Kosovo/Kosova As Seen, As Told loaded on the rear deck, including a 6 refrigerator and chairs. In villages in Kosovska Mitrovica municipality OSCE-KVM verifiers witnessed VJ soldiers carrying out household items, including television sets and furniture. In Podujevo municipality villagers 7 reported similar activities. In Kacanik/ Kacanik municipality, villagers were displaced, their houses plundered, vandalized and sometimes burned in early March. 8 Other forms of pillage and destruction of property Cirez/Qirez mosque [zoom] Another form of pillage, widely reported to the OSCE-KVM while deployed in Kosovo and foreshadowing the most common experience of Kosovo Albanians fleeing or forcibly expelled in the period after 20 March, was the extortion of money at police checkpoints. There were also incidents of theft or extortion from shops or restaurants. Another common occurrence was that IDPs found their houses or apartments occupied by police or VJ officers when they attempted to return. 9 The IDPs often tried in vain to regain their property through court procedures. Deliberate destruction of property, looting and pillage during the State of War As was the case for all other violations of human rights and humanitarian law, the prevalence and the severity of destruction of civilian property, looting and pillage increased significantly after the OSCEKVM withdrawal and even more after the NATO air campaign started. Out of the nearly 2,800 refugee statements taken by the OSCE-KVM in this period, very few were without mention of such experiences. The above-described patterns of VJ and police offensives against communities continued simultaneously across the entire province, and with destruction on a much larger scale. It appears that in most cases the shelling of villages was without legitimate military objective. If one were to view the denial of provisions and support to the UCK as an "imperative military objective", it still would have been necessary for the armed forces to distinguish between military objectives and civilian objects. International humanitarian law prohibits the wanton destruction of property, excessive in comparison to 10 the direct and concrete military advantage gained. The burning of homes and property of Kosovo Albanians as they were being expelled was widespread. The arrival of VJ, police and paramilitaries in a village or a town neighbourhood would usually be followed by theft or destruction of property (including livestock in the villages) and extortion of money. One refugee related: http://www.osce.org/kosovo/documents/reports/hr/part1/ch12.htm (3 of 8)12/5/2003 11:52:45 AM