Opinion ID: 2996780
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: An Overview of the Treatment of Ethnic

Text: Albanians in Montenegro At the time of Capric’s asylum hearings in 1998, as a result of Serbian-nationalist control of both the government and a heavily armed police force numbering over 100,000, ethnic Albanians were subject to widespread discrimination throughout Yugoslavia. But their treatment No. 02-3172 5 varied significantly from area to area. Specifically, ethnic Albanians were subject to numerous and more serious human rights abuses in Serbia, particularly in the formerly autonomous province of Kosovo. Although human rights abuses existed in Montenegro, they did not generally rise to the level found in Kosovo. The more significant types of mistreatment suffered by ethnic Albanians primarily at the hands of Miloseviccontrolled Serbian police included: political killings (in 1996, there was a total of 14 such killings, 13 of which occurred in Kosovo); arbitrary arrest and detention for periods exceeding three days; interrogations and severe beatings while detained; threats and violence against family members, including the holding of family members as hostages; and the arbitrary and illegal searches of homes, vehicles, shops, and offices, typically for weapons, and during which police would confiscate hard currency.