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July 22,
2003
ERP KIM Newsletter
22-07-03b
INCREASE OF VIOLENCE
FILLS KOSOVO WITH FEAR
Fanning nationalism as a way to evade
responsibility for crimes
A scene from a pro-KLA Albanian rally in Kosovo, July 16, (AP
Photo/Visar Kryeziu)
CONTENTS:
 NO
INJURIES AS TERRORIST LAUNCH MORE KOSOVO ATTACKS IN LIPLJAN AND VITINA
PLANTED EXPLOSIVE DEVICE
DEACTIVATED NEAR LIPLJAN - SERBS IN FEAR
POLICE DEFUSES BOMB IN
PRISTINA MARKET
ATTACK
ON TWO GOVERNMENT BUILDINGS IN PRISTINA - COMMENTS AND REACTIONS
RONDORF:
THESE INCIDENTS GIVE DARK PICTURE OF KOSOVO AND FRIGHTEN FOREING INVESTORS
14
KOSOVO ALBANIANS ARRESTED FOR MARCHING IN KLA UNIFORMS
More News Available on our:
KOSOVO DAILY
NEWS LIST (KDN)
KDN Archive
This newsletter is available on our
ERP KIM Web-site:
/erpkiminfo.html
NO
INJURIES AS TERRORIST LAUNCH MORE KOSOVO ATTACKS - RPG GRANATE HITS
MINORITY HOME IN LIPLJAN - HAND GRENADE ON SERB HOME IN VITINA
TOP
Beta
News Agency, other media
July 22, 2003
PRISTINA/VITINA -- Tuesday – A handheld rocket-launcher was discharged in
Lipljan, around 10 miles south of Pristina, last night.
According to Kosovo police spokesman Refki Morina, no one was harmed in
the incident and the situation has been brought under control. According
to Morina the target of this attack was a Roma (Ashkalia) minority home.
Meanwhile, a hand grenade was hurled at the Vitina home of Radojko Dajic
at around eight pm yesterday.
The device did not explode and, after Dajic informed the authorities, KFOR
and the Kosovo police destroyed the grenade in a controlled explosion.
TOP
PLANTED EXPLOSIVE DEVICE DEACTIVATED BETWEEN NOVO SELO AND SERB PART OF
LIPLJAN
TOP
KIM RADIO
LIPLJAN, JULY 20, 2003
UNMIK police and KFOR deactivated an
explosive device planted on the road between the Serb village of Novo Selo
and the Serb-inhabited part of Lipljan, KIM Radio's correspondent in
Lipljan Stanimir Smilic reports. KFOR and UNMIK have not issued any
statement to date. Fear and unrest have spread among the local Serb population
as a result of this incident.
After a short
investigation police said that the mine remained in the road after the
war. But the local Serbs do not seem to be convinced because the road has
been often used in the last four years and it is impossible that the mine
did not explode in the meantime.
TOP
POLICE DEFUSES BOMB IN PRISTINA MARKET
TOP
BETA News agency
PRISTINA, JULY 20, 2003
Pristina - Members of KFOR, UNMIK police and the
Kosovo police forced defused a hand grenade planted underneath a stand at
the farmer's market in Pristina on Sunday morning. Police representatives
advised that they do not know who planted the explosive device at this
time. UNMIK police spokesman Barry Fletcher told local media that citizens
frequently leave hand grenades in the street out of fear that KFOR troops
will find them in their houses, and he called on citizens to turn in their
arms without fear of arrest. Fletcher assessed that the security situation
in Kosovo is stable, citing that during the course of the last week there
was not one murder in Kosovo.
TOP
ATTACK ON
TWO GOVERNMENT BUILDINGS IN PRISTINA - COMMENTS AND REACTIONS IN
K/ALBANIAN PRESS
TOP
Media Monitoring
July 22, 2003
The UNMIK CIVPOL spokesman Barry Flatcher stated to journalists on Monday
that the attacks carried out by the hand mortar on the District court
building and by the hand grenade on the police station number 2 in
Pristina, represent direct attacks on two Government buildings.
