UNMIK/PR/248
The Interim Administrative Council today discussed yesterday's sentencing of 143 Kosovo Albanians to prison terms amounting to a total of 1,632 years by the Nis court in Serbia. The IAC members and SRSG Bernard Kouchner agreed to visit Djakova together later today to meet families of detained and missing people over the same issue.
SRSG Kouchner told media following the meeting that the Nis trial had been a "farce" and that the IAC members had agreed that "it is absolutely impossible to support this idea of collective guilt."
Kouchner outlined to the media the steps he and the IAC and Kosovo Transitional Council had taken so far in attempts to have those detained in Serbian prisons freed, but conceded "it was not enough."
"I see clearly Mr. Milosevic's strategy to provoke trouble in Kosovo," Dr. Kouchner said. "We don't want trouble, but we want justice. Several times we have asked Belgrade authorities to give us the possibility to get back all those detained and to have fair, international, open and transparent trials in Kosovo."
Dr. Kouchner recalled statements by the IAC and KTC which rejected the idea of collective guilt for all sides in the Kosovo conflict.
"On the contrary some people were brave; some people were not. Some were guilty. Some were not. There is no collectivity on one side or the other. I want to advise people not to follow the strategies of Mr. Milosevic. It's not in the interest of Serbs or Albanians."
In other business, the IAC agreed to order a change in the passport stamps used by UNMIK border police to control entries into Kosovo at international border crossings and the Pristina airport, after Kosovo Albanians objected to the name used for one crossing point with the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. UNMIK border police will now stamp passports with UNMIK stamps which refer to the entry point by number only.
The IAC also discussed the issue of war invalids and veterans, many of whom were holding a demonstration outside the UNMIK Government building as the meeting went on. SRSG Kouchner met with representatives of the veterans following the IAC meeting.
Finally the IAC was briefed by the OSCE and UNMIK Pillar II on progress with the registration process and the new media campaign which has been launched to speed up registration and increase the turn-out.