According to the suit, journalist Mirka Velinovska, while she worked for the weekly Start, according to the plaintiff, made a series of inaccurate claims in her articles, accusing the leader of the PDPA-NDP of drawing 1 million German Marks from an account in the Albanian Alfa Credit Bank late in the last year. This sum was supposed to be his financial compensation for the destruction of Macedonia. Thereby, according to the suit filed by Xhaferi in May of last year, the journalist committed the crime of slander of extended duration.
The plaintiff also states in the suit that the article written by the defendant had no evidence of claims made in it, and that its goal was to discredit the plaintiff. Besides, according to the plaintiff, and that was stated in front of the judicial panel presiding over this case led by judge Milan Dogandziski, in Tirana there are at least four "doubles" of Xhaferi, including the businessman Arben Xhaferi.
The Albanian fighters are very mobile, extremely well armed and trained, because they already fought in the ranks of the KLA and UCPMB. Their weaponry comes from the arms caches hidden by the UCK after June 10, 1999. Officially demilitarized, this organization continued to purchase arms even after the Kumanovo agreement was signed.
In July 1999 a Turkish ship left a Bulgarian port with several hundreds of shoulder-fired rockets (RPG7), thousands of grenades, anti-tank mines and rounds of ammunition for Kalashnikov AK-47. The overall value of the delivery was 1 million Swiss Franks. Between January and June 1999, somewhere in the suburbs of Aaro in Switzerland, the French weapons merchant based in Geneva, Jean Paul Ch., received a payment in cash from Naim Muja, a member of LPK (Popular Movement for Kosovo) based in Lausanne. Naim's brother, Shaban, born in 1964, lives in Brunen (Switzerland), at 19 Bruckenmat Street, and is known as a fundraiser for the KLA in Switzerland. The third brother, named Shaip, known under the nickname "doctor" supplied the KLA with medical supplies.
The Turkish ship arrived in Dures, in Albania, where the Albanian customs confiscated a part of the load, while another part made it to Kosovo. The investigation of the authorities in Tirana led to Switzerland. On July 13, 2000, Jean Paul Ch. and Naim Muja were arrested in Geneva and in Lausanne. They were supposed to be tried in late 2000, but were released. Muja went to Kosovo. As far as Jean Paul Ch. is concerned, he is in contact with the head of the Swiss intelligence service, Heinz B., close to the extreme right party UDC (Union for Center).
On June 16 and 18, 2000, KFOR discovered three large arms caches in Drenica, containing 1,000 mines, 20,000 grenades, 900 mortar rounds, 1,200 shoulder fired rockets and 80 kilograms of explosives. This is only one of numerous hidden arms and drugs caches located in the mountains between Macedonia and Kosovo.
Just as was the case with the KLA, the LPK is the political arm of the UCPMB. LRSHJ, the Movement for an Albanian State in Yugoslavia, was the "ancestor" of the LPK. It was founded on February 17, 1982, in the district Ada Pazar of Izmir, in Turkey. In 1985, LRSHJ was transformed into the LRPK (Movement for the People's Republic of Kosovo), which later became the LPK in 1993. At the movement's last congress, held on July 22, 2000 in Pristina, the LPK was very clear about its goals. In its published program, the LPK stated that a part of the Albanian nation still lives under the foreign yoke in Serbia, Macedonia and Montenegro. The same document states that the Albanians of Macedonia, Montenegro and eastern Kosovo [south of Serbia proper] are oppressed nations that should strive for independence and establishment of their own state that will include all the territories where Albanians are in majority. According to the same document, the liberation of the occupied territories is viewed as a legitimate goal.
On June 24-25, 2000, the LPK held a pre-congress meeting in Baal (Switzerland), near the German and French border. Another meeting, after the main congress in Pristina, was also held in Switzerland on August 26-27. A new political program of the organization was adopted at the latter meeting. The goals of the movement were to discredit Ibrahim Rugova and Hashim Thaci and destabilize the south of Serbia and Macedonia. A new leadership was elected. Emrush Xhemaili became the general coordinator, Bekir Beca president of the organization in the homeland, and Fazli Veliu the head of the organization abroad.
