Reports: Testimonies about organ trade

Correspondence between UNMIK officials and the Hague Tribunal contains detailed testimonies about transport of victims to the so-called Yellow House in Albania. The alleged organ trafficking in Kosovo and Albania has for the past three years been known informally in the media as the Yellow House case, after one location named in the 2008 book by former Hague Tribunal Chief Prosecutor Carla Del Ponte. Reports: Testimonies about organ trade According to the documents, the two institutions in 2003 knew about the case that is mentioned in Council of Europe (CoE) Rapporteur Dick Marty’s report, KIM Radio reports. The classified documents, which were obtained by Italian TM News, contain 29 pages marked as CX-103 and correspondence between the UNMIK officials and the Hague Tribunal is among them. It contains a series of testimonies that describe the transport of the victims kidnapped in Kosovo in 1999 to the Yellow House in Burel and transport of their organs to Rinas Airport near Tirana. Head of the Hague Tribunal Mission to Skopje and Pristina Eamon Smith sent a letter to Hague Tribunal Chief Investigator Patrick Lopez Terez on October 30, 2003, informing him about his meeting and conversation with UNMIK Justice Department Head Paul. E. Coffey. Smith first presented his conclusions regarding the human organ trafficking case, explaining that between 100 and 300 people were kidnapped in mid-1999 and transported to detention facilities in northern Albania by trucks and vans. Most of them were Serbs who were abducted in Kosovo between June and October 1999, the document stated. “Between 24 and 100 prisoners” were transported from northern Albania to privately-owned houses and industrial facilities in central Albania, near Burel, in August 1999. The prisoners were then in smaller groups transported to a privately-owned house south of Burel. An improvised clinic had been set up inside the house where medical staff extracted the organs of the kidnapped people whose bodies were buried in close proximity. Their organs were transported to Rinas Airport near Tirana and then abroad. The last delivery took place in 2000. The conclusion was based on testimonies of ethnic Albanians’ who served in the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), took part in the transport of at least 90 Serbs to northern Albania and the “clinic” in Burel, in disposal of human remains near the Yellow House and delivery of organs to Rinas Airport. Witnesses claim that top ethnic Albanian KLA members, doctors from Kosovo and abroad were fully aware of the transport and surgeries and that they were actively involved in them.

Reports: Testimonies about organ trade

According to the documents, the two institutions in 2003 knew about the case that is mentioned in Council of Europe (CoE) Rapporteur Dick Marty’s report, KIM Radio reports.

The classified documents, which were obtained by Italian TM News, contain 29 pages marked as CX-103 and correspondence between the UNMIK officials and the Hague Tribunal is among them.

It contains a series of testimonies that describe the transport of the victims kidnapped in Kosovo in 1999 to the Yellow House in Burel and transport of their organs to Rinas Airport near Tirana.

Head of the Hague Tribunal Mission to Skopje and Priština Eamon Smith sent a letter to Hague Tribunal Chief Investigator Patrick Lopez Terez on October 30, 2003, informing him about his meeting and conversation with UNMIK Justice Department Head Paul. E. Coffey.

Smith first presented his conclusions regarding the human organ trafficking case, explaining that between 100 and 300 people were kidnapped in mid-1999 and transported to detention facilities in northern Albania by trucks and vans.

Most of them were Serbs who were abducted in Kosovo between June and October 1999, the document stated.

“Between 24 and 100 prisoners” were transported from northern Albania to privately-owned houses and industrial facilities in central Albania, near Burel, in August 1999.

The prisoners were then in smaller groups transported to a privately-owned house south of Burel. An improvised clinic had been set up inside the house where medical staff extracted the organs of the kidnapped people whose bodies were buried in close proximity.

Their organs were transported to Rinas Airport near Tirana and then abroad. The last delivery took place in 2000.

The conclusion was based on testimonies of ethnic Albanians’ who served in the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), took part in the transport of at least 90 Serbs to northern Albania and the “clinic” in Burel, in disposal of human remains near the Yellow House and delivery of organs to Rinas Airport.

Witnesses claim that top ethnic Albanian KLA members, doctors from Kosovo and abroad were fully aware of the transport and surgeries and that they were actively involved in them.