[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 50 (Friday, April 6, 2001)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3766-S3767]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




URGING THE IMMEDIATE RELEASE OF KOSOVAR ALBANIANS WRONGFULLY IMPRISONED

  Mr. DeWINE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate 
now proceed to the consideration of Calendar No. 28, S. Res. 60.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the resolution by title.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       A resolution (S. Res. 60) urging the immediate release of 
     Kosovar Albanians wrongfully imprisoned in Serbia, and for 
     other purposes.

  There being no objection, the Senate proceeded to consider the 
resolution.
  Mr. DeWINE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the 
resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, the motion to 
reconsider be laid

[[Page S3767]]

upon the table, and any statements relating to the resolution be 
printed in the Record.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  The resolution (S. Res. 60) was agreed to.
  The preamble was agreed to.
  The resolution, with its preamble, reads as follows:

                               S. Res. 60

       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).

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