Tirana Times
TIRANA, Jan. 25 – European lawmakers pressed Tuesday for investigations to follow up on a report that said civilians in Albania were killed so their organs could be sold on the black market after the end of war in Kosovo.
The parliamentary assembly of Europe’s premier human rights watchdog, the Council of Europe, urged “international and Albanian investigations” into crimes carried out after the Kosovo conflict ended in 1999.
In December, a report by Council of Europe investigator Dick Marty said that civilians detained by the rebel Kosovo Liberation Army were allegedly killed in northern Albania so their kidneys could be extracted and sold on the black market.
The assembly said there are “numerous indications” of such organ transplants. It also asked for investigations into “the collusion … between organized criminal groups and political circles,” in Kosovo.
Marty’s report suggested Kosovo’s U.S.-backed prime minister, Hashim Thaci, was once the “boss” of a criminal underworld behind the alleged grisly organ trade.
Kosovo’s government branded Marty’s report as “baseless” and described it as an attempt “to tarnish the image of the Kosovo Liberation Army.”
Tirana also did not accept Marty’s report and considered it factless. Albania has insisted they are open to any international investigation of the case.
The efforts of the Albanian delegation at the session managed only to take away a word from the title of the report.
Due to the ongoing political conflict in the country, culminated last week with the three deaths at the opposition demonstration, there was hardly any politician or official talking Tuesday or Wednesday on the case.
Prime Minister Sali Berisha also canceled his trip to Strasbourg where he was to hold a speech at the Council of Europe on Thursday.
Marty, a Swiss senator, led a Council of Europe team of investigators to Kosovo and Albania in 2009, following allegations of organ trafficking by the KLA published in a book by former U.N. War Crimes tribunal prosecutor Carla Del Ponte.
The Council of Europe’s parliamentary assembly, a group of 315 parliamentarians from 47 countries, meets four times a year to discuss human rights issues and social and political trends in Europe.
The Council of Europe report links Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaciwith organized crime and organ trafficking and demanded a “serious investigation” into the allegations.
The council called on Albania and Kosovo authorities to “initiate a serious and independent investigation” of alleged trafficking of organs taken from bodies of dead prisoners held by theKosovoLiberation Army(KLA) in Albania in the 1990s.
The council’s parliamentary assembly also called for a probe into the “existence of secret detention centers and inhuman treatment” against Serb and Albanian prisoners from Kosovo, in a resolution adopted by 169 votes. Eight lawmakers voted against the measure and another 14 abstained.
Authored by the Council of Europe’s special rapporteur on human rights,DickMarty, 27-page report outlines alleged abductions, disappearances, executions, organ trafficking and other serious crimes coordinated by Thaci and former leaders of the KLA who are now leading Kosovo politicians.
As he presented his findings to the council’s lawmakers, Marty insisted his controversial dossier was not a slight on the people of Kosovo and defended its publication.
“The victims were Serbs, whom the Kosovar Albanians may have regarded as traitors or members of rival groups, but who to us are above all simply human beings,” Marty wrote.
Marty said he had never claimed Thaci was directly involved in organ-trafficking but added that “it is hard to believe that he never heard anything being said.”
Thaci, who was one of theKLA’smost prominent leaders, has denied the allegations and vowing to sue Marty for libel.
The Swiss senator, known for a previous report on secret CIA detention centers in Europe, says the international organizations which have been in place in Kosovo since 1999 had effectively turned a blind eye to the claims.
Marty wants the European Union Rule of Law Mission (EULEX) which has the authority to carry out sensitive investigations in Kosovo “shine a light” on the trafficking accusations.
