AP: Witnesses on human organ trade

Albanian witnesses from Kosovo gave a detailed testimony in 2003 about the trade of Serbs' organs, according to a UN document obtained by The Associated Press. They also explained how they buried hundreds of victims to hide evidence of civilian killings. AP: Witnesses on human organ trade The 30-page compilation of statements by at least eight people to UN investigators could provide momentum to claims that the world body failed to pay proper attention to war crimes by ethnic Albanians in their 1990s war for independence, the AP writes. The UN authorities briefly investigated organ harvesting claims in 2004 but never launched a full-fledged probe, prompting Serb accusations of double standards in pursuing war crimes. The document outlines an alleged “scheme to take captives” of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) to Albania in the aftermath of the war in 2000 so their kidneys, livers and other organs could be removed at a home that had been set up as a medical clinic, the AP reports. The UN officials were told the home was equipped with specialized equipment and medical personnel to carry out operations. In December 2003 Paul Coffey, the top justice official in Kosovo at the time, wrote to Jonathan Sutch, the official in charge of Yugoslav tribunal investigations in Kosovo, that the alleged crimes were reported to the UN in Kosovo by "multiple sources of unknown reliability." Coffey said the information was "based on interviews with at least eight sources, the credibility of whom is untested, all ethnic Albanians from Kosovo or Montenegro who served in the KLA." Details of the interviews were more than seven years ago presented to the Hague Tribunal that was then responsible for prosecuting war crimes in the former Yugoslavia. “No one has been brought to trial,” the AP pointed out. The interviews were made available to the AP by an international official who asked not to be named because of the sensitivity of the case. One of the sources is quoted as telling investigators that the first two surgeries to harvest organs were done "to breach the market," and that traffickers later were able to make up to USD 45,000 per body. "The largest shipment was when they did 5 Serbs together. ... He said they took a fortune that time," the source said according to the document. "Other shipments were usually from two or three Serbs," he said. The source told investigators that workers at the Rinas airport outside Tirana and at the airport in Istanbul, where the organs were allegedly taken for sale, were bribed "to close their eyes." The flight between the two cities takes about 1 hour 45 minutes, sources told the UN, adding that the house where the organs were allegedly harvested was a two-hour drive from the airport. If packed in ice after removal, organs are viable for several hours after extraction — hearts and lungs for four-six hours, livers for 18-24 hours, kidneys for 24-48 hours. Two sources claimed they took part in delivering body parts to Tirana’s international airport. They appear to confirm allegations made by Council of Europe investigator Dick Marty, who said in a recent report that Western governments ignored the accusations out of fear of destabilizing Kosovo. Marty’s report in December named Kosovo’s Prime Minister Hashim Thaci, the former head of the KLA, as the boss behind a network dealing in kidneys and other human organs as well as organized crime, the AP reports. Thaci has denied wrongdoing and has supported an international inquiry. According to the documents, the sources told the UN officials in 2003 that senior KLA officers and officials from the Albanian government were involved in the alleged crimes, which purportedly went on as late as the summer of 2000, almost a year after Kosovo came under UN and NATO control. UNMIK Chief Lamberto Zannier told the AP that EULEX, which is now in charge of dealing with war crimes in Kosovo, was given every war crimes file that the Yugoslavia tribunal and the UN possessed, including witness statements. EULEX says it has launched a preliminary investigation into Marty’s allegations, but would not immediately comment on the 2003 report. It was not immediately clear if it was following up on any of the information given by the eight sources to the UN. So far, both the UN and EULEX have maintained that their investigations into the alleged organ harvesting have failed to yield any evidence. The witnesses gave specific details of locations in Albania where the KLA allegedly kept detainees and buried victims, some of them also ethnic Albanians accused of collaborating with Serbs. The sources, described as "low to midlevel ranking KLA members," said the Serbs were driven by trucks and vans to Albania where they were held in detention centers and some went through medical checks. The trail was partly followed up in February 2004, when a team of UN and Haue Tribunal investigators visited a house in the village of Rripe where the sources said the organ harvesting took place. The investigators found pieces of medical equipment, medicine boxes and blood traces. One source said he was instructed by KLA superiors not to beat the prisoners and that he became suspicious when they were to deliver "a briefcase or a file with papers that would be given to the doctor when the captives were delivered" to the house in northern Albania. He said that he used to bring prisoners there but never drove any of them back.

