|
|
|
|
||
|
||
|
|
||
| SEARCH | SUBSCRIBE | ||
|
|
KOSOVO / KOSOVA: As Seen, As Told Chapter 18: Elderly, Disabled
Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe's Kosovo Verification Mission (1999)
While the OSCE-KVM was in Kosovo there were few reports of the specific
targeting of elderly or disabled people from either the Kosovo Albanian or
the Serb community. One example concerns a 73-year-old Serb who was killed
when on After the withdrawal of the OSCE-KVM on On the afternoon of 26 March two Serbian police entered the room of the house where we were staying and started shooting. They were wearing masks and camouflage uniforms. As they shot into the room my daughter was shot in the hip. In the meantime [my daughter's] husband and his cousin were on the floor above and came down to see what was going on. A policeman shot at [the cousin] and missed. Then the policeman took DM1500 from [a 16-year old female relative] in exchange for sparing [the cousin's] life. Nevertheless, when the money was presented the policeman still shot [him] in the chest with a machine gun, killing him instantly. They then called [my daughter's husband] outside and shot him in the head, killing him instantly. The family was taken out into the yard, where the elderly mother of [my daughter's husband], aged 75, began walking towards the policemen and cursing them for what they had done. They immediately shot her as well, and she died instantly. I also saw shot dead in their yard, in a kneeling position with their faces to the ground my neighbours [both aged 70].2 Although many elderly people were able to flee and formed a large proportion of those in the refugee camps, the treatment of those who were unable to do so suggests that they were in many cases specifically targeted, whether for killing, torture or ill-treatment, regardless of the fact that they were unable to resist. Possibly this was because the intention was to expel the whole population, possibly because the killing of the elderly would preclude relatives from returning to look after them, or possibly because the intention was to kill heads of households and thus weaken the fabric of Kosovo Albanian society. When combined with the particular targeting of young men (as described in Chapter 15, Young men of fighting age), the effect was in any case to leave many extended families without the direction and cohesion traditionally provided by a head of household. The most common attacks were those on elderly Kosovo Albanians who were
also immobile and therefore particularly vulnerable. Relatives often had
no choice but to leave them behind in the chaotic and hurried
circumstances of mass expulsion under threat of death and they were unable
to make their way to the border by themselves. Occasionally families were
able to bring elderly relatives with them against great odds, as was the
case with a man who fled from Istok/Istog municipality in late March whose
tractor was shelled and who then carried his 70-year-old mother across the
mountains through the snow on foot to The elderly and disabled are treated in the same section of this report because their fates were frequently relatively similar. Their vulnerability had the same roots, since they often could not move, or move fast enough to leave independently and there was usually neither the time nor the resources to transport them. Killing of old, immobile persons Almost every extended family in Kosovo had elderly people with them. While it would be the natural instinct to take the whole family with them upon fleeing, the way the forced expulsions were carried out often did not leave the families the time or resources to carry the old people who were not able to walk. Sometimes elderly people refused to leave despite the persuasions of other members of the family. Other elderly who tried to follow their relatives were too weak either to join convoys or to walk to the train or bus station. In Pristina/Prishtine, on 2 or 3 April a policeman shot a 66-year-old man, who was sick and being carried by his son. The policeman said that he had killed him "just to make it a bit easier for you".4 In Pec/Peja, in late March, when the army was escorting a convoy of IDPs, one woman was transported in a