Prosecutor: EULEX team should investigate crime

BELGRADE The Serbian War Crimes Prosecutor's Office has already proven that the war crime of human organ trafficking occurred in Kosovo, says Vladimir Vukcevic. It is now up to those who have access to the ground to investigate the evidence, the Serbian war crimes prosecutor said on Monday. Prosecutor: EULEX team should investigate crime In a statement for Tanjug, Vukcevic recalled that the Prosecutor's Office presented new evidence last week to Clint Williamson, the head of the EULEX Special Investigative Task Force in charge of the probe into the human organ trafficking in Kosovo. Vukcevic said it was now up to Williamson's team to carry out an investigation on the ground, as Serbian investigators do not have access. "The meeting with Williamson was quite constructive. We concluded that without cooperation, success is not guaranteed, and success means finding the perpetrators of war crimes," said the Serbian prosecutor. Vukcevic explained that the Prosecutor's Office first started an investigation into some 300 to 500 cases of missing Serbs and other non-Albanians, and then learned about the organ trafficking. He noted that the Prosecutor's Office was cooperating with Williamson's team in the investigation. During his visit to Belgrade, Williamson said that his investigation would not be limited to organ trafficking but would encompass all crimes against Serbs described in the report of Council of Europe Special Rapporteur Dick Marty. Last Thursday, Williamson will also meet with Vukcevic, and the focus of their conversation will be the account of a protected witness whose account was partially released by the Serbian War Crimes Prosecutor's Office mid-September. In his account, partially broadcast by Radio Television of Serbia, the witness, a former member of the ethnic Albanin so-called Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), described in detail how a heart was harvested from a Serb captive near Kukesh, north Albania, to be sold in the black market. The protected witness also described the procedure of trafficking in organs harvested from Serbs, who were abducted and imprisoned in Kosovo and Metohija in 1999 and 2000. The details on human organ trafficking, which involved members of the KLA, were presented in a report by Dick Marty in late 2010. According to Marty's report, the masterminds behind the abductions and human organ trafficking in Kosovo were the incumbent Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaci and KLA's "Drenica Group". Carla Del Ponte, former chief prosecutor of the ICTY, wrote in her book "The Hunt: Me and the War Criminals," published after she stepped down from the office, that 300 Serbs and a small number of other non-Albanians were transported to the Yellow House near Burrel, north Albania, where their organs were removed and later sold. Vladimir Vukcevic (file) Tanjug

Prosecutor: EULEX team should investigate crime

In a statement for Tanjug, Vukčević recalled that the Prosecutor's Office presented new evidence last week to Clint Williamson, the head of the EULEX Special Investigative Task Force in charge of the probe into the human organ trafficking in Kosovo.

Vukčević said it was now up to Williamson's team to carry out an investigation on the ground, as Serbian investigators do not have access.

"The meeting with Williamson was quite constructive. We concluded that without cooperation, success is not guaranteed, and success means finding the perpetrators of war crimes," said the Serbian prosecutor.

Vukčević explained that the Prosecutor's Office first started an investigation into some 300 to 500 cases of missing Serbs and other non-Albanians, and then learned about the organ trafficking.

He noted that the Prosecutor's Office was cooperating with Williamson's team in the investigation.

During his visit to Belgrade, Williamson said that his investigation would not be limited to organ trafficking but would encompass all crimes against Serbs described in the report of Council of Europe Special Rapporteur Dick Marty.

Last Thursday, Williamson will also meet with Vukčević, and the focus of their conversation will be the account of a protected witness whose account was partially released by the Serbian War Crimes Prosecutor's Office mid-September.

In his account, partially broadcast by Radio Television of Serbia, the witness, a former member of the ethnic Albanin so-called Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), described in detail how a heart was harvested from a Serb captive near Kukesh, north Albania, to be sold in the black market.

The protected witness also described the procedure of trafficking in organs harvested from Serbs, who were abducted and imprisoned in Kosovo and Metohija in 1999 and 2000.

The details on human organ trafficking, which involved members of the KLA, were presented in a report by Dick Marty in late 2010.

According to Marty's report, the masterminds behind the abductions and human organ trafficking in Kosovo were the incumbent Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaci and KLA's "Drenica Group".

Carla Del Ponte, former chief prosecutor of the ICTY, wrote in her book "The Hunt: Me and the War Criminals," published after she stepped down from the office, that 300 Serbs and a small number of other non-Albanians were transported to the Yellow House near Burrel, north Albania, where their organs were removed and later sold.