Human rights groups in Kosovo have documented five cases since July 1998 in which detainees -- people held in police stations, state security buildings, or prisons -- died from torture by police officers or prison guards. Human Rights Watch confirmed three of these cases by speaking with lawyers, family members of the victims, and witnesses, as well as by seeing death certificates and/or photographs of the deceased. (For photographic evidence see the Human Rights Watch website: www.hrw.org/reports98/kosovo2/.) All three of these cases involved young, healthy men who were seen being taken away by the police, and then were returned to their families dead.
Rexhep Bislimi, an activist with the Council for the Defense of Human Rights and Freedoms in Uroševac and the father of three, was arrested on July 6, 1998, from the street in Uroševac. He died on July 20 from beatings he sustained while in detention. Human Rights Watch saw photographs of Bislimi after his death which reveal severe bruises and subcutaneous bleeding consistent with the allegations of torture.
According to Bislimi’s family, Rexhep was traveling by car with his nephew and two uncles toward Gnjilane to visit family. The police stopped the car in Uroševac, checked his family’s documents, and immediately arrested Rexhep. The family went to the police station twice that day, but were given no information on Rexhep’s whereabouts.
On July 7, the police brought Rexhep back to his house while most of the family was at home. Rexhep’s sister, Tyrkene, told Human Rights Watch:
I went out and saw eight cars with policemen and inspectors. When I saw him [Rexhep], he was black and blue and bloody under his eye. I said to the policemen, “what have you done?” They put all of us [fifteen people] in the kitchen and locked the door.7
Rexhep’s cousin, Fadil, watched as the police forced Rexhep to dig holes in his garden, ostensibly looking for weapons. They found nothing and began searching the house, again revealing nothing. Around 1:45 p.m. the police left with Rexhep, according to the family. That was the last time they saw Rexhep alive.
According to Fadil, the police did not provide any precise information about Rexhep over the next two days, saying only that he was either in Priština, Lipljan, or Uroševac prison. A lawyer hired by the family, Besel Jashari, was not allowed access to his client.
Three or four days later, the family learned that Rexhep was being held in Gnjilane prison. The chief investigative judge in Priština, Danica Marinkovic, gave Rexhep’s mother and Fadil permission to visit. According to Fadil, the two of them tried to visit on July 16, but the police did not allow them to enter the prison because Rexhep was “in interrogation.” The police kept the visiting permit and said the family could return in three or four days.
Two days later, the Council for the Defense of Human Rights and Freedoms in Priština informed the family that Rexhep was in the Priština hospital. According to Fadil, he and Rexhep’s mother went to visit the hospital on July 19, but they were refused entry by two policemen who were guarding the door. A doctor told the family that it was “better this way,” since they did not want to see Rexhep in that condition. The doctor recommended that the family purchase 1,000DM worth of medicine to treat Rexhep’s internal bleeding, which the family did. Six members of the family also donated their blood. On July 20, Fadil and Rexhep’s brother went back to the hospital in Priština. A doctor there told them that Rexhep had died.
The official discharge summary and death certificate, obtained by Human Rights Watch, said that Rexhep had died on July 21; the family did not know why there was a discrepancy in the dates but suggested that the doctors at the hospital may have waited until they received the 1,000 DM worth of medicine from the family. The official cause of death on the discharge summary was “constusio capitis et corporis” (contusions of the head and body). Bislimi’s injuries were listed as: three broken ribs on the left side, a punctured left lung, ruptured diaphragm, and intestinal bleeding.8
Human Rights Watch also saw a photograph of Mr. Bislimi taken by the Council for the Defense of Human Rights and Freedoms on July 23. The photograph showed severe bruising and lacerations all over Rexhep’s back that were consistent with the allegations of torture.
The family decided not to press charges, believing that a legal process would prove futile. As of December 1, no one had been held responsible for Rexhep’s death.
Cen Dugolli, an activist with the Democratic League of Kosovo in Uroševac and the father of four, died on August 17, 1998, in Priština hospital from beatings sustained while in detention. Photographs of Dugolli obtained by Human Rights Watch reveal signs of extreme beating and deep subcutaneous bleeding over large parts of the body.
According to Dugolli’s family, the police arrested Cen and his neighbor, Haxhi Bytyqi, at 8:00 a.m. on June 21, 1998, from their homes in Uroševac. Mihrije Dugolli, Cen’s mother, told Human Rights Watch that Cen was beaten in front of the house by the police. She said:
They hit his head and body, all the time beating him with their fists, kicking him, or hitting him with a rubber baton. Then they put him in an armored vehicle - his blood was flowing.9
According to the family, they tried in vain to learn of Cen’s whereabouts. The following day, Haxhi Bytyqi’s brother learned that the two men had been accused of terrorism and were being held in the Priština prison.
