The British media DailyMail has written and published today an article on Sadik Duraku.
The 53-year-old with Kosovar citizenship and English citizenship was stopped by the Serbian police at the Croatia-Serbia border on April 17 of this year.
He was taken to the High Court for War Crimes in Belgrade and is accused of participating in the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) and crimes committed during the war.
The British tabloid writes that Duraku is seriously ill and is being kept in a “hell” prison, referring to the difficult conditions.
The accusations against the 53-year-old have been denied by his family, while the daughter has stated that during the war her father was in Britain applying for asylum.
“One day after Kosovo took a step towards membership of the Council of Europe, Serbia stopped hundreds of Albanians from crossing the Serbian border. One of those victims is my father, Sadik Duraku, a British citizen who lived in Brighton. While the others were released, my father remained in custody. He is being held on false claims that he was a member of the KLA in 1999, their claims say that he committed war crimes during 1999.
The asylum process meant we could not leave the UK until 2004. At this critical moment, our family is looking for concrete evidence to refute the baseless accusations and we need the support of an observer in Serbia to guarantee fair procedures and his safety. Documenting our applications for asylum and residence in the UK from 1998 to 1999 is therefore vital.
The British Home Office should have this information and together with the British Embassy should be available to arrange an observer. What we also need is pressure from Britain to release my father”, says the reaction of Sadik’s daughter, Suzana.
