**Correction to IFEX alert of 28 April 2000** (WiPC/IFEX) – On 28 April 2000, PEN issued an alert indicating that the appeal trial hearing of Flora Brovina, a Kosovo Albanian poet, paediatrician and womenâs rights activist, had been set. PEN has since learned from sources in Serbia that a date for the hearing before the […]
**Correction to IFEX alert of 28 April 2000**
(WiPC/IFEX) – On 28 April 2000, PEN issued an alert indicating that the appeal trial hearing of Flora Brovina, a Kosovo Albanian poet, paediatrician and womenâs rights activist, had been set. PEN has since learned from sources in Serbia that a date for the hearing before the Supreme Court is yet to be established.
International PEN urges that a date for Brovina’s appeal be set as soon as possible and that she be granted release pending that hearing. PEN considers her detention to be in direct violation of international standards guaranteeing the rights to freedom of expression and association, and is working towards her release.
BACKGROUND:
Brovina has been held since April 1999 on conviction of “terrorism”. International PEN believes that the charges against her are unfounded and that she is detained for her strong support for Kosovo independence and against Serb human rights abuse. It is calling for her release. For details see PEN statements issued from April 1999.
On 21 January, Rajko Danilovic, Brovinaâs defence lawyer, filed an appeal to the Serbian Supreme Court against the 12-year sentence served against his client in December.
The appeal calls for the Supreme Court to either acquit Brovina, or to order her release on bail pending a retrial on the grounds that there had been serious violations of due process during the trial hearings. One of the irregularities cited in the appeal was that the conviction was based on evidence obtained from Brovina under interrogation. Another is that material that had not been made available to the defence prior to the trial was read out at the court. The lawyers sees these as being in breach of the Serbian Code of Civil Procedure.
Other complaints by the defence are that the court perceived any Kosovo Albanian institutionâs activities as “seditious” with the objective of Kosovan secession. These included such organisations as the League of Albanian Women, of which Brovina was a senior member and whose activities the defence points out are non-partisan and solely dedicated to the promotion of womenâs rights. Similarly all protests and demonstrations held in Kosovo were seen as “hostile acts” against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Brovina had been influential in a number of protests in the late 90s against Serb human rights abuses.
Recommended Action
Send appeals to the president:
WiPC apologises to those who have already taken action on the alert dated 28 April 2000.
Appeals To
His Excellency Slobodan Milosevic
President of Yugoslavia
Savezna Skupstina
11000 Belgrade
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
Fax: + 381 11 636 775
For those meeting difficulties with this contact number, try:
Zivadin Jovanovic
Minister of Foreign Affairs
Fax: + 381 11 367 2954
PEN also recommends that letters of protest be sent to the Serb embassies in
your own countries.
