(26 Jun 1999) Natural Sound

The wives, children and husbands of Kosovar intellectuals allegedly taken by Serb forces as they withdrew have staged a demonstration outside the Grand Hotel in Pristina.

They claim that around two and a half thousand political prisoners were shipped over to Serbia from prisons all over Kosovo, three nights before NATO moved into the province.

Dozens of people marched through downtown Pristina on Friday, calling for the release of all ethnic Albanians taken prisoner by the Serbs.

Among the demonstrators were children who carried signs saying "I want my father!" and "Free my father!"

The U-N is investigating reports that withdrawing Serb forces took up to three-thousand political prisoners, including lawyers and doctors.

Rally organisers said the detainees were being held in jails in Nis, Sremska Mitrovica and Pozarevec.

SOUNDBITE: (Albanian)
"This protest is about the prisoners. They took them three nights before NATO came here. They took them from all the prisons around Kosovo. They sent them to Serbia - to Nis, Sremska Mitrovica and Pozarevec. They were the bloom of our generation and they were all taken in police raids."
SUPER CAPTION: Berat Luzha, Demonstration organiser

The demonstrators held pieces of paper with the names of their imprisoned relatives.

Many thousands of political prisoners are said to have been imprisoned by the Serbs throughout the years of the ethnic Albanian uprising in Kosovo.

SOUNDBITE:(English)
"This protest is about our people. Our people are in prison. My husband was taken two years ago and jailed for 10 years and I have not seen him since."
SUPER CAPTION: Rexha Shukrie, wife of the imprisoned ethnic Albanian

Prominent members of the ethnic Albanian community were often sentenced - without proper trial - for allegedly "working against people of Yugoslavia".

Their relatives fear many of those taken away have been executed.

Friday's protest coincided with the release of 166 ethnic Albanians.

The men were turned over by Serb officials to the International Committee of the Red Cross, which quickly moved the detainees to Pristina.

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