KVM protests against harassment of verifiers

PRISTINA, 23 February 1999 - The OSCE Kosovo Verification Mission has strongly protested the Yugoslav authorities recent acts of hostility and aggression suffered by verifiers at the hands of the VJ and MUP forces.

In the last four days members of KVM have been harassed in no less than nine separate incidents. In some cases, the MUP or VJ have been directly involved. In other incidents, involving Serb civilians, the MUP chose not to take any action to control them, nor to protect the verifiers.

In the most serious case, two uniformed and armed MUP policemen physically assaulted two KVM personnel.

Under the terms of the Geremek (OSCE)-Jovanovic (FRY) Agreement, the FRY Government guarantees the safety and security of all members of the Kosovo Verification Mission. Furthermore the actions of the two MUP officers were in violation of Article 29 of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations which provides that: "the person of a diplomatic agent shall be inviolable. He shall not be liable to any form of arrest or detention. The receiving state shall treat him with due respect and shall take all appropriate steps to prevent any attack on his person, freedom or dignity."

These recent incidents are a clear and extremely serious violation of the Agreement and demonstrate either a lack of discipline by FRY security forces, or a purposeful provocation, either of which threatens the security of KVM personnel.

In either case, KVM feels that the conduct of the FRY security forces is unacceptable and asks that the Government conduct an investigation to identify and punish those responsible.