The attacks took place late in the evening on Sunday and according to the
10-15 minutes time interval between them, it can be concluded that the
attacks were coordinated. First, the District court building had been
targeted from the hand mortar. The projectile hit the outside wall of the
court causing the material damage to the building only , and breaking the
windows on the surrounding houses. The second attack was executed on the
building of the police station number two in the capital of Kosovo, when a
hand grenade was thrown into the yard of this police station, only
damaging one police car. The headquarters of the police unit dealing in
investigation of serious criminal activities and offenses is situated in
this building.
The attacks on the District court and the police station occurred only
four days after the Llap group trial ended and the verdict of the
international criminal council of the District court in Pristina given to
the four members of the former Kosovo Liberation Army (UCK), by which they
have been sentenced to 45 years of imprisonment. This verdict has been met
with very severe reactions of that part of the Albanian public,
identifying themselves with the UCK. The day after the verdict to the
members of the Llap group was pronounced, a hand grenade exploded near the
police station in Podujevo, where the Llap group members are from, causing
only material damage.
According to the spokesman Barry Fletcher, the motives for the attack on
the District court and the police station number 2 in Pristina are still
not known, since no one has taken the responsibility for the attacks so
far. He said that for the present nobody has been arrested or suspected
regarding those attacks, adding that the police has no intention to take
some huge action on the occasion of the attacks.
"The attacks are not accidental. We do not know who did that. It can be
the expression of the discontent with the verdict against the former UCK
combatants, but it also can be the attack executed by the ordinary
criminals. However, since the attacks on the Government buildings are in
question, we have been conducting the intensive investigation", said Barry
Fletcher.
Agency KosovaLive carries the statement of Barry Fletcher that the police
and judiciary have been warned to step up the security measures upon the
completion of the Llap group trial. We have been aware that such things
could happen once the verdict was read. Due to these reasons, the security
has been tightened in some places, said Barry Fletcher.
After the attacks on the District court and the police station 2, very
strong police forces had made the blockade around the attacked buildings
which lasted till the early morning hours. Electronic media report that
the police and KFOR combined units have had under their control all exit
points leading from the capital of Kosovo.
Feller Assesses the Attacks as Cowardice
Radio Kosova reports that the UNMIK CIVPOL commissar Stefan Feller
assessed on Monday the attacks on the District court and the police
station 2 in the capital of Kosovo as the act of a coward. Feller stressed
that those two explosions might be connected with the earlier incidents
that occurred in Kosovo. Radio Television Kosova (RTK) carries that the
UNMIK CIVPOL commissar said the two unknown persons had demolished five
vehicles belonging to the UNMIK police on Sunday night, because of which
police control has been intensified not only in the capital but throughout
Kosovo as well.
"The data gathered so far give clear indications that there is the
connection existing between some of those incidents. There are
speculations, as well, that these incidents can be connected to the
District court in Pristina verdict to the Llap group a few day ago", said
Stefan Feller.
Rugova: Police Should Prevent Such Criminal Acts
The Kosovo President Ibrahim Rugova severely condemned on Monday the
explosions which had taken place in Pristina on Sunday evening. "These
explosions are aimed at causing the uneasiness and anxiety among the
citizens as well as at damaging the positive image of the Kosovo capital
as the secure place", assessed Rugova. He stated that such criminal acts
should be prevented by the police and cleared up by the Kosovo judiciary.
Government Condemns the Attacks
The Kosovo Government, stating that although it is not in the possession
of all official information regarding the Sunday night explosions in
Pristina, it severely condemns each form of violence which endangers the
order and security in Kosovo.
The criminal elements and structures try to endanger political and
security situation, to damage the Kosovo image at the international level
and to spread permanent insecurity, assesses the Government, pointing out
that such events can only be for the benefit of the Serbian politicians
and those state circles, interested in creating the chaos and political
and economic stagnation in Kosovo.
Inviting the police to take all the necessary measures to clear up these
attacks and arrest their perpetrators, the Government has appealed to the
Kosovo citizens to take part in the security service as well in the
positive movements in Kosovo.