AP: Witnesses on human organ trade

The 30-page compilation of statements by at least eight people to UN investigators could provide momentum to claims that the world body failed to pay proper attention to war crimes by ethnic Albanians in their 1990s war for independence, the AP writes.

The UN authorities briefly investigated organ harvesting claims in 2004 but never launched a full-fledged probe, prompting Serb accusations of double standards in pursuing war crimes.

The document outlines an alleged “scheme to take captives” of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) to Albania in the aftermath of the war in 2000 so their kidneys, livers and other organs could be removed at a home that had been set up as a medical clinic, the AP reports.

The UN officials were told the home was equipped with specialized equipment and medical personnel to carry out operations.

In December 2003 Paul Coffey, the top justice official in Kosovo at the time, wrote to Jonathan Sutch, the official in charge of Yugoslav tribunal investigations in Kosovo, that the alleged crimes were reported to the UN in Kosovo by "multiple sources of unknown reliability."

Coffey said the information was "based on interviews with at least eight sources, the credibility of whom is untested, all ethnic Albanians from Kosovo or Montenegro who served in the KLA."

Details of the interviews were more than seven years ago presented to the Hague Tribunal that was then responsible for prosecuting war crimes in the former Yugoslavia. “No one has been brought to trial,” the AP pointed out.

The interviews were made available to the AP by an international official who asked not to be named because of the sensitivity of the case.

One of the sources is quoted as telling investigators that the first two surgeries to harvest organs were done "to breach the market," and that traffickers later were able to make up to USD 45,000 per body.

"The largest shipment was when they did 5 Serbs together. ... He said they took a fortune that time," the source said according to the document.

"Other shipments were usually from two or three Serbs," he said.

The source told investigators that workers at the Rinas airport outside Tirana and at the airport in Istanbul, where the organs were allegedly taken for sale, were bribed "to close their eyes."

The flight between the two cities takes about 1 hour 45 minutes, sources told the UN, adding that the house where the organs were allegedly harvested was a two-hour drive from the airport.

If packed in ice after removal, organs are viable for several hours after extraction — hearts and lungs for four-six hours, livers for 18-24 hours, kidneys for 24-48 hours.

Two sources claimed they took part in delivering body parts to Tirana’s international airport.

They appear to confirm allegations made by Council of Europe investigator Dick Marty, who said in a recent report that Western governments ignored the accusations out of fear of destabilizing Kosovo.

Marty’s report in December named Kosovo’s Prime Minister Hashim Thaci, the former head of the KLA, as the boss behind a network dealing in kidneys and other human organs as well as organized crime, the AP reports.

Thaci has denied wrongdoing and has supported an international inquiry.

According to the documents, the sources told the UN officials in 2003 that senior KLA officers and officials from the Albanian government were involved in the alleged crimes, which purportedly went on as late as the summer of 2000, almost a year after Kosovo came under UN and NATO control.

UNMIK Chief Lamberto Zannier told the AP that EULEX, which is now in charge of dealing with war crimes in Kosovo, was given every war crimes file that the Yugoslavia tribunal and the UN possessed, including witness statements.

EULEX says it has launched a preliminary investigation into Marty’s allegations, but would not immediately comment on the 2003 report.

It was not immediately clear if it was following up on any of the information given by the eight sources to the UN.

So far, both the UN and EULEX have maintained that their investigations into the alleged organ harvesting have failed to yield any evidence.

The witnesses gave specific details of locations in Albania where the KLA allegedly kept detainees and buried victims, some of them also ethnic Albanians accused of collaborating with Serbs.

The sources, described as "low to midlevel ranking KLA members," said the Serbs were driven by trucks and vans to Albania where they were held in detention centers and some went through medical checks.

The trail was partly followed up in February 2004, when a team of UN and Haue Tribunal investigators visited a house in the village of Rripe where the sources said the organ harvesting took place.

The investigators found pieces of medical equipment, medicine boxes and blood traces.

One source said he was instructed by KLA superiors not to beat the prisoners and that he became suspicious when they were to deliver "a briefcase or a file with papers that would be given to the doctor when the captives were delivered" to the house in northern Albania.

He said that he used to bring prisoners there but never drove any of them back.