Emrush Xhemaili was born on May 1, 1959 in Kamena, Kosovo. He was jailed in Yugoslavia between 1979 and 1983 for separatist activities. In 1983 this painter went to Switzerland and settled in Bien. He joined the ranks of the KLA in 1997 and became the political advisor of the commander Ramush Haradinaj. As early as February 2000 he supported the struggle of the UCPMB. That was not by chance. His wife is a daughter of Shefqet Hasani, the military commander of the UCPMB. In April 2000 he was spotted in Tirana, collecting money for the UCPMB and the UCK.
Bekir Beca was born on September 18, 1962. Currently based in Lauseanne, at Cechot square, this perpetual student managed to complete a degree in trade in Lausanne in June 2000.
Regarding Fazli Veliu, he is well known to the Macedonian judiciary and western intelligence services. He was born on January 4, 1945 in Kolari, near Kicevo. He settled in Emenbrucke, Switzerland, where on January 29, 1987, he obtained a permanent resident permit for Switzerland. As a member of the LPK he is in charge of the activities in the diaspora as well as illegal organizations in Kosovo and Macedonia. Veliu has at least three passports, a Swiss, a Macedonian and an Albanian passport. Since December 1999 he has been attacking politically Hashim Thaci. Then, he carried out a campaign against the Democratic Party of Kosovo (DPK) of Hashim Thaci among the ethnic Albanian emigrants in western Europe. On his trip to Germany, he was arrested on February 15, 2000 in Karlsruhe. Macedonian judge Kanzoski issued an international warrant for his arrest (KIBR 71/98) on February 2, 1999, for terrorism and activities against the homeland. On the day of his arrest, the German police sent a fax to Skopje, warning that according to the international law, it could keep Veliu in custody only for 45 days. Skopje did not respond. Thirty days later, the German police sent another fax informing the Macedonian authorities that Veliu would be released in 15 days. Skopje again did not react. On the 44th day, German authorities sent the third fax informing Macedonian authorities that Veliu was to be released the following day. Skopje yet again failed to react. On March 30, 2000, Veliu was released from custody and returned to Switzerland, to Luzern. The German police sent the fourth fax, informing Macedonia that Veliu had been released. Skopje missed a chance to catch a dangerous terrorist. Why? The role of the Macedonian minister for justice, [an ethnic Albanian] Xhevdet Nusufi, in this affair is well known.
In September, Veliu was spotted in Switzerland meeting with commander Haradinaj, who in the meantime had become the leader of the Kosovo political party AAK (Alliance for Future of Kosovo), opposed to Hashim Thaci. Several days later, Veliu appeared in Tirana. By October, he was back in Switzerland.
At the time Slobodan Milosevic's regime was falling in Serbia, UCPMB started with its provocations in the south of Serbia. By mid November of 2000, Veliu received a French visa that allowed him to visit Paris and meet an intelligence cell close to the President of the Republic. The French Intelligence Service was not informed about this meeting and reacted strongly, especially because not one, but three visas were in play. One for Veliu, one for Emrush Xhemaili and one for certain Sefit Xhaferi, born on April 28, 1960 in Padaliste, an emigrant in Switzerland and a member of the LPK. None of the three of them visited Paris in the end.
In early February 2001, Veliu discretely left Switzerland and moved to Kosovo, most likely to Vitina, with about 100,000 German Marks in his pocket. On March 11 he announced that he was the political leader of the UCK. However, he apparently forgot one small detail. A foreigner with a permanent residence permit for Switzerland does not have the right to fight in or lead armed groups abroad. Therefore, if Veliu returns to Switzerland he should be jailed on the spot, unless he enjoys some special privileges. By the way, western intelligence services are closely watching his activities. Nevertheless, on March 24, he briefly visited Geneva, and participated in the Albanian demonstration against Macedonia held in front of the United Nations building in that city.
The UCK attack on the German KFOR barracks in Tetovo can be interpreted as Veliu's revenge for 45 days spent in prison in Germany. Today, in Berlin, it is believed that Veliu's LPK finances a new political party in Macedonia, the Democratic Popular Party of Kastriot Rexha.
