Serbs’ Prison Revolt Spreads; 1 Dead

A Serbian prison revolt spread Tuesday, with shots fired, buildings set ablaze and a female inmate reporting an “orgy of rape” as inmates went on rampages to demand better living conditions and amnesty for certain convictions.

An uprising in the northern city of Pozarevac, the hometown of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, was the third at a Serbian prison in two days.

One insurrection erupted Monday evening in the southern city of Nis after inmates at Sremska Mitrovica, in the north, launched a revolt overnight Sunday.

The revolts added to the long list of Yugoslavia’s woes needing urgent attention from the pro-democracy alliance behind President Vojislav Kostunica, who took office a month ago after a mass uprising ousted the autocratic Milosevic.

The riots appeared linked by demands for an end to alleged ill treatment and the inclusion of Serbs jailed for criminal activities in a proposed amnesty law that would free ethnic Albanians from the Serbian province of Kosovo.

Witnesses outside the prison in Pozarevac saw flames shooting from at least four buildings in the compound Tuesday and heard gunfire.

In Nis, a female prisoner told reporters that the rioters were raping and molesting female inmates.

“They broke into our ward and it’s now hell inside,” said Bosiljka Sumas, whom a friend had smuggled out of the prison. “It’s an orgy of rape.”

An ethnic Albanian inmate who spoke by telephone from the Nis prison said armed Serbian inmates wearing guards’ uniforms were saying, “We are going to kill you at nightfall.” The 300 ethnic Albanians had refused demands that they join in the rioting, the inmate said.

Seeking to defuse the crisis, the three officials jointly heading Serbia’s Justice Ministry ended negotiations with Pozarevac inmates by promising them that a law granting amnesty for some nonpolitical crimes will be introduced in parliament immediately after Dec. 23 elections. They also pledged better prison conditions. But they said the riots must end within three days if the promises are to be fulfilled.

A prisoner in Nis who fell from a roof early Tuesday later died, the state Tanjug news agency reported.