wheelbarrow, the two others were carried. One of the men who was carrying an elderly woman was forced to put her down and she was shot dead by a police officer with a pistol.5 In Pristina paramilitaries killed old people who were not able to follow the crowd.6 On 1 April Serbian forces shot three villagers who were unable to walk when they forced villagers in Drenovce (Kosovska Kamenica/Kamenice) to leave.7 In Mirusa/Mirushe (Orahovac/Rrahovec) an old man was shot because he could not walk to leave his home.8 In Marcvec/Marefc (Pristina/Prishtina) paramilitaries shot dead a 90-year-old man who was paralyzed and was therefore unable to leave.9 Those who stayed behind frequently found no mercy at the hands of the Serbian forces. When they entered the house - generally either to expel the inhabitants to loot or both - they often killed elderly men and women who had stayed behind. On 28 March in Crnovrana/Gurbardh (Orahovac) 26 people were killed and one interviewee saw four dead bodies of people aged over 70. Paramilitaries had killed them all in one place and spread them over two kilometres apart. Two days later they killed three more people over 70 years old.10 In Studenica (Istok) an man who was over 100 years old was knifed to death.11 The elderly were not spared from mass killings and occasionally even appear to have been targeted. On 4 April in Pusto Selo/Pastasel (Orahovac) VJ took more than 100 men, all over 50 years old at gunpoint to lower land. The interviewee then heard automatic gunfire from that area. Reportedly only four men survived the massacre by hiding underneath the dead bodies.12 Also in the Srbica/Skenderaj-massacre where 148 people were killed, a number of (named) old people died, aged 60-81, as well as a 70-year-old disabled person.13 In Dragacina/Dragaqine (Suva Reka/Suhareke) special police killed 11 old men (aged from 60 to 90). An interviewee heard that one policeman said: "We killed and massacred the old men and dropped them into a well".14 Elderly or immobile people were also mutilated when they were killed. When one villager returned on 10 April to Kladernica/Klodernice (Srbica/Skenderaj), he found 35 bodies, including that of a 75-year-old woman (name recorded) who had been cut from her pelvic area to her throat.15 Among several killed elderly people in the area around Pristina's public hospital, one had a distorted face and a heavily mutilated body.16 A 70-year-old man captured in Plitkovic/Plitkoviq (Lipljan/Lipjan) had his fingers and toes cut off and was then killed.17 The burning of elderly and disabled people Elderly and disabled people were widely reported as being either shot dead and then burned or as being burned alive, often in their homes. On 12 April in Grebno/Greben (Urosevac/Ferizaj) two Kosovo Albanians (aged 105 and 60) were burned to ashes in their houses.18 On 21 April in Makovac/Makofc (Pristina) three interviewees report finding the burnt bodies of three relatives, all of whom were in their 80s who died in a blaze after the house was set on fire.19 In Zlatare/Zllatare (Pristina) five old people (one of whom was an invalid) were found burned in their houses.20 On 28 March an interviewee witnessed in Lesane/Leshane (Suva Reka/Suhareke) how a (named) local Serb carried a (named) 80-year-old woman who could not walk and placed her against a pile of corn stalks. He then set the pile on fire and burned her alive.21 Even if the elderly had managed to flee some of the way, they were sometimes killed and/or burnt. In mid-April in Vrelo/Vrella (Lipljan/Lipjan) a family had to leave two elderly people during their flight in an empty house because they could not walk any further. Later on, someone found their partially burnt bodies.22 In Slovinje/Sllovi (Lipljan/Lipjan), when as series of mass killings were carried out in mid-April, an elderly paralysed woman was killed and burned on a tractor.23 In Krajlane/Kralan (Djakovica/Gjakove) in early April two elderly women and an elderly man who had been unable to walk with the others the evening before were killed by paramilitaries. The women (one of whom had a broken leg) wanted to get off the tractor but the paramilitaries would not let them. The tractor and the bodies were burnt by the police.24 