Military

DATE=11/08/00

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

NUMBER=2-269001

TITLE=YUGOSLAVIA / PRISONS (L-O)

BYLINE=STEFAN BOS

DATELINE=BUDAPEST

CONTENT=

VOICED AT:

INTRO: The transitional government of Yugoslavia's main republic, Serbia, has promised to draft an amnesty law that includes Serbs. The decision came after rioting by Serb prisoners who were angry over a proposed amnesty that would apply only to ethnic-Albanian prisoners. Stefan Bos has the story.

TEXT: The prison unrest began Sunday over reports that the Serbian authorities were considering amnesty for about 900 Kosovo-Albanian prisoners. Most of them were jailed last year on charges of terrorism during the government crackdown in Kosovo.

Angered that the amnesty did not apply to them, Serb convicts started rioting, taking control of prisons in the towns of Sremska Mitrovica, Nis, and Pozarevac.

Fearing the rioters would target ethnic-Albanian inmates, prison authorities in Pozarevac, about 30-kilometers east of the Belgrade, evacuated several-hundred of them and took them to an undisclosed location.

One of the three justice ministers in Serbia's new Government, Dragan Subasic, met with some of the inmates and later told reporters that the situation was calming down in the prisons. He said the government had promised to include Serb convicts in a new amnesty law.

Angry prison guards suggested that most rioting inmates were not political prisoners, but serious criminals who should remain behind bars.

Minister Subasic said that an amnesty law would only be adopted after the new Serbian parliament is formed following parliamentary elections December 23rd

Meanwhile, Mr. Subasic said he and his colleagues would form a special committee to inspect all prisons and look into allegations about inhumane living conditions.

The prison unrest comes at a difficult time for Yugoslavia's new president, Vojislav Kostunica. His allies are struggling to control government institutions, including the security forces, after 13-years under his ousted predecessor Slobodan Milosevic.

President Kostunica and his allies control the federal government, but in Serbia, the main republic in the Yugoslav federation, they are governing jointly with members of Mr. Milosevic's Socialist Party.

Mr. Kostunica's supporters are threatening to leave the Serbian government unless a former Milosevic ally resigns as head of the security service, which has been accused of assassinating political dissidents. (SIGNED)

NEB/SB/KL/RAE