PM meets with organ trafficking case investigator

PM meets with organ trafficking case investigator

During his meeting with Williamson in Belgrade on Tuesday, Vučić said that the report on the findings in the investigation into human organ trafficking during the clashes in Kosovo in 1999 would bear exceptional importance for Serbia.

Vučić expressed gratitude to Williamson for his persistence in the investigation into the crimes, the Serbian government said in a statement.

"From the very start, we expected an honest and objective approach, which Prosecutor Williamson asserted in the best possible way by his work and thus justified his reputation as a human rights fighter," Vučić said.

Williamson expressed gratitude to Serbian courts for exceptionally positive and efficient cooperation during the investigation. He arrived in Belgrade after his Monday visit to Priština where he conferred with Kosovo President Atifete Jahjaga.

According to Priština and Belgrade media, the report by international investigators led by Williamson should be released in Brussels on July 28.

Williamson, who has been heading the special unit for investigation of cases mentioned in Council of Europe (CoE) rapporteur Dick Marty's report on organized crime and organ trafficking, should end his mandate in August after he releases the results of the three-year investigation.

Serbia's War Crimes Prosecutor Vladimir Vukčević said earlier that he is pleased with the course of the investigation into human organ trafficking in Kosovo, adding that, in his opinion, the investigation proved that the crimes were committed and the only thing remaining is to find the perpetrators.

Vukčević also noted that these are war crimes, for which there is no statute of limitations.

Dick Marty's report concerns allegations that members of the ethnic Albanian KLA in 1999 and 2000 kidnapped Serb and other civilians in Kosovo, and illegally imprisoned them in Albania to harvest their organs and sell them in the international black market.

The case is informally known in the Serbian media as "the Yellow House case" - after one location in Albania suspected of being used to hold the victims.

In April, the authorities in Priština adopted a resolution on setting up a special court that would deal with the alleged crimes addressed in the Marty report, filed in late 2010.

In early 2011, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe adopted a resolution urging an investigation.

Atifete Jahjaga on Monday met with Williamson and said that "Kosovo is ready to fulfill obligations in order to bring the investigation to an end," and act on the declaration to set up a special court "at the moment of consolidation of Kosovo's institutions."

While in Priština yesterday, the U.S. prosecutor did not meet with outgoing Kosovo Prime Minister and former KLA leader Hashim Thaci, the Indeksonline website has reported.

According to the Priština-based Albanian language daily Tribuna, in March of this year Williamson "questioned Thaci in relation to the crimes from the report of Dick Marty."

Meanwhile, Albanian language media in Kosovo are reporting that Williamson has found evidence of war crimes committed by former KLA members, but no evidence of organ trafficking.

The daily Koha Ditore said that the U.S. prosecutor found sufficient evidence for charges against at least ten former members of the KLA for war crimes committed against civilians, "mostly Serbs," but not when it comes to cases of organized crime and trafficking in organs mentioned in the Marty report.

Also, the media reports suggested that these former KLA members will be indicted as individuals - as Williamson reportedly failed to collect sufficient evidence or determine the command responsibility.

This means that people identified as leaders of the KLA, such as Hashim Thaci, and candidate for Kosovo's next prime minister, Ramush Haradinaj, will not bear any criminal liability.

As reported by Serbia's public broadcaster RTS, indictments will concern the disappearance of "a large number of Serbs" from Orahovac and Zočište.

Priština-based daily Tribuna said today that "evidence has been found of crimes committed immediately after the NATO bombing campaign in Kosovo in 1999."

According to this daily, "between ten and twenty" will be charged - but their names will not be published and the crimes will not be specified - instead, "the nature of the crimes" will be made known.

According to the paper, this should serve to "reject the drama of the Yellow House, that has accompanied the image of Kosovo and of the liberation struggle."