Kosovo Serbs to sue Del Ponte

The president of the Association of Families of Kidnapped and Missing Serbs in Kosovo is to sue Carla Del Ponte. Simo Spasic announced on Thursday that a lawsuit would be filed against the former Hague chief prosecutor for “concealing the crimes” that ethnic Albanians committed against Serbs in the province nine years ago. Kosovo Serbs to sue Del Ponte In an interview with Tanjug, Spasic said that he was waiting to receive from Italy a copy of Del Ponte's book “Hunt: Me and War Criminals”, in which she reveals for the first time the truth that, before killing Serbs and members of other ethnic communities, Kosovo Albanians removed their vital organs and sold them for transplant. “We will not let Carla Del Ponte get rich off the bones of murdered Serbs,” the association president warned, adding that the issue at hand was a criminal act which she, as a chief prosecutor, had been obliged to sanction. He said that the families of missing and kidnapped Serbs from Kosovo had had two meetings with the former prosecutor—once in Belgrade in the cabinet of former Foreign Minister Goran Svilanovic, and once in the Hague in 2004. Spasic said that then Hague spokeswoman Florence Hartmann, Anton Nikiforov and Hague Investigative Unit Chief Matti Ratkinen had also attended the meeting with Svilanovic. “Both times, we presented our evidence, though the first time, they just filmed and noted down everything we were saying,” recalled the association president, adding that, during the second meeting in The Hague in 2004, Del Ponte had welcomed them with the words, “All your dearest have been killed, some in northern Albania, some in Likovac and Lapusnik camps.” “When we asked her why Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) leaders that were hiding the bodies of our relatives were being protected, she replied, ‘There’s time and their turn will come,’” he added. “We presented our evidence of Serbs being transferred to Albania, via Montenegro, in columns, under armed guard. Among them was one of my two missing brothers, Zarko, who I spoke to by phone some time later, on May 19, 1998, thanks to a contact,” Spasic recounted. The association president said that he had received video footage from Interior Minister Dragan Jocic, showing Zarko with a police officer and two civilians, and that that footage was now with War Crimes Prosecutor Vladimir Vukcevic. He informed Del Ponte that in 2003, an unidentified male, who had not wanted to introduce himself, had phoned him and told him what the Albanians had done to the Serbs before executing them. In her book, the former prosecutor states that, during the investigation into KLA crimes against non-Albanians, the prosecution was informed that persons missing in the Kosovo conflict had been victims of an organ-smuggling racket. She said that Tribunal investigators and UNMIK officials had received information that in the summer of 1999, the Kosovo Albanians had transported over 300 hostages by lorry to the north of Albania, where their organs had been removed and used for sale.

Kosovo Serbs to sue Del Ponte

In an interview with Tanjug, Spasić said that he was waiting to receive from Italy a copy of Del Ponte's book “Hunt: Me and War Criminals”, in which she reveals for the first time the truth that, before killing Serbs and members of other ethnic communities, Kosovo Albanians removed their vital organs and sold them for transplant.

“We will not let Carla Del Ponte get rich off the bones of murdered Serbs,” the association president warned, adding that the issue at hand was a criminal act which she, as a chief prosecutor, had been obliged to sanction.

He said that the families of missing and kidnapped Serbs from Kosovo had had two meetings with the former prosecutor—once in Belgrade in the cabinet of former Foreign Minister Goran Svilanović, and once in the Hague in 2004.

Spasić said that then Hague spokeswoman Florence Hartmann, Anton Nikiforov and Hague Investigative Unit Chief Matti Ratkinen had also attended the meeting with Svilanović.

“Both times, we presented our evidence, though the first time, they just filmed and noted down everything we were saying,” recalled the association president, adding that, during the second meeting in The Hague in 2004, Del Ponte had welcomed them with the words, “All your dearest have been killed, some in northern Albania, some in Likovac and Lapušnik camps.”

“When we asked her why Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) leaders that were hiding the bodies of our relatives were being protected, she replied, ‘There’s time and their turn will come,’” he added.

“We presented our evidence of Serbs being transferred to Albania, via Montenegro, in columns, under armed guard. Among them was one of my two missing brothers, Žarko, who I spoke to by phone some time later, on May 19, 1998, thanks to a contact,” Spasić recounted.

The association president said that he had received video footage from Interior Minister Dragan Jočić, showing Žarko with a police officer and two civilians, and that that footage was now with War Crimes Prosecutor Vladimir Vukčević.

He informed Del Ponte that in 2003, an unidentified male, who had not wanted to introduce himself, had phoned him and told him what the Albanians had done to the Serbs before executing them.

In her book, the former prosecutor states that, during the investigation into KLA crimes against non-Albanians, the prosecution was informed that persons missing in the Kosovo conflict had been victims of an organ-smuggling racket.

She said that Tribunal investigators and UNMIK officials had received information that in the summer of 1999, the Kosovo Albanians had transported over 300 hostages by lorry to the north of Albania, where their organs had been removed and used for sale.