December 2, 1999

Yugoslav Draft Dodgers Still Hiding

Filed at 1:38 a.m. EDT

By The Associated Press

BELGRADE, Yugoslavia (AP) -- They are afraid to eat out inrestaurants, walk the streets freely, or even answer the doorbell.They are the tens of thousands of draft dodgers still in hidingalmost six months after NATO stopped pounding their country.

When NATO launched its air campaign in March to stop YugoslavPresident Slobodan Milosevic's crackdown in Kosovo, tens ofthousands of men aged 19 to 65 were called up to serve in theYugoslav army.

Only those exempt for medical reasons -- or protected byhigher-ups -- were sure of avoiding service.

Exactly how many Serb and Montenegrin men were called remains astate secret. However, independent experts in Belgrade estimatethat more than half of those who received an induction noticejoined their units. About 30,000 went into hiding.

``I am not a coward, I was just trying to survive,'' said DraganT., a draft evader who agreed to an interview on condition he beidentified by his first name only. The 34-year-old computerengineer says he couldn't bear leaving his wife and two children,ages 3 and 5 years, at the time of crisis.

Six months after the war ended, the Yugoslav army's militarycourts have filed charges against as many as 28,000 people fordraft-dodging or deserting, according to official media. Anunspecified number of men have already been sentenced to prisonterms varying from six months to 10 years.

While Montenegro, Serbia's smaller pro-Western partner in theYugoslav federation, granted amnesty last month to 14,000 men whorefused to join the army, draft evaders and deserters in Serbia arestill being sought by the government.

Dragan went into hiding on March 26, two days before the firstNATO missile struck. He still fears that military police will findhim.

First, he fled to a neighbor's apartment, then he moved in withrelatives. But after the military police showed up at aneighborhood air-raid shelter looking for him, he moved to afarmhouse near Belgrade. He has yet to return home.

``Meanwhile, my Web design and computer company collapsedbecause my wife was not able to handle the business all alone,'' hesaid in the clandestine interview in Belgrade's busy main square.``Now, I have to sell pirate compact disks at a flea market.''

There are few places for draft evaders to turn for help. One ofthem is the Yugoslav Lawyers' Committee for Human Rights, anindependent legal advisory group.

``Prosecuted people are often too afraid to come here personallyand present their case so we cannot undertake the appropriate legalaction,'' said Biljana Kovacevic, who heads the committee.

The committee is currently handling about 80 cases, Kovacevicsaid. Some of them are deserters and some are draft dodgers.

``A number of them are already sentenced and now we are tryingto appeal, while others are still in court procedure,'' she said,adding that some cases are ``somewhat bizarre.''

For example, a 40-year-old Belgrade man who identified himselfonly as Vojislav has been sentenced to three years in prison,although he never appeared in court and he learned about thesentence only when his mother found an envelope in a mailbox.

``The weird thing is that I spent three months in the armyduring the war in Kosovo,'' he said. ``I was even decorated forgallantry and combat valor.''

But four weeks ago, he received a military court notice that hehad been charged in absentia with avoiding the draft because he wassix hours late for the first morning roll call of his unit. At thetime, he says, his superiors told him not to worry.

Vojislav has since gone underground to avoid being jailed.

And while the lawyers' committee has launched a campaign for theadoption of an amnesty law, it has gathered little support andnever received official backing.

``We do not have a single doubt that those people have violatedlaw,'' Kovacevic said. ``But their number is so great and number ofcases is so ridiculous that the amnesty would be the onlyappropriate legal act for the resolution of this issue.''

A number of draft dodgers have solved the problem by leaving thecountry.

Dragan T. plans to join them.

``I'm leaving for Montenegro very soon, then to Bosnia, and fromthere who knows,'' he said. ``My family will follow as soon as Ifind some job in Bosnia. This situation is too hard to bear anylonger.''