[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 60 Agreed to Senate (ATS)]







107th CONGRESS
  1st Session
S. RES. 60

Urging the immediate release of Kosovar Albanians wrongfully imprisoned 
                   in Serbia, and for other purposes.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             March 14, 2001

   Mr. Smith of Oregon submitted the following resolution; which was 
             referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations

                             April 3, 2001

                Reported by Mr. Helms, without amendment

                             April 6, 2001

                        Considered and agreed to

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
Urging the immediate release of Kosovar Albanians wrongfully imprisoned 
                   in Serbia, and for other purposes.

Whereas the Military-Technical Agreement Between the International Security 
        Force (``KFOR'') and the Governments of the Federal Republic of 
        Yugoslavia and the Republic of Serbia (concluded June 9, 1999) ended the 
        war in Kosovo;
Whereas in June 1999, the armed forces of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia 
        (Serbia and Montenegro) (in this resolution referred to as the ``FRY'') 
        and the police units of Serbia, as they withdrew from Kosovo, 
        transferred approximately 1,900 ethnic Albanians between the ages of 13 
        and 73 from prisons in Kosovo to Serbian prisons;
Whereas some ethnic Albanian prisoners that were tried in Serbia were convicted 
        on false charges of terrorism, as in the case of Dr. Flora Brovina;
Whereas the Serbian prison directors at Pozarevac prison stated that of 600 
        ethnic Albanian prisoners that arrived in June 1999, 530 had no court 
        documentation of any kind;
Whereas 640 of the imprisoned Kosovar Albanians were released after being 
        formally indicted and sentenced to terms that matched the time already 
        spent in prison;
Whereas representatives of the FRY government received thousands of dollars in 
        ransom payments from Albanian families for the release of prisoners;
Whereas the payment for the release of a Kosovar Albanian from a Serbian prison 
        varied from $4,300 to $24,000, depending on their social prestige;
Whereas Kosovar Albanian lawyers, including Husnija Bitice and Teki Bokshi, who 
        are fighting for fair trials of the imprisoned have been severely 
        beaten;
Whereas approximately 600 Kosovar Albanians remain imprisoned by government 
        authorities in Serbia;
Whereas the Geneva Conventions of August 12, 1949, and their protocols give the 
        international community legal authority to press for, in every way 
        possible, the immediate release of political prisoners detained during a 
        period of armed conflict;
Whereas, on July 16, 1999, the United Nations Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) Special 
        Representative to the Secretary General, Bernard Kouchner, formed an 
        UNMIK commission on prisoners and missing persons for the purpose of 
        advocating the immediate release of prisoners in four categories: sick, 
        wounded, children, and women;
Whereas on March 15, 2000, the Kosovo Transition Council, a co-governing body 
        with the Interim Administrative Council in Kosovo, repeated an appeal to 
        the United Nations Security Council requesting the release of Kosovar 
        Albanians imprisoned in Serbia;
Whereas on February 26, 2001, the FRY Assembly enacted an Amnesty Law under 
        which only 108 of the 600 prisoners are eligible for amnesty; and
Whereas Vojislav Kostunica, as President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia 
        (Serbia and Montenegro), is responsible for the policies of the FRY and 
        of Serbia: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved,

SECTION 1. URGING THE IMMEDIATE RELEASE OF ALL KOSOVAR ALBANIAN 
              PRISONERS WRONGFULLY IMPRISONED IN SERBIA.

    The Senate hereby--
            (1) calls on FRY and Serbian authorities to provide a 
        complete and precise accounting of all Kosovar Albanians held 
        in any Serbian prison or other detention facility;
            (2) urges the immediate release of all Kosovar Albanians 
        wrongfully held in Serbia, including the immediate release of 
        all Kosovar Albanian prisoners in Serbian custody arrested in 
        the course of the Kosovo conflict for their resistance to the 
        repression of the Milosevic regime; and
            (3) urges the European Union (EU) and all countries, 
        including European countries that are not members of the EU, to 
        act collectively with the United States in exerting pressure on 
        the government of the FRY and of Serbia to release all 
        prisoners described in paragraph (2).
                                 <all>