Kosovo/Kosova As Seen, As Told police officers said: "Tell us what you know about the UCK or we will kill you!" They were held in the narrow room for eight days. On 9 April they were trucked by the police and VJ to Zur near the Albanian 23 border. In mid-April, after a mass killing in Vrbovac (Glogovac), 175 men were taken from there to the mosque in Cirez (Srbica) and from there to the police station in Glogovac, where they were severely beaten for six hours. Afterwards they were sent to Pristina. In Pristina they were again beaten for several hours 24 with police batons, iron poles and rifle butts. The day after, all 175 men were transferred to Lipljan. One of the most detailed descriptions of an example of mass arrest and ensuing systematic forced selfincrimination is found in a statement made by a boy who had just turned 15, when he was detained in Kosovska Mitrovica on 16 May: Police wearing military uniforms surrounded my quarter at 05:00 hours. People in the quarter were gathered together in a convoy to leave. As they were departing from the town, police stopped the convoy and separated men from women and children, telling them that this was being done to issue (humanitarian aid) cards. Women were taken to the bus station and (about 500) men were put in trucks. The men were taken to Smrekovnica prison [near] Vucitrn. Upon arrival, the men were forced to run into the prison. [The interviewee] was beaten with a club by a Serb while running. The following day the police came with a "confession document" for everyone. The document stated that the [undersigned] person was a terrorist since 1 May until his capture by police, they were in possession of arms at the time of capture. [The interviewee] signed the document. The group was taken in two queues to another building being beaten for the entire walk. The documents were done by one person on a computer and handed to the detained men to sign. Everybody signed it because of fear. Every day 80-100 men were taken to the Medical and Technical Schools for questioning about UCK involvement. We were beaten while questioned. On 25 May [the interviewee] was taken to the Medical School [and] was asked where [they] lived, [whether they] were UCK, [whether they] knew certain UCK members, etc. The police put [the interviewee] up facing the wall and told [him] to think about it. After a few minutes they put [him] back in the chair and asked if [he] knew [interviewee's neighbour]. [He] answered "yes, but I don't know where he is". The questioning lasted about 30 minutes. During that time [he] was beaten on [his] back seven times. Afterwards, [he] was returned to the prison. On 26 May [the detainees] were given back the ["confession documents"] which now 25 [included their] statements from the questioning and [they] were told to sign again." http://www.osce.org/kosovo/documents/reports/hr/part1/ch9.htm (8 of 16)12/5/2003 11:52:05 AM