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Kosovo Albanians accused over bus bombing go free
PRISTINA, Yugoslavia, Dec. 19 - Three ethnic Albanians accused of
involvement in a bus bombing which killed 11 Serbs were freed on
Wednesday on the orders of Kosovo's supreme court after nine months
behind bars
An international panel in the court sided on Tuesday with human rights
groups and the trio's lawyer who said the Yugoslav province's U.N.
governor Hans Haekkerup had provided no evidence to justify his orders
to hold the men pending a trial.
The bus bombing on February 16 is widely viewed as the most
gruesome of many attacks on Serbs in post-war Kosovo. More than 20 Serbs
were also wounded in the attack.
Attackers blew up the bus, which was carrying only Serbs, just
after it entered the ethnic Albanian-dominated province from Serbia
proper.
The three men, Avdi Behluli, Qele Gashi and Jusuf Veliu, have
maintained they are innocent since their arrest in March.
''I am very happy that, after a big injustice was done to us, I
have finally been released from prison,'' said Veliu, who was welcomed
by fellow members of Kosovo's Protection Corps, successor to the
guerrilla force which fought Serb rule.
''While I was in prison, I was subjected to psychological
pressure,'' he said. ''I was kept in isolation for three months.''
A member of the Serbian government's Kosovo coordination body
criticised the decision to release the men and complained Belgrade
authorities had not been allowed to take part in the investigation into
the bus bombing, Beta news agency reported.
Although legally still part of Serb-dominated Yugoslavia, Kosovo
has been run by a United Nations administration since NATO bombs drove
out Serb forces repressing the ethnic Albanian majority in 1999. The
U.N. had no comment on the releases.
International sources said intelligence information on the case
did not match the evidence presented to the court but could not explain
the discrepancy. Analysts speculated that whichever agency provided the
information did not want it widely known.
The investigation into the bombing has been marked by
controversy. A key suspect, ethnic Albanian Florim Ejupi, escaped under
unclear circumstances in May from prison in the fortress-like Camp
Bondsteel base of U.S. troops in Kosovo.
And Haekkerup has come under fire from Amnesty International for
using ''executive orders'' to keep the other suspects in jail when a
lower court, also with international judges, ordered their release just
days after their arrest.
International judges are part of Kosovo's justice system in an
effort to ensure there is no ethnic bias in sensitive cases.
Copyright 2001 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or
redistribution of Reuters content is expressly prohibited without the
prior written consent of Reuters.
http://famulus.msnbc.com/FamulusIntl/reuters12-19-104320.asp?reg=EUROPE
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