6 Americans Jailed in Kosovo; Another Group Denied Entry

Six Americans who traveled to the troubled Serbian province of Kosovo to lecture ethnic Albanians on nonviolent resistance landed in jail Saturday with 10-day sentences for failing to register with local police.

And a 14-member delegation led by three U.S. Congress members was denied entry to Yugoslavia on Saturday and accused by Yugoslav authorities of supporting Kosovo Albanians.

Five of the Americans jailed in Pristina--three of whom are from Northern California--were part of the San Francisco-based Peace Workers activist organization and were briefing Albanian students on, among other things, the importance of being willing to get arrested for a cause.

The sixth, who was detained a day earlier, was variously identified as a journalist and an interpreter for the group.

In Washington, the Clinton administration expressed outrage at the arrests and jail terms.

“We believe these ridiculous charges are part of a broader pattern of harassment by the Serbian police and an obvious attempt to intimidate the [nongovernmental organizations] and humanitarian aid workers in Kosovo,” State Department spokesman James Foley said.

Under Communist-era law, any foreigner who remains overnight in a Yugoslav city has three days to register with the local police. Visitors lodged in hotels are automatically registered, but the Peace Workers group was staying in a private residence and failed to register.

When the group members reported to the police Saturday morning, apparently to clarify their status, they were immediately detained, put on trial and given 10-day sentences. They were whisked away to jail, an American official in Pristina said.

In addition to group leader David Hartsough of San Francisco, those jailed were college students Daniel Perez, 21, of Berkeley; Teresa Crawford, 23, of San Francisco; Bruce Hemmer, 31, of Virginia; and Alberto Cevallos, 27, whose hometown was not given. The sixth American was identified as Peter Lippman, 46, of Seattle.

The delegation led by lawmakers, meanwhile, was attempting to cross the border from Macedonia into Yugoslavia to reach Kosovo when it was turned back. The delegation is on a fact-finding mission and wanted to monitor unofficial elections that the ethnic Albanians are holding.