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Serbs from Nevoljane Released

by N.Z.

Blic, Belgrade, FR Yugoslavia, 1/25/99

VUCITRN - Kidnapped Serbs from the village of Nevoljane near the town of Vucitrn, Miodrag Bigovic (59), Radisav Milickovic (68) and his wife Zivka (64), and Radovan Milickovic (70) and his wife Danica (65), were released two days ago about 6 p.m. and delivered to the municipal authorities in Kosovska Mitrovica. Verifiers of the OSCE Mission Regional Center in Mitrovica took over the role of mediators in this case. The elderly kidnapped Serbs reached their homes the same evening, about 8p.m. Quoting Albanian sources, AFP news agency reported that the kidnapped Serbs were released "somewhere in Drenica".

"KLA" news agency reported on Saturday that "KLA units arrested during the night between Thursday and Friday in the village of Nevoljane five armed Serbs, three men and two women". The report alleges that "the arrested Serbs are the members of Serb paramilitary units which murder and mistreat Albanian population in the Vucitrn municipality".

Bigovic said that they spent one night in the village of Velike Prekaze. The kidnapers had taken them there in a truck, together with a large quantities of looted goods. "They put us in heated room and gave us food and drink," said Bigovic.

From there, according to Zivka Milickovic, they were taken to a place with a lot of uniformed persons. They asked us where our children were, said Zivka, and they were especially interested whether they work for the Police and how many Serbs there were in Nevoljane. "A uniformed guy with a mustache asked why we hadn't emigrated to Serbia [proper]," she said.

The kidnapped Serbs spent there 48 hours and then they were told about the negotiations and the forthcoming release. We didn't believe at first, said Radovan Milickovic, but soon we were visited by verifiers and they insisted that we tell them whether we had been mistreated or not. "We were afraid to tell them the truth, although Miodrag Bigovic had complained all the time about the injuries he received after a beating by KLA," said Milickovic's.

Radisav and Milka Milickovic said that the "KLA" members had threatened to "kill and butcher" them. Radisav said that one of the "KLA" members put a knife on his throat several times, demanding to know whether there are any more Serb homes in Nevoljane. He added that one of the attackers hit him with a knife handle on the head, while the other one beat him on the hands with a club.

Radisav Milickovic couldn't say where they were held, nor did he recognize "KLA" members. he added that one of the attackers defended kidnapped Serbs and prevented other "KLA" members from mistreating them.

Radisav said that on Saturday afternoon. the American members of the Kosovo Verification Mission (KVM) came to get the captured Serbs. "Here, we were released by Americans. Who says they are bad," said Radisav. The representatives of OSCE verification mission visited the released Serbs yesterday, but they demanded to talk with the Milicevics and the Bigovic family without the presence of journalists.

OSCE spokesperson in Kosovo, Heinz Nitch stated that he did not know whether "KLA" has made any conditions for the release of the Serbs. He could not confirm the information from the [pro-Albanian] Kosovo Information Center that the Police had arrested six Albanians from the Vucitrn municipality under suspicion that they were responsible for the kidnapping of the Serbs from the village of Nevoljane.


Protest Rally in Vucitrn

On Saturday the Serbs from Vucitrn held a protest meeting. They did not the journalists to observe the meeting. The protest was organized after the kidnapping of five Serbs from the village of Nevoljane by "KLA". According to the locals, "everything was fine in Kosovo until OSCE came". President of the Vucitrn municipality Slobodan Doknic labeled the meeting as "closed meeting of the people who are concerned about their lives after frequent terrorist attacks". At the request of local population, the Serbian Police are now stationed in the village of Nevoljane.


Translated on 1/28/99


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