Kosovo/Kosova As Seen, As Told to him alone. He told me that he had suffered a lot during his imprisonment. This detainee was released in March 1999. His wife recounted: He was very weak and had a great deal of difficulty walking. I noticed that one of his fingers had a piece missing and he was having other problems, such as pain in his stomach and feet. My husband told me what happen to him while he was in jail. He said that the first few days after his arrest they would beat him all over his body two to three times a day. Most of the beatings were on his head, back and legs. They believed that he was a [UCK] member, or at least a sympathizer. … One day they took him from his cell and to [another] room where they lad him on the floor and attached cables to his feet and hands. They applied electricity to the cables and administered electrical shock to him. He said that he screamed so loud that people could hear him next door. Also, there were times when the police would remove him from his cell for a short period and upon his return there would be other police officers waiting for him with clubs. They would beat him about his body. Another time, he was taken from his cell to a different room and the Serbian police stuck long needles under his fingers and toenails. After he was removed to Lipjan prison they tried to get him to confess that he had knowledge of [UCK] positions. They tortured him by puncturing the surface of his skin with a knife. He has scars on his 12 chest and shoulders. Systematic and repeated ill-treatment became even more prevalent after the OSCE-KVM's withdrawal and the start of the NATO air campaign, with the police's powers having been extended significantly by to state of war legislation, and the OSCE-KVM no longer present to monitor close at hand and attempt to intervene; prior to the evacuation on 20 March, it was a common occurrence for a victim of alleged torture or ill-treatment to complain at the nearest OSCE-KVM office. [The interviewee] was brought to the Police Station No. 92 [in Pristina], to an isolation cell filled with water. Then he was sent to the Pristina District Court, where he was threatened with a knife, and beaten by police officers, as he was supposed to give a confession in front of four judges. In the courtroom, police officers in civilian clothes placed electrical wires on his body. When the electricity was added, he jumped high up from his chair. The torture lasted for five hours, during which he lost consciousness six times. [Every time he fainted] police officers threw water on him [to wake him up]. Then he was again sent to an isolation cell filled with water for one night. He was again taken to the District Court and beaten with a baseball bat, after which they sent him to Lipljan 13 prison. [Another interviewee] told of constant beatings and torture in the Lipljan Prison. The guards and interrogators used all kinds of material to beat up the prisoners. The Serb prisoners and personnel in the prison were also forced to beat up the Kosovo Albanian inmates. [The interviewee's] brother's arm was broken and still he was continuously http://www.osce.org/kosovo/documents/reports/hr/part1/ch6.htm (4 of 12)12/5/2003 11:51:07 AM