GREEK HELSINKI MONITOR
(Greek National Committee of the International Helsinki Federation)

& MINORITY RIGHTS GROUP - GREECE
(Greek Affiliate of Minority Rights Group International)

P.O. Box 51393, GR-14510 Kifisia, Greece Tel. 30-1-620.01.20; Fax: 30-1-807.57.67; E-mail: office@greekhelsinki.gr

20/4/1999

TOPIC:  A UNHCR KOSOVAR WRITES TO ELEFTHEROTYPIA
(LETTER PUBLISHED ON 12 JUNE 1999)

The cooperating non-governmental organizations Greek Helsinki Monitor & Minority Rights-Greece distribute  a letter of a UNHCR Kosovar to Eleftherotypia.

To Eleftherotypia Editor in Chief Mr.Fintanidis

Skopje 30/May 1999

Dear Sir

I would like to inform you about certain evets which I believe will be of interest to your readers and the public opinion in your country.

At the time the bombings started I was working for the United Nations High Comissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Pristina.

On Sunday the 28th of Martch,four days after the bombings started, I was on my way to the UNHCR office in the area of Dragovar in Pristina,when suddenly a police car stopped beside me and the policemen asked me to step inside.They took me to the centre of the city near the Courts and opposite the vegetable market.There they asked me to stand by the wall shouting that they were going to shoot me.Then they forced me to the ground screaming :"People like you we kill like dogs".At the same time they stirred kicking me and beating me with wooden clubs.

Suddenly two cars with two television cameras approached us carrying aprox. 6-8 people.The cars made a short stop while the journalists watched the scene that was unfolding in front of them and then continued their drive and stopped 100 meters further down the road.The cars and the televison equipment carried visible Greek insignia.

Meanwhile the policemen continued beating me with the result that they broke my left hand and arm as well as two ribs.Throughout this incident the journalists did not try to film what was going on nor to interfere in any way.When the policemen got tired of beating me they left,leaving me bleeding on the ground.I got up and slowly started making my way towards the direction of a friend of mine who had come with his car to pick me up.I passed in front of the journalists who at that time were filming a queue in front of a bakery.Once again they saw me and ignored me.

I feel extremely sorry for their behaviour.After the expulsion of all the international organizations in Kosova the only people that could provide some protection to the local population from the Serbs were the few remaining journalists.Indeed if fewer atrocities happened in Pristina compared to other places that is precisely because of their presence there.I am sorry about the fact that the Greek journalists turned the other way.I am even more sorry about the incident since I love Greece, a place I have been visiting continuously for the last ten years.

Please treat the issue of my identity which I have placed at your disposal with the umost confidentiality.My two old parents are still in Kosova hostages of the Servbs like the rest of the Albanian population.