NCJ Number
190934
Date Published
September 2001
Length
31 pages
Annotation
This report details a 3-day operation by Macedonian police against the predominantly ethnic Albanian village of Ljuboten over the period August 10-12, 2001, and presents related recommendations to the Macedonian government, the international community, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), and the Council of Europe.
Abstract
Following a landmine explosion that killed eight government soldiers on the Skopska Crna Gorna mountain on Friday, August 10, 2001, Macedonian police forces sealed off a nearby ethnic Albanian village, Ljuboten, and began a fierce attack on the village. Following 2 days of shelling of Ljuboten on Friday and Saturday, several hundred Macedonian police forces entered the village on Sunday, August 12, and began a house-to-house attack along the northern-most street in Ljuboten. The operation left 10 civilians dead and resulted in the arrest of more than 100 men, many of whom were severely beaten while in police custody. Contrary to assertions by the Macedonian government, a Human Rights Watch investigation on the ground in Ljuboten found no evidence of a presence by the ethnic Albanian National Liberation Army. Human Rights Watch recommendations to the Macedonian government included the investigation and prosecution of the persons responsible for the human rights abuses in Ljuboten; immediate steps to end the endemic and widespread police abuse at police stations in Kumanovo, Skopje, and Tetovo; and granting to international monitors regular access to all police facilities. Among the recommendations to the international community were an insistence on a credible, impartial, and transparent investigation into the allegations of government abuses in Ljuboten and accountability for those abuses. Among the recommendations to the OSCE was to make public the OSCE's conclusions of its investigation of the events in Ljuboten and publicly demand an appropriate government investigation. Further, Human Rights Watch recommended that the Council of Europe restart the prematurely closed monitoring of procedure regarding Macedonia. 70 notes and documenting photographs from the Human Rights Watch site visit