Statements

H.E.Mr.Slobodan Milocevic
President of the Federal Republic
of Yugoslavia
Savenza Skupstina
11000 Belgrade
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia

Your Excellency,

The Japan P.E.N.Club, an association of Japanese Writers,deeply deplore the many casualties among the civilian population which have occured in your country as a result of the bombing by NATO aircrafts and wish to offer our most sincere condolence to the victims' families and friends.

While we regret this situation,we are also extremely preoccupied by the state of the freedom of expression in Kosovo. According to information which has reached us,it appears that Koha Ditore,the most important newspaper in the Albanian language has been forced to close down by your officials, and we also understand that this was done several days before the start of the NATO bombing. We are also deeply concerned by the whereabouts of Teki Dervishi and Din Mehmeti,two writers who are reported to be missing for some time.

We,therefore,call upon the authorities of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia to inform us as well as the international community about the fate of the above writers and earnestly request that freedom of expression be restored in Kosovo, permiting our fellow writers to continue to live in peace and pursue their writing activities.
Yours sincerely,

Tokyo, 27th April 1999