Conflict-related deaths and death from exposure The elderly were also incidental victims of the conflict. In Vranjevac (Pristina) a 72-year-old man was among those killed when MUP fired into a crowd of people who had been forced out of their homes.25 In Kojlovica/Kolovice (Pristina) in early April when VJ surrounded the village and ordered villagers to leave, there was a lot of shooting in which an old man (aged 65-70) was wounded in the shoulder.26 The vulnerability of elderly people meant that they were particularly likely to die from exposure, starvation or lack of care. In Kolic/Koliq (Pristina) at the end of April four old women and six disabled people who were left behind died in the harsh conditions in the hills. Another interviewee heard that approximately 20 elderly or paralyzed people died from exposure. It was also reported that old people particularly suffered and sometimes died in the overcrowded trains or at the border.27 Ill-treatment of elderly people In some cases elderly people were subjected to ill-treatment, which was probably meant either to punish them or their relatives who were forced to watch this. In Drenovac/Drenoc (Pristina) VJ or MUP stripped naked the 73-year-old father of a human rights activist stole his money and beat him with the butts of their weapons.28 In Nakarada/Nakarade (Kosovo Polje) an old, immobile man was left behind after 16 male family members had been abducted and the women had fled. When the women returned, they found him in a house, crying out. He was tied naked to a chair and there was a dangerous dog in the room. The old man said the Serb and "Gypsy"(Maxhupi) neighbours had ill-treated him.29 The elderly were not spared from the prevailing brutality and violence in other cases. In Petrastica/Pjetershtice (Stimlje/Shtime) MUP burned the car of a 65-year-old Kosovo Albanian because he had no money to give to them. After they had set his car alight the police pushed the man's head through a window of the burning car.30 In Donje Gadimlje/Gadime e Ulet (Lipljan) on or around 11 April a Kosovo Albanian witnessed policemen hitting old people in the mouth to extract their gold teeth.31 The elderly were also beaten. At the end of April in Pristina/Prishtina a 70-year-old woman was robbed, beaten and kicked all over her body.32 One 74-year-old man taken to Djakovica/Gjakove police station in October 1998 was beaten so badly that he spent the next two months in hospital before he eventually died.33 Attacks on elderly men for wearing traditional headgear Elderly Kosovo Albanian men who wore the traditional Albanian crocheted or hard white hat or plis were also targeted for doing so, in what can be seen as an assault on Kosovo Albanian culture and traditions. There is one account of a man being shot dead for doing so.34 Another interviewee explains how the group of Kosovo Albanians he was with was sheltering in a valley near Turjak/Turkjake (Orahovac/Rrahovec) and was surrounded by VJ, who are described as beating more severely than others those who were wearing a plis .35 Men were also hit about the head for wearing a plis.36 Plis were confiscated, thrown on the ground, trampled on, and seen lying beside the road to Prizren "with blood stains and World War Two `chetnik' symbols scrawled on them".37 Plis were also seen on the ground besides 40 dead bodies in Globocica/Gllobocic (Kacanik) in late March.38 In Cirez/Qirez (Srbica/Skenderaj) the Serbian forces gathered all the old men and confiscated their jackets and plis.39 Extortion The extortion of money, which was often accompanied by the killing of those who did not hand over the required amount of money, did not spare the elderly. In early May a 70-year-old woman was beaten and then killed by three paramilitaries who entered her house in Gnjilane/Gjilan. The interviewee presumed that when the woman gave them DM 20 this was not deemed sufficient because the perpetrators kicked her in the stomach. She fell on her knees and they shot her twice, hitting her in the hand and the shoulder. Finally they kicked her again and she died of her injuries in the corridor.40 In Podujevo/Podujeve a 75-year-old man (the head of the household) was severely beaten when he was unable to produce the DM 30,000 paramilitaries