U.N. Kosovo Chief Calls On Yugoslavia To Free Ethnic Albanian Prisoners
PRISTINA, Jan 24 (News Agencies) - The chief U.N. administrator for Kosovo, Hans Haekkerup, called on Yugoslavia Wednesday to release all ethnic-Albanian prisoners being held in Serbia.
The International Committee of the Red Cross estimates there are 673 Kosovo Albanians detained in Serbia.
Haekkerup said Yugoslavia should immediately release prisoners covered by an amnesty law, which its parliament is expected to approve shortly.
Those who did not fall within the scope of the amnesty should be returned to Kosovo to have their cases processed through a judicial review under supervision of the U.N. Mission in Kosvo (UNMIK) and "according to international human rights and judicial standards," he said.
Sources at UNMIK said these reviews would determine whether a new trial was needed or whether a prisoner's conviction in Serbia would be applicable in Kosovo.
Most of those detained have been accused of "terrorism" by the Yugoslav authorities.
More than 2,000 ethnic Albanian prisoners were transferred to Serb jails before Yugoslavia pulled out its forces from Kosovo in June 1999 in the face of a NATO bombing campaign, the ICRC said.
In November, thousands of ethnic Albanians demonstrated in the Kosovo capital Pristina in support of the prisoners.
Haekkerup described the amnesty as an important step in the stabilization of Kosovo.
