Organ trafficking in Kosovo
As organ trafficking in Kosovo , suspected human trafficking for the purpose of unlawful organ removal at the expense of persons abducted from Kosovo and proven organ trafficking in Kosovo have become known.
The so-called Yellow House ( Albanian shtëpia e verdhë , Serbian : жута кућа / žuta kuća ), a building in Rribe ( Albanian officially mostly Rripa or Rripë ) around ten kilometers south of Burrel in Albania , was often associated with the alleged organ harvesting . It stands as a symbol for alleged war crimes of the paramilitary UÇK during the Kosovo war as well as for alleged organ harvesting of the UÇK and criminal organizations of ethnic Albanians after the military intervention of NATO in 1999, when the Serbian-Yugoslav security forces had to leave the country at the instigation of NATO and NATO-led ones KFOR troops and UNMIK forces had assumed responsibility for the province. The victims of the alleged crimes were predominantly ethnic Serbs as well as Roma and certain Kosovar Albanians who had previously been kidnapped to Albania by the KLA from the Serbian province of Kosovo, which was then part of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia . Investigations initiated by journalists in 2003 by the UNMIK authorities and the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) were closed in 2004. Triggered by an autobiography by Carla Del Ponte , the former chief prosecutor of the ICTY, a report by the Council of Europe at the end of 2010, following a special investigation led by Dick Marty , reiterated the old allegations of organ harvesting in Albania, mainly of Serbs from Kosovo. The report accused top Kosovar politicians such as former KLA commander and incumbent president of Kosovo, Hashim Thaçi , of being involved in organized crime and, since 1999, in organ harvesting. The report of the Council of Europe accuses the secret service and the government of Albania of having worked with the KLA or of having tolerated secret KLA camps, in which organ harvesting also took place, and of having participated in the criminal investigation of the allegations through international organizations and Serbian authorities to refuse. The report of the Council of Europe accused the international authorities in Kosovo of long-standing complicity, tacit tolerance and complicity. Investigations by EULEX Kosovo have been ongoing since 2011 to verify the validity of these allegations. The results of these investigations were presented for the first time at the end of July 2014 by chief investigator John Clint Williamson to the EU Special Investigative Task Force (SITF). The SITF findings largely confirmed the Marty report, as well as earlier reports from the OSCE and Human Rights Watch in 1999. Following the SITF investigation, the KLA and with the support of its top management have targeted and organized crimes such as “unlawful killings , Kidnappings, evictions, illegal detention in camps in Kosovo and Albania, sexual violence and other forms of inhumane treatment ”committed by members of the ethnic minorities and the ethnic Albanian opposition, and“ ethnic cleansing ”of large parts of the Serbs and Roma population Areas south of the Ibar River . Based on this, SITF is calling for crimes against humanity and war crimes to be charged . In addition, in accordance with the Marty report of the Council of Europe, the SITF investigations found “conclusive evidence” of organ harvesting for personal enrichment and the accumulation of power by high-ranking KLA leaders in up to ten cases. According to media reports, it is possible that around ten former KLA commanders - and thus practically the entire KLA leadership - will appear before a special tribunal for war crimes in trials that could take place in The Hague from the beginning of 2015 .
The case of the so-called Medicus Clinic from 2008 in Kosovo, then under the auspices of the United Nations (UN) , for which the competent court in Pristina found several defendants guilty of organ in criminal manner in 2013, is considered to be proven illegal organ trafficking To have taken from donors and implanted in recipients. The organ donors here came mainly from the poorest of backgrounds and countries such as Turkey , Russia , Romania and Kazakhstan . They were attracted with the assurance of up to 12,000 euros, although some of the donors never received the promised money. The recipients were wealthy patients, the majority from Israel , but also from Germany , Canada and Poland . They paid around 80,000 to 100,000 euros for a kidney. The Turkish doctor Yusuf Sönmez and the Turkish-Israeli dual citizen Moshe Harel are currently (April 2013) [out of date] as suspects sought by Interpol and alleged main masterminds of the organ trafficking ring. According to the special investigation report of the Council of Europe from 2010 and according to other sources, the Medicus case is also said to be related to the alleged post-war organ harvesting in Albania.