The family first visited the prison on July 1. According to Mihrije Dugolli, her son looked tired, and he had some bruises on his face. Dugolli’s lawyer, Destan Rukiqi, visited Dugolli in prison on July 19. Rukiqi told Human Rights Watch that Dugolli had been beaten, but that they could not discuss the details in the presence of the prison guard.10
The Dugolli family visited two more times at two-week intervals, each time for a couple of minutes. The fourth visit was supposed to have been on August 17, but the family was not allowed into the prison. Cen’s wife, Sanije, explained what happened:
We went for a visit, but the police said we can’t come in because they had sent him [Cen] to the hospital. “He’s sick with stomach problems,” they said. “We sent him yesterday, and we hope he survives.” I asked if we could go and see him in the hospital and he said no, “because if you go it will hurt him more.” He said we cannot see him because the police are guarding the door. I asked if we could leave the food and clothes that we had brought. He said no, and that we should come again after four days, unless he [Cen] goes for an operation.... That night, on the Albanian news at 7:00 p.m., they said that Cen had died. We learned of his death from the satellite television.11
On August 20, the family got the death certificate in the mail. Two days before, however, Cen’s uncle had gone to the morgue to collect the body. He told Human Rights Watch that the police at the morgue questioned him for one and a half hours.
The discharge summary and death certificate, obtained by Human Rights Watch, stated Dugolli’s cause of death as cardiac arrest due to endotoxic shock and metabolic acidosis from a ruptured duodenum (first part of small intestine).12
Human Rights Watch also obtained photographs of Dugolli taken after his death. They show deep bruises, and subcutaneous bleeding along the upper and lower back, and blood around the ear.
While Dugolli was in prison, his lawyer, Destan Rukiqi, was arrested on July 23 for “insulting” Judge Danica Marinkovic while trying to review Dugolli’s case file. Rukiqi himself spent thirty days in prison and was severely beaten on the kidneys while in the Lipljan prison (see below). Rukiqi first learned of Dugolli’s death when he was released from prison on August 22. Dugolli’s neighbor, Haxhi Bytyqi, is still in prison.
According to the Council for the Defense of Human Rights and Freedoms, Adem Berisha, thirty-seven years old, from Bruc village, died on August 18, 1998, in the surgery ward of the Priština hospital, reportedly from injuries inflicted by the police during his detention in the Prizren state security building. He had been arrested on the Dragaš-Prizren road on August 16. The next day he lapsed into a coma and was taken to the hospital in Prizren, where he stayed for one day before being transferred to Priština.13
According to the Council for the Defense of Human Rights and Freedoms, on August 23 Maksut Qafleshi from the village Belobrade died as a result of police torture he sustained in Uroševac. Maksut’s brother told the council that Maksut was arrestedand beaten by the police on the road between Prizren and Uroševac and was then taken to the police station in Uroševac, where he was denied medical treatment. He was later transferred to the hospital in Priština, where he died.14
According to Albanian media reports and the Council for the Defense of Human Rights and Freedoms, on August 29, around 11:00 p.m., forty-seven-year-old Bilall Shala from Uroševac died while in police custody. Shala, an activist with the Christian Democratic Party, was arrested in Uroševac on August 28 together with his son, Agron, who was released later that day, reportedly after being beaten by the police. Bilall’s brother, Zenel Shala, told the Albanian media that he was informed on the evening of August 28 that his brother had died and was in the Priština city morgue.15
Human Rights Watch saw photographs taken of Bilall Shala after his autopsy on August 30. The photos show traumatic bruising and internal hemorrhaging on the upper legs, front and back, as well as on the left forearm and hand. Some bruises are also visable on the left shoulder and left cheek.
7 Human Rights Watch interview with Tyrkene Bislimi, Uroševac, September 25, 1998.
8 Discharge summary of Rexhep Bislimi, registration number 4174, July 21, 1998, surgery ward, Priština hospital, signed by Dr. Alexander Pavlovic.
9 Human Rights Watch interview with Mihrije Dugolli, Uroševac, September 25, 1998.
10 Human Rights Watch interview with Destan Rukiqi, Priština, September 18, 1998.
11 Human Rights Watch interview with Sanije Dugolli, Uroševac, September 25, 1998.
12 Summary discharge and death certificate of Cen Dugolli, registration number 4685, issued on August 17, 1998, signed by Dr. G. Jovanovic.
13 "Within Two Months Five Albanians Die in Serbian Prisons,” Council for the Defense of Human Rights and Freedoms, September 1998.
15 “One More Albanian Dead From Prison Torture,” Arta, August 30, 1998, and “Another Albanian Detainee Dies of Police Torture,” KIC, August 30, 1998.