and other Serbian forces asserted he had.41 Abduction A few statements refer to the abduction and subsequent disappearance of elderly people. On 27 March in the Ulpijana/Ulpiana district of Pristina an immobile woman was put on a tractor with 10 other old people who had difficulty walking. At the time the interview was given, the relatives still did not know the whereabouts of these people. A few days later, also in Pristina, police abducted the 72-year-old mother of an interviewee from a convoy going to the train station. The police said they would give her a lift to the station in a tractor, as they were collecting old people, but the tractor never arrived.42 Attacks on disabled people There are relatively few indications that disabled Kosovo Albanians were a specific target but they were not spared ill-treatment or killing. On 25 March in Brestovac/Brestoc (Orahovac/Rrahovac) Serbian police went into a home for paralyzed people. Several of the people could not move. A witness saw that at least 16 disabled people were shot dead.43 In Velika Krusa/Krushe e Madhe (Orahovac) one interviewee saw a police officer kill a 25-year-old, deaf-mute man who couldn't say "Long live Serbia", he was ordered to get in a pool of water and then shot in the back, he was then shot a second time with an automatic weapon.44 On 6 April in Kozica/Kozhice (Srbica) a 25-year-old mentally handicapped man was taken out of sight of the others and shot by a paramilitary wearing a cowboy hat.45 In the main MUP station in Pristina a handicapped man was tied up with handcuffs to a radiator and beaten till he was bloody and unconscious.46 In Glogovac/Gllogoc on 20 April a deaf/mute mechanic was shot dead by paramilitaries in front of his wife and his children. Then the perpetrators robbed the dead man.47 In a case subsequently confirmed by the OSCE-MiK, a man who needed two sticks to walk was shot once in the back and once in the head in Baraina/Baraina (Podujevo/Podujeve) on 21 April as he was trying to walk up a track away from looting Serbian forces.48 Other reports describe how relatives of the disabled or handicapped tried to prevent the Serbian forces from attacking them. Usually the disabled as well as the relatives received beatings before they were released.49 Acknowledgement that the disabled did not constitute a threat Occasionally there was some recognition
that the elderly and disabled did not constitute a threat, although this
still did not stop them from being ill-treated. They were, for instance,
permitted to leave a group of several hundred men held, harassed and
beaten by Serbian forces for several days in Kraljane/Kralan (Djakovica)
in early April upon payment of DM 5,000-15,000, which they collected among
themselves. They were loaded onto trucks and driven directly to the
Albanian border in Prizren municipality.50
One 65-year-old woman explained how when Serbian forces in Cirez/Qirez (Srbica)
seized and started to beat her 28-year-old mentally handicapped son, she
was first beaten but then was eventually able to explain his condition so
that they stopped.51
Another interviewee who was in a wheelchair stated that MUP found him near
the border and, after questioning him, transported him in their car the
rest of the way.52 Link to the full report: As
Seen, As Told.
Notes 1
Reported by the OSCE-KVM RC3 Police Liaison Officer on 30 January. 2
A/0874. All victims mentioned are named in the statement 3
A/0995. 4
M/0762. 5
A/0736. 6
A/0421. 7
A/1045. 8
A/0834. 9
M/1458. 10
A/1114; A/1121. 11
A/0173. 12
A/0728. 13
A/0676. 14
A/1124. 15
A/1024. 16
M/1728. 17
M/1314. 18
M/0173. 19
M/1302; M/1438; M/1738. 20
M/1770. 21
A/0979. 22
M/0433. 23
M/0103; M/0817; M/1051. 24
A/0065; A/0066; A/0176. 25
M/1722. 26
M/0739. 27
M/1174; M/1235. 28
M/1308. 29
M/0534; M/0537. 30
M/0280. 31
A/0285. 32
M/1065. 33
A/0535. 34
M/0302. 35
A/0209. 36
M/0959. 37
A/0114; A/1027; M/1294; M/1789. 38
M/1128. 39
M/1294. 40
M/1446. 41
M/0864. 42
M/0163; M/0377. 43
A/0921. 44
A/0118. 45
M/1267. 46
M/1418. 47
A/0921; M/0832; M/1267; M/1418. 48
OSCE-MiK, PR/0155/99. 49
A/1123; M/1294. A/0569; M/0833 and M/1294 reported that paralyzed people
were forcibly left behind. 50
A/0112; A/0168; A/0426; A/0560; A/0970. 51
M/1294. 52 A/0728.
|
|
|
