Since the beginning of the Kosovo conflict in February 1998, there have been serious allegations that the authorities were holding ethnic Albanians in unofficial places of detention. The allegations raised concern due to the experience in Bosnia, where factories and other such places were used as temporary prisons or camps. Some of the worst abuses of the Bosnia war took place in such detention facilities.

The first credible allegation was made in May during the first large-scale government offensive along the border with Albania. Unconfirmed reports spoke of a detention facility at the Dekor factory in Decan, but Human Rights Watch has not been able to confirm these allegations.

Beginning in late May, allegations arose about another detention facility in the ferrous-nickel plant, a large compound in the town of Glogovac in Drenica. Many villagers in the area, as well as foreign journalists, told Human Rights Watch that they had seen special police forces entering and leaving the compound - reportedly using it as a base - but nobody ever confirmed the presence of detainees. On June 22, two journalists from Danish TV2, Neils Brinch and Heinrik Gram, and their Albanian interpreter, were fired upon while driving in an armored car near the ferrous-nickel plant, which fueled suspicions. No one was hurt.

A team from the Kosovo Diplomatic Observer Mission (KDOM), after numerous previous attempts, was finally allowed to visit the site on October 8, 1998. The team reported no signs that the plant had been used as a detention facility.

Human Rights Watch spoke with a number of villagers throughout Kosovo who had been held in various unofficial places, such as the firestation in Prizren, for some days after arrest. Usually this was due to a lack of space at the local police station or prison. Many of the detainees were beaten in such places, but there is no evidence of executions in these cases.