-Caveat Lector- Abducted Kosovo men tell of ordeal by Serb army By Crispian Balmer ULCINJ, Montenegro (Reuters) - Kosovo Albanian men abducted by Yugoslav soldiers have returned to their refugee camps here amazed to be alive but shaken by an ordeal which included beatings and sexual humiliation. Soldiers rounded up around 100 men as they tried to leave this small Yugoslav republic for Albania Saturday, busing them across country to Serbia and then back to Kosovo before unexpectedly returning them and freeing them Monday. During their three-day ordeal, the refugees, aged between 15 and 55, said they were beaten, robbed and, in some cases, forced to strip naked and perform oral sex on each other. ``When they brought us back to Montenegro and I saw Montenegrin police on the roads it was like being born a second time,'' said one 26-year-old agricultural worker, who, like all his companions, refused to give his name. After their release most of the men have been brought to campsites in Montenegro's Adriatic coastal resort of Ulcinj, home to some 30,000 Kosovo refugees. All said they now wanted a police escort out of the country. ``We won't feel safe until we have left Yugoslavia,'' said one gaunt young man. Montenegro is Serbia's junior partner in the Yugoslav federation, and although it is hostile to Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic's government there are thousands of federal troops stationed here who take their orders from Belgrade. The refugees were separated from their wives and mothers on Saturday morning when soldiers set up a random roadblock at the Albanian border. Some 30,000 ethnic Albanian refugees have traveled safely through Montenegro on their way to Albania over the past eight weeks. Saturday was the first time a group had been stopped by the army. ``The soldiers told us: 'You are completely safe. We are taking you back home','' said a 26-year-old from the southwestern Kosovo town of Istok. ``We thought we were dead.'' As soon as the three army buses started to drive them north, the violence started. The men said soldiers randomly hit their captives, demanding money and jewelry. Some refugees still had bruises on their faces, cut noses and large red contusions across their backs Thursday. Once they crossed into Serbia several more Serb reservists, some wearing black masks, climbed aboard the buses. ``Me and the person next to me were forced to take off our clothes and made to do things that I do not do with my wife,'' said a lanky youth in a black and red track suit. Another of the men said later that the youth had been forced to perform oral sex. A pair of elderly men were treated similarly. ``They held knives to their throats and laughed at them, called them homosexuals,'' said the young man. Other refugees confirmed his story. At first the men were taken to the small southern Serbian village of Tutin and put in a police compound, where they were interrogated. ``They kept on saying we were members of the KLA (Kosovo Liberation Army). But we are not, we are normal people,'' said a man from the Kosovo city of Pec. The refugees said the police treated them well, and added that Tutin residents gave them food. The next day the army picked them up again and drove them into Kosovo -- but then unexpectedly turned around and took them back to Tutin, where they spent Sunday night. The following morning all but five were bused to the northeastern Montenegrin logging town of Rozaje and released without explanation. The refugees said they knew the names of three of the five and did not know what had happened to them. Montenegro's pro-Western government said it was NATO bombing which forced the buses to turn back and drive out of Kosovo. It said the men had finally been freed because of its official protests. The army said in a statement they detained the men because they were eligible for Yugoslav military service and were considered potential deserters. Far from wanting to fight for Yugoslavia, some of the refugees said their abduction had made them think about joining the KLA. ``I would fight now, but I am the only man in our family and if I died who would look after my mother and sisters?'' said the youth in the red and black track suit, staring intensely at the ground. DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance�not soapboxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. 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