Most of UCK soldiers have police records in Macedonia, Switzerland, Germany, France, Belgium, Great Britain, or with Americans stationed in the Balkans. However, none of them attempted to do anything about that, and general negligence led to an explosion in Macedonia, the country which is an example of constitutional respect for human rights in Europe.
Christophe Chiclet is the author of the book "Kosovo-trap", published in Paris in 2000
RISTOVSKI: It is very important for Macedonia to conduct a population census this year, rather than a year from now, because in that way we would keep the tradition of summing up data every ten years, which is also beneficial because it allows us to compare data with other Balkan and European countries, even though the population censuses have been postponed in several of them. We shall see what the political situation will be like in the autumn. The government decided to postpone the census because of the current political situation and it is impossible to object to that decision using scientific arguments, even though I am convinced that political matters should not influence scientific endeavors such as the population census.
What is the jurisdiction of the Statistics Institute and the Census Commission?
The State Statistics Institute has the main role in the census. It has made serious preparations for this census and has followed all the world standards, in cooperation with relevant international institutions. However, that is not the case with the State Census Commission. The Council has reacted to the extensive rights given to the Commission by the law, but in vain. As is well-known, article 16 of the law was removed by an amendment and the State Census Commission was placed above the Institute, which is unprecedented. Now, the Commission is the chief organizer of all activities in connection with the census. However, the Commission cannot do anything without the Institute as its members are people who have no expertise in connection with the census.
Would you care to comment on the fact that this census will be held under pressure of ethnic Albanian parties?
It is sad that such an action is being politicized. That should not happen. These political parties insisted on the postponement of the census, justifying it by the political crisis and military activities, which resulted in temporary displacement of about 30,000 Albanians. I claim that this figure is exaggerated and I am convinced that the actual number of the displaced is smaller. Census is not a way to fix some political problems by force. The Albanian parties and citizens should realize that census is not politics, nor repression or maltreatment of some ethnic group. It is wrong to think that way. Census data are necessary for research and analyses that are valuable for the state.
Due to political pressure state institutions postponed current activities of the Institute. For example, the census law could have been adopted last November.
The worsening security situation in some parts of the country is usually given as a main reason for the postponement of the census, as in some parts of the country the census takers would not be safe. Your comment?
I believe that the authorities are the ones whose duty is to secure normal political situation for the holding of the census. If the authorities say that some parts of the country are unsafe, that must be so. However, that is nothing new. During the 1994 census we had a similar situation and there were different manipulations.
What sort of manipulations?
For example, in some cases some ethnic Albanian families were entered twice in the census, by moving from one household to another, then there were cases in which ethnic Albanians refused to provide information and refused to speak in Macedonian.
Is it really true that there are more ethnic Albanians than the official figures indicate, as some politicians claim?
It should be clear that there is no explosion of ethnic Albanian population in Macedonia, as some claim. For example, under the assumption that the increase of the population is 2.5 percent annually, as in populous African, Asian or South American countries, that would mean that the number of ethnic Albanians would double every 30 years. According to censuses, in 1961 there were 183,108 ethnic Albanians in Macedonia, but after 30 years, in 1991, there were 500,000 of them, while in 1994, 441,104 ethnic Albanians were registered. Therefore, that theory can immediately be rejected.
What are the estimates for the current proportion of ethnic Albanians in the population of the country?
There should not be more than 500,000 ethnic Albanians, if natural increase of population is taken as the parameter. In the last census they were 23.7 percent of the population, and this year they would reach about 24 percent. But if the citizenship law is modified and another 100,000 ethnic Albanians who stayed in Macedonia after the Kosovo crisis become citizens, as ethnic Albanian parties expect, and if the mechanical inflow of the population is added to that, then their number could reach about 600,000. In that case we are facing serious demographic disturbances, as the natural increase of ethnic Macedonian population is much lower than that of the ethnic Albanians. On the other hand experts predict that there are currently about 1,300,000 ethnic Macedonians in the country.