In the end of its statement given to media on Monday, the Government
stressed that it is decisive in establishing the law and order in Kosovo
for all the citizens, regardless of their nationality, because only in
that way the prosperity and positive climate can be secured enabling the
future as per the European standards.
PDK: Llap Group Trial Politically Motivated
At the consultations with the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) municipal
branches’ presidents, held on Monday, the PDK secretary general Jakup
Krasniqi pointed out that despite the sincere trials of domestic factors
to give their contribution to the stabilization of conditions in Kosovo,
some acts of the international administration, like the trial to the Llap
group members, show that someone in this administration cares much more
for the fulfillment of the Belgrade aspirations than for to the progress
in Kosovo. It was assessed, at these consultations, that the Llap group
trial, being the political one, will not help progress and piece in
Kosovo.
Epoka e re: Explosions Imply Warning Message
Daily Epoka e re, close to the Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK), stated on
Monday that the explosions in Pristina on Sunday night, imply the warning
message, since they were executed during the weekend and that none of the
security forces’ personnel was being targeted but buildings only.
Pointing out that the members of the UNMIK police, Kosovo Police Service
and the KFOR have had "the fever" following the explosions in front of the
District court and the police station, the daily concludes that the
explosions have shaken the whole city.
TOP
RONDORF: THESE INCIDENTS GIVE A DARK PICTURE OF KOSOVO AND FRIGHTEN
FOREIGN INVESTORS
TOP
Dailies, TV21, Zeri, Koha Ditore (K/Albanian)
February 8, 2003
REACTIONS ON EXPLOSION
German Office Head Rondorf strongly condemned yesterday’s attacks that
occurred near the Regional Court and Police Station No. 2 as well as the
hand grenade explosion near Assembly speaker’s house Daci.
"These
incidents give a dark picture of Kosovo abroad and frighten foreign
investors," Mr Rondorf said. He added that Justice and Police will not
allow to get intimidated by such attacks in accomplishing their tasks.
Rondorf also criticised the recent statements of some politicians and
comments of some newspapers after the verdict was read out to the Llapi
Group.
"The
information that someone attacked Daci’s house or that any incident
happened there is absolutely untrue," said Daci’s advisor Ramush Tahiri.
He said that no one threatened Daci. Zeri’s sources said that a blind
bullet hit a window of a Daci’s neighbour, but the bullet probably came
from a wedding held on the suburb that is in front of them.
Kosovo
political parties and citizens condemned the explosions also. LDK
spokesperson Lulzim Zeneli and Naim Maloku AAK strongly condemned the
explosions on behalf of their parties. "Whoever is behind these attacks,
they are unacceptable for Kosovo institutions. They do not help Kosovo,
its institutions and war values," said Rexhep Hoti, a PM’s advisor. He
added, "we should say all the things institutionally.""All these incidents
jeopardise people’s security and wealth. Therefore, Kosovo institutions
condemn them as damaging acts that are against stability and the work of
Kosovo institutions," Thahiri said.
TOP
14 KOSOVO
ALBANIANS ARRESTED FOR MARCHING IN KLA UNIFORMS
ERP KIM info service subarticle
TOP
KOSOVA SOT
K/Albanian daily
July 22, 2003
The regional police in Prizren reported on Monday that they arrested 14
people from Orahovac, charged with violating a public order, because they
marched in this town wearing the UCK (KLA) uniform. Bekim Shasivari, the
regional spokesperson for the KPS in Prizren said today that the 14 people
who were arrested last weekend at the ceremony of the fifth anniversary of
the UCK offensive in Orahovac have been released. But the courts will
issue an indictment for violation of public order, because of marching
with the KLA uniform.
"The
march was not allowed. The police informed the organisers that they were
not allowed to march in the KLA uniforms, but 70-80 persons continued the
march," said Shasivari.
TOP
ERP KIM
Info-Service is the official Information Service of the Serbian Orthodox
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Bishop Artemije.
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