(WiPC/IFEX) – On 9 December 1999, Flora Brovina, a Kosovo Albanian poet, paediatrician and women’s rights activist, was sentenced to twelve years in prison. International PEN continues to call for Brovina’s release. An appeal hearing is due to take place on 16 May 2000. Background Information Brovina has been held since April 1999 on conviction […]
(WiPC/IFEX) – On 9 December 1999, Flora Brovina, a Kosovo Albanian poet, paediatrician and women’s rights activist, was sentenced to twelve years in prison. International PEN continues to call for Brovina’s release. An appeal hearing is due to take place on 16 May 2000.
Background Information
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.
On 21 January, Rajko Danilovic, Brovina’s defence lawyer, filed an appeal to the Serbian Supreme Court against the twelve-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 institution’s 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 women’s 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 1990s against Serb human rights abuses.
Recommended Action
Send appeals to the president:
– referring to PEN’s concern that Brovina is held in violation of her right to non-violent freedom of expression and association
– expressing the hope that these concerns will be taken into consideration by the court on 16 May and that she will soon be released
Appeals To
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.
Please copy appeals to the source if possible.
