KLA on the rampage

The Times (London), June 19, 1999, Saturday 

KLA 'beat man of 70 to death' 

Daniel McGrory in Pristina 

A gang of KLA fighters were accused yesterday of beating to death a 70-year
old man whom they claimed was a Serb collaborator. 

German troops with Kfor discovered a KLA torture chamber when they moved
into Prizren's former police headquarters. They found the old man tied to a
chair and KLA men standing around the bloodstained room. He had been beaten
for hours before he died. On the ground were knives, chains and a baseball
bat with a nail in it. 

In other rooms the peacekeepers found another 20 elderly ethnic Albanians,
all of whom had been beaten during hours of interrogation. One man had his
leg smashed after KLA fighters had stamped on him. Most were so terrified
they could not speak. 

This is the worst incident yet of what Kfor commanders complain is KLA mob
rule in Prizren since the Serbs moved out. The local KLA commander's excuse
to the officers was: "They were dealing with Serb collaborators and people
who have been looting." Under the rules of engagement, the peacekeeping
troops were unable to arrest the men. 

Questions had been asked about whether the German contingent had been firm
enough in disarming the KLA; last night, however, KLA fighters were banned
from carrying their weapons in public in Prizren from midnight. 

=======



The Washington Post , June 19, 1999, Saturday, Final Edition 

KLA Accused of Beating Gypsies; Discovery Raises Doubts About Rebels'
Discipline 

John Ward Anderson, Washington Post Foreign Service 

PRIZREN, Yugoslavia, June 18 

German NATO troops raided the former Serbian Interior Ministry police
headquarters here today and disarmed about 25 ethnic Albanian rebels who
apparently had imprisoned and severely beaten 15 elderly people, including
a man found chained to a chair who had died, German army officials said. 

The prisoners, some chained to radiators, others with their hands bound
behind their backs, had apparently been accused of collaborating with Serbs
during the war. The German officer who led the raid said the captives,
described as Gypsies, told German troops that rebels from the Kosovo
Liberation Army had detained them for allegedly looting the homes of ethnic
Albanians. 

The discovery came four days after the secessionist rebels returned
triumphantly to Prizren in southern Kosovo following the withdrawal of
Yugoslav army and Serbian police forces, and it serves as a reminder of the
KLA's brutal reputation -- something that was frequently overlooked in
recent months as the group became a convenient ally of NATO in its air war
against Yugoslavia.

U.S. officials have long considered the rebel group to be undisciplined and
violent, and at one point called it a terrorist organization. That ended
around the time the group became a significant political and military
threat to Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic. 

Today's discovery, however, highlights the pitfalls NATO could face in
forging a working relationship with the rebels, who have taken up positions
across Kosovo as Serbian forces withdraw. It also illustrates the
challenges in transforming the KLA from a war-hardened guerrilla group to a
modern, democratic political organization that respects human rights. 

In a search of the building, German soldiers found numerous torture
instruments, including sticks with protruding nails, batons with chains and
"special skewers," according to Lt. Col. Dietmar Jeserich, a German NATO
spokesman. Soldiers said it appeared the instruments belonged to the
Serbian police, and it was unclear if any had been used on the Gypsies. 

Officials said they found a darkroom with "lots of negatives," a munitions
room with piles of grenades, antitank weapons, automatic rifles and other
weapons and a stash of amphetamines with syringes. 

They also found a room containing more than 1,000 passports that apparently
belonged to ethnic Albanians whose personal documents had been confiscated
by Serbs as they fled the country during this spring's Serbian offensive in
Kosovo, a province of Serbia, Yugoslavia's dominant republic. 

In a first step toward exerting NATO control here, German army officials
announced today that, beginning at midnight tonight, KLA members will not
be allowed to carry weapons openly or, starting Sunday, appear in uniform
in public, under an agreement hammered out with senior KLA officials. 

Last week's peace agreement between NATO and Yugoslavia calls for the
"demilitarization" of the rebels, although it is unclear whether this means
they will be required to give up all their weapons. 

German NATO officers said today's search came after KLA officials were told
to vacate all former police buildings in Prizren by noon. Shortly before 4
p.m., a NATO unit on routine patrol saw some rebels at the former
headquarters of the special police, which the KLA had occupied earlier this
week. After radioing their superiors for instructions, the soldiers ordered
the KLA to vacate the building within two hours. The German soldiers then
entered the building to search it. 

Inside, they found KLA rebels standing guard over 14 elderly men and one
woman who had been brutally beaten. Some were handcuffed to radiators, and
others had their hands bound behind their backs with rope. The badly beaten
body of a man about 70 years old was found chained to a chair; he had died
just hours before the troops entered the building, German officials said.
The cause of death was not known. 

The German soldiers ordered the rebels to drop their weapons, and they
complied without resisting, said Maj. Dietrich Jensch, who led the search
of the building. 

One of the Gypsies, Gani Berisha, said he had been held for two days and
nights without food or water after being hauled away from his home by KLA
soldiers. 

"They said that I stole things, but I didn't," he said outside the
building. "I only confessed because they put a knife to my throat. They
told us, 'You all have to leave here. You cooperated with Milosevic.' " 

Another prisoner lifted his shirt to show that his rib cage was black and
purple with bruises. 

As the search commenced, dozens of German troops raced to the scene, and a
short time later three jeeps filled with KLA members arrived, leading to a
tense standoff in the street, witnesses said. The Germans ordered the KLA
rebels to lower their weapons and they complied, after which they were
searched and released. Their weapons were confiscated. 

Officials said they did not know if the weapons found in the building
belonged to the KLA or to Yugoslav troops who abandoned Prizren last Sunday
in compliance with the peace agreement. 

German officers took the names of 25 KLA members, including a woman, and
turned the rebels over to the local KLA commander. It was unclear whether
charges would be filed against them. 

"They were smirking like they got their hands caught in a cookie jar," said
one person who witnessed the scene. 

The Gypsies were being treated by German army doctors tonight. German
officials said they would have to investigate the incident before deciding
whether to hold the Gypsies, and if so, for how long and on what basis. 

A German NATO soldier drives two of the Gypsies discovered in the custody
of ethnic Albanian rebels. A member of the Kosovo Liberation Army unloads
his handgun under orders from German NATO soldiers who found 25 rebels in a
Serbian police building.