Letter on organs trade evidence sent to intl. officials

Rasim Ljajic has sent a letter to several top international officials regarding reports that evidence was destroyed in the Kosovo organ trafficking case. Ljajic, a Serbian cabinet minister and president of the National Council for Cooperation with the Hague Tribunal (ICTY), sent the letter to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, Chief Hague Prosecutor Serge Brammertz, and ICTY President Judge Theodor Meron. Letter on organs trade evidence sent to intl. officials In it, he requested an investigation into the circumstances under which evidence on Kosovo human organ trafficking was destroyed in 2005 by the Hague Tribunal. Ljajic sent the letter on Friday of last week, but is yet to receive any reply. His request came after a public disagreement between former Chief Hague Prosecutor Carla Del Ponte and currents heads of the tribunal, in which they blamed one another for the destruction of evidence. “We knew about destruction of evidence in 2005, but now the guilt is being shifted within the very tribunal, and we are asking what actually happened and why the evidence was destroyed,” Ljajic told Tanjug. According to him, it is feared that the entire human organ probe will be removed from public view due to political obstructions. An investigation into the case is currently being carried out by the EU mission in Kosovo, EULEX, while Serbia's initiative for a probe to be launched under the auspices of the UN has not yet been accepted. The case concerns allegations that ethnic Albanian KLA in 1999 and 2000 kidnapped Serb and other civilians in the province, illegally imprisoned them in northern Albania, and harvested their body parts to be sold in the black market. Rasim Ljajic (Tanjug, file) B92 Tanjug

Letter on organs trade evidence sent to intl. officials

In it, he requested an investigation into the circumstances under which evidence on Kosovo human organ trafficking was destroyed in 2005 by the Hague Tribunal.

Ljajić sent the letter on Friday of last week, but is yet to receive any reply.

His request came after a public disagreement between former Chief Hague Prosecutor Carla Del Ponte and currents heads of the tribunal, in which they blamed one another for the destruction of evidence.

“We knew about destruction of evidence in 2005, but now the guilt is being shifted within the very tribunal, and we are asking what actually happened and why the evidence was destroyed,” Ljajic told Tanjug.

According to him, it is feared that the entire human organ probe will be removed from public view due to political obstructions.

An investigation into the case is currently being carried out by the EU mission in Kosovo, EULEX, while Serbia's initiative for a probe to be launched under the auspices of the UN has not yet been accepted.

The case concerns allegations that ethnic Albanian KLA in 1999 and 2000 kidnapped Serb and other civilians in the province, illegally imprisoned them in northern Albania, and harvested their body parts to be sold in the black market.