enterprise).
The second time Mr. Zupan was attacked by masked special police
unit at Seno e e in 1995 on the parking lot, when by the help of six
vehicles the car, in which Zupan arrived to Seno e e, was destroyed.
According to his testimony, blast shots were heard (and felt , causing
injury of Zupan's leg) , therefore he and his colleague assumed this was
an attempt of their liquidation. The report of court expert states
damage of torman's car on the right side, left side and the back - on
the contrary to the police report that Zupan and torman wanted to
break through a police blocade - which could cause damage of only the
front side of the car.
The third time a policeman in civil dress has beaten up Mr.
Zupan in a park at Velenje on 17 Jan. 1998. The policeman was yelling
at him and abused him verbally, why did he complain to the
constitutional court against police authorisations. Medical statement
of Zupan's injuries show 4 fractures of ribs and a torn Achile's tendon.
Also during the hunger strike in front of the governmental
building the police treated the striker violently several times, as he
stated, they ridiculed him and spat at him. His personal belongigs have
been confiscated without minutes taken and were later returned to him
without his purse and the money in it. He has been taken to the police
station in handcuffs, where four proceedings at the minor offence judge
were filed because of his hungerstrike in front of the governmental
door. Even if Mr. Zupan were found guilty of criminal acts, the police
woud have no right to beat him.
Due to cold weather and exhaustion of Zupan, after two
internal written interventions to the government of Slovenia and several
telephone interventions to the Ministry of Justice, we now publicly
appeal to the government and the Ministry of Justice to carry out an
extrajudicial settlement and then undertake a fast reform of the
judiciial system to restore credibility of Slovenia as a state of law,
at least on the level of the judiciary. A sudden lack of once so often
declared human solidarity, in state administration, which happened after
the change of social order and independence in 1991, is only one view of
the fundamental disrespect for man - marching by the human beeings with
no respect for their lives. In the new state of Slovenia a kind of a
Wild West occured, where people more and more often take justice in
their hands, by the help of violent debts collectors, or they renounce
the idea of attainment of justice altogether. As in the case of Darko
Zupan, whose hunger strike may be understood as civil disobedience. So
far are we from a state of law, which some state officials would like to
prove on Darko Zupan, on hunger strike under the open sky in front of
the government palace.
PRESIDENT
Neva Miklav i Predan
For Information:
- Cabinet of the President of the Republic of Slovenia, Mr. Milan Ku an,
the President
- Cabinet of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Slovenia, dr. Janez
Drnov ek,
- Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Slovenia, g. Toma Maru i
- domestic and foreign institutions
For publishing:
- domestic and foreign media
P.S.: 24 Dec. 1998 Helsinki Monitor of Slovenia - Association for Human
Rights has not received any answer to the Statement No. 3 in Slovenia.
It was neither published by any Slovenian media in 3 weeks time - thus
rounding up an almost complete media blokade of statements, reports and
press conferences of Helsinki Monitor in 1998. The statement is
therefore addressed to the international forums, institutions and the
media for information, intervention and publishing.
Address: Helsinki Monitor of Slovenia
Rimska cesta 17
1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
Tel/fax ++ 386 61 1261 889
1258 661
e-mail: helsinki.monitor.slo@siol.net
---
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