All the accused denied the charges, saying they were arrested at random. They were rounded up in Djakovica in western Kosovo where hundreds of ethnic Albanians were ordered out of their homes by the Yugoslav Army (VJ) and police during April and May 1999.The trial, denounced by human rights campaigners as a travesty of justice, was in Nis, 150 miles south of Belgrade, where several Kosovo courts moved after the Serb admin-istration withdrew from the province in June 1999. The civil rights group the Humanitarian Law Centre (HLC) described the trial as “an unprecedented event since the end of WWII”, adding: “Never has such a large group been put on trial and charged unselectively with the same criminal offence.”Teki Boksi, one of the defence lawyers, said: “The sentences have nothing to do with what really happened This was a political trial. These people were sentenced only because they were ethnic Albanians.”Mr Boksi said no evidence was presented to back the accusation that the accused formed units of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA).

The prosecution said they attacked Serb forces three times in April and May 1999, killing one policeman and two soldiers.Judge Petronijevic said it was impossible to determine the individual guilt (of the defendants) and that “it was not necessary”. Tests had established beyond reasonable doubt that those sentenced had used weapons, he said.Mr Boksi said: “Most of the defendants are educated, urban people, one of them professor of mathematics at Pristina University. This trial is damaging and counterproductive, because its outcome will influence trials of Serbs in Kosovo. Tensions in Kosovo will not be eased by this.” Dozens of Serbs are in Kosovo prisons, awaiting trial on war crimes charges.”We expect the international community to put pressure on judiciary institutions in Serbia so the problem of this trial could be solved in a proper manner,” Mr Boksi added. “Otherwise, its outcome can only help extremists on both sides.”. Abdullah Ocalan, sentenced to death last year for leading the 15-year Kurdish rebellion in Turkey, is seriously ill with breathing difficulties, his younger brother said yesterday.

Abdullah Ocalan, sentenced to death last year for leading the 15-year Kurdish rebellion in Turkey, is seriously ill with breathing difficulties, his younger brother said yesterday.
Osman Ocalan, a senior commander in Ocalan’s Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), told Medya TV, the underground Kurdish satellite television channel that Turkey merely wanted his brother to die “We will not let this happen,” he said. “If something is not done there will be serious agitation.”The TV station is banned in Turkey but watched avidly by millions of Kurds. The PKK renounced armed struggle earlier this year, but Turkey has repeatedly refused to make peace and vowed to wipe out the rebels.The Turkish government, under intense pressure from the European Union, which the country hopes to join, has postponed Ocalan’s execution while he appeals to the European Court of Human Rights.Later, the jailed leader’s lawyers said his breathing difficulties were caused by allergies.Extreme security on Ocalan’s prison island makes confirmation of his brother’s statements impossible, but last year the Council of Europe’s committee for the prevention of torture found his cell conditions to be humane.. Citing “serious misconduct,” an Arkansas disciplinary panel has recommended that President Bill Clinton be disbarred for giving misleading testimony about his relationship with Monica Lewinsky – an unprecedented and stinging rebuke of a sitting president. Citing “serious misconduct,” an Arkansas disciplinary panel has recommended that President Bill Clinton be disbarred for giving misleading testimony about his relationship with Monica Lewinsky – an unprecedented and stinging rebuke of a sitting president.
The decision by the Arkansas Supreme Court Committee on Professional Conduct is the first step toward stripping Clinton of his law license and another embarrassment stemming from the Paula Jones sexual harassment case. Clinton was impeached by the House of Representatives and acquitted at a Senate trial, and he also has been fined for contempt of court.A judge must decide whether to accept Monday’s recommendation. If it is accepted, the president can appeal to the state Supreme Court – and he said that’s exactly what will happen.Clinton said the committee – five lawyers in private practice and a retired schoolteacher – was responding too harshly to testimony that he has labeled as “legally accurate.”"The only reason I agreed even to an appeal of this is, my lawyers looked at all the precedents and they said, ‘There’s no way in the world if they just treat you like everybody else has been treated, that this is even close to that kind of case,”‘ he said on “NBC Nightly News.”"We’re going to give the judge a chance to do what we believe is right, and I think that’s the right thing to do,” said Clinton, who will not personally defend himself because it would interfere with his duties as president.Clinton has been a licensed lawyer since Sept.

7, 1973, served as attorney general of Arkansas from 1977-79 and once taught at the University of Arkansas law school. He has not practiced law since the early 1980s, between his first and second terms as Arkansas governor.At issue is his testimony in the lawsuit filed against him by Jones, a former state employee who said Clinton exposed himself to her and made a sexual advance in a Little Rock hotel room in 1991. Jones lawyers’ drew Lewinsky into the case in an attempt to show a pattern of sexual misconduct by Clinton, a trail later picked up by independent counsel Kenneth Starr that led to Clinton’s impeachment.In his January 1998 deposition, Clinton said: “I have never had sexual relations with Monica Lewinsky,” explaining the relationship did not meet the definition of sex that was given at the start of the deposition.However, he acknowledged on Aug. 17, 1998, before a federal grand jury – and again in a nationally televised address – that he had an inappropriate relationship with Lewinsky.The conservative Southeastern Legal Foundation and U.S. District Judge Susan Webber Wright, who presided over the Jones case, filed complaints against Clinton with the Arkansas committee.The foundation wanted Clinton disbarred; Wright – who last year cited Clinton for contempt and fined him dlrs 90,000 for giving “intentionally false” testimony – did not suggest a specific penalty from the panel.

Wright dismissed the Jones lawsuit, which was later settled on appeal by Clinton for dlrs 850,000 without any admission of wrongdoing.In a letter to the state Supreme Court, committee executive director James Neal, said the disbarment recommendation was “a result of the formal complaints … and the findings by a majority of the committee that certain of the attorney’s conduct, as demonstrated in the complaint, constituted serious misconduct,” in violation of state rules governing lawyers.Committee chairman Ken Reeves said that committee members “voted their convictions.”"Obviously, it would have been easier to do something less,” he said.Matt Glavin, president of the Southeastern Legal Foundation, applauded the committee’s decision.”This is a confirmation that the legal system will police its own, regardless of the position held by the attorney in question,” he said. “Remember, this is the first time in American history that a sitting president faced disciplinary proceedings.”President Richard Nixon was disbarred by a New York court after resigning in 1974 over the Watergate scandal. In its reply to Clinton’s argument against disciplinary action, the foundation cited the Nixon case.An attorney for Jones, Gilbert K. Davis, said the disbarment ruling was a “victory for all Americans.”"I look at it as a benefit to the judicial system,” he said. “Courts don’t have police and armies to enforce their policies. It’s an important lesson that needs to be driven home to Americans, that we value this system.”This spring, the committee said it would not consider discipline for Hillary Rodham Clinton for work tied to the Whitewater scandal.