February 16, 2000

Prishtine, February 16 (Kosovpress) - Condemning the continued detention of Kosovar Albanians removed to Serbia at the end of the 1999 Kosova conflict and calling for their release through a resolution which comprise as the following:

Whereas at the conclusion of the NATO campaign to halt the Serbian and Yugoslav ethnic cleansing in Kosova, alarge , but undetermined number of Kosovar Albanians held in Serbian and Yugoslav prisons in Kosova were taken from Kosova before and during the withdrawal of Serbian and Yugoslav police and military forces from Kosova, Whereas the Serbian Justice Ministry has

admitted that roughly 2.000 prisoners were brought to Serbia from Kosova in June 1999, while Serbian and Yugoslav police and military forces were withdrawing from Kosova, Whereas the number of Kosovar Albanians still held in the Serbian or Yugoslav prisons is unclear as full list of names of those in detention has not been released, but estimates have ranged from just over

1.000 to several thousands still in detention, Whereas on July 10, 1999, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, comprised parliamentarians from accros Europe, the United States and Canada, adopted a resolution calling upon Serbia and Yugoslavia, in accordance with international humanitarian law, to grant full, immediate and

ongoing International Committee of the Red Cross access to all the prisoners held in relation to the Kosova crisis, to ensure the huamne treatment of such prisoners and to arrange for the release of all such prisoners. Whereas on July 21, 1999, the House of Representatives passed an amendment

by unanimous vote of 424-0 which called upon the governments of Serbia and Y Kosovar Albanians have been released from the Serb and Yugoslav prisons:

Now, therefore , be it Resolved by the House of Representatives ( the senate concurring ), That it is the sense of the Congress that- 1. the Serbian and Yugoslav governments should immediately account for all Kosovar Albanians held in their prisons and treat them in accordance with

all applicable international standards, 2. the ICRC should be given full immediate and ongoing access to all Kosovars now held in Serbian and Yugoslav prisons , 3. all Kosovar Albanians now held in Serbian and Yugoslav prisons should be released and any evidence against them turned over to the prisons should be released and any evidence against them turned over to the UNMIK for legal processing because neither the Serbian nor Yugoslav judicial systems have juridiction over Kosova, and 4. the United Nations Security Council should condemn the continued detention of Kosovar Albanians in Serbian and Yugoslav prisons and call for their return to Kosova.

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