KOSOVO HUMAN RIGHTS COMMITTEE COMMENTS ON RECENT ARRESTS

PRISTINA, Aug 16 (Hina) - The Kosovo Committee on the Protection of Human Rights and Freedoms on Thursday expressed concern with what it called the overstepping of authority by the UN mission police during the arrest of members of the Kosovo Protection Corps and the former Kosovo Liberation Army KLA). #L# The Committee is also concerned about the fact that the accused are kept in detention for more than a year, which it says is contrary to all legal norms applied in Kosovo. The Committee recalls that over the last two months the UN Mission police have arrested many members of the Protection Corps and the KLA, mostly officials, on charges of various crimes. Furthermore, the Committee is concerned that many Serbian police and soldiers who are suspected of war crimes have still not been put under arrest and have found refuge in northern Kosovo and other Serb enclaves. The Committee also says that international judges have released some previously convicted Serb criminals or that these have managed to escape from prison. The Committee says that law should be abided by and equally enforced throughout Kosovo, on all acting against the law, independently of ethnicity, religion, and politics. (hina) ha