The truth behind the killings of 45 ethnic Albanians in Kosovo must be found
Amnesty
International
January 18, 1999
Those responsible for
killing some 45 ethnic Albanians in Racak
village on 15 January 1999 may never be
brought to justice unless independent
investigators are immediately allowed to do
their work, Amnesty International said
today.
The organization also expressed fears for
the safety of the villagers still in Racak,
and in at least two surrounding villages to
which the recent violence seems to have
spread.
The victims' bodies -- including three
women, a 12-year-old child and several
elderly men -- were found on 16 January 1999
by members of the Organization for Security
and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE)
Verification Mission, in and around Racak,
less than 30 kilometres south of the
capital, Pristina.
"This brutal crime is chillingly similar to
the first reports of large-scale killings of
ethnic Albanian civilians, less than one
year ago," Amnesty International said. "The
truth about what happened then was never
established, and those responsible are
therefore still free."
"If history is not to repeat itself it is
essential to find out what happened in Racak
on 15 January and bring those responsible to
justice."
"Given the present situation in Kosovo,
domestic investigations cannot be regarded
as impartial. The authorities should
therefore do everything in their power to
protect the site of the killings, and to
preserve the victims' bodies to allow for
thorough independent and impartial autopsies
to be performed," Amnesty International
said.
Many of the victims had reportedly been shot
through the head at close range and some
showed signs of mutilation.
The victims appeared to be local villagers,
possibly with some members of the ethnic
Albanian Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) among
them. They had been caught up in last week's
renewed fighting between the KLA and Serbian
security forces in the Stimlje-Urosevac
area.
As villagers fled their homes, some men were
reportedly arrested by Serbian police and
taken to the Stimlje police station. Amnesty
International is extremely concerned that
those arrested may be tortured and
ill-treated in police custody and is urging
the authorities to protect them.
"We also strongly urge the Serbian and
Federal Yugoslav authorities to abide by
their obligations under international
humanitarian law to protect the civilian
population, both in Racak and in surrounding
villages, and to ensure that their security
forces do the same," Amnesty International
said.
Attempts by the Pristina district
investigating magistrate, Danica Marinkovic,
to investigate the scene of the killings on
17 January failed, apparently because the
area was still too dangerous. On 18 January,
Serbian police forces, stationed on
hillsides overlooking the village,
reportedly resumed firing at Racak village.
On 18 January, the chief prosecutor of the
International Criminal Tribunal for former
Yugoslavia, Louise Arbour, was stopped at
the border between the Former Yugoslav
Republic of Macedonia and the Federal
Republic of Yugoslavia, and banned from
entering the country. The Federal Republic
of Yugoslavia has denied Tribunal
investigators access for the past 10 months,
claiming that the Tribunal has no
jurisdiction over its territory.
"The authorities should cooperate fully with
the independent investigators, and provide
them with all information concerning the
police and security forces’ operations,"
Amnesty International said.
Background
Over 2,000 people died after armed conflict
erupted in Kosovo province in February 1998.
Many of them were extra-judicially executed
or deliberately and arbitrarily killed. Some
700 people, the majority ethnic Albanians
but also including over a hundred Serbs,
remain unaccounted for.
At least 1,000 ethnic Albanians were
detained by the Serbian authorities in 1998.
Amnesty International has evidence that many
of them were tortured or ill-treated in
custody. As many as five may have died in
1998 as a result of injuries sustained
during brutal interrogations. Many of the
detainees are currently being tried even
though there is no solid evidence to support
the charges against them.
The October 1998 cease-fire markedly reduced
violence in Kosovo. The international OSCE
"Verification Mission" has acknowledged that
monitoring respect for human rights is part
of its mission. However, only 700 of the
envisaged 1,400 mission members have been
deployed in the province to date, and those
in the field have experienced great
difficulties in carrying out their mandate.
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