Prehistory and security background in Kosovo
The military intervention of NATO in Yugoslavia from April to June 1999 took place without international legal legitimation and under US dominance according to a new paradigm of Western crisis intervention ( doctrine of “ humanitarian intervention ”). In the absence of a UN Security Council mandate, NATO acted as a self-appointed and unauthorized intervention force and justified the war with reference to a moral obligation that arose from the need to avert an impending “ humanitarian catastrophe ”.
June to autumn / winter 1999
With the NATO military intervention in Yugoslavia and the resulting agreement of the Military Technical Agreement of June 9, 1999, NATO not only pushed through the invasion of the KFOR troops into the Serbian province of Kosovo, but also the simultaneous withdrawal of the Serbian-Yugoslav security forces End of the fighting. In contrast to the situation in Bosnia, there was no longer any de facto police organization in Kosovo after the end of the war .
Only afterwards did the UN Security Council mandate the NATO-led KFOR in UN Resolution 1244 of June 10, 1999, to perform security tasks, but did not leave all areas to NATO, but also demanded the creation of the UNMIK (United Nations Interim Administration in Kosovo) and reaffirmed the preservation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, as was decided at the meeting of foreign ministers of the G-8 on May 6, 1999 at Petersberg near Bonn . As an interim administration for Kosovo under the direction of the UN Secretary-General's Special Envoy (SRSG), UNMIK should be responsible firstly for police and legal administration and secondly for civil administration (both to be carried out by the UN) and thirdly for democratization and administrative development ( carried out by the OSCE ) and fourthly for reconstruction and economic development (to be carried out by the EU ). Within this framework, UNMIK should set up an international UNMIK civilian police force, which should be responsible for executive functions until a “credible, professional and impartial” Kosovo Police Service (KPS) is created. However, both the deployment of police officers and experts for the development of administration , justice , infrastructure and the economy was slow. Also the permission for an agreed number of Yugoslav or Serbian military and police personnel to return to Kosovo after a certain period of time, which was expressly confirmed according to UN Resolution 1244, i.e. according to the international law basis for the post-war work of the UN and NATO in the Serbian province of Kosovo , among other things for the purpose of maintaining a presence at sites of Serbian cultural heritage and at important border crossings, was neither fulfilled in 1999 nor in 2004, when Serbia offered its help in the March pogroms that got out of control of the protectorate powers , but this was done by Kosovar Albanians and NATO was rejected.
The delay in setting up a judiciary resulted in many crimes going unpunished. Kosovar Albanian judges, prosecutors and lawyers refused to apply the existing Serbian and Yugoslav laws and demanded the application of Kosovar laws from the time before 1989. A legal and power vacuum developed in Kosovo.
This legal and power vacuum was exploited by the strongly represented and well-armed UÇK forces under Hashim Thaçi , Ramush Haradinaj and other UÇK commanders for the UÇK to take power in communities and cities. In connection with this far-reaching lawlessness in the UN and NATO protectorate , Hashim Thaçi was appointed "Prime Minister" in Kosovo and the Serbs, Roma, Ashkali and so-called Kosovo "Egyptians" living in Kosovo were dealt with with great brutality . Unhindered and not contained by KFOR and UNMIK, which intervened too late and too hesitantly, in the first months after the end of the NATO air strikes - especially in the summer and autumn of 1999 - Kosovar Albanians became excessively violent, and more than 200,000 were displaced and fled Serbs, Roma and other members of minorities from Kosovo and for the destruction of Serbian Orthodox monasteries and churches throughout Kosovo. The lack of criminal prosecution also concerned acts of violence committed by the UÇK against competing political groups (e.g. the LDK ) and the power struggles that have existed within the UÇK leadership since the beginning of the war. In particular, several of Hashim Thaçi's rivals, such as Blerim Kuçi, died shortly after threats under unexplained circumstances or were victims of attacks such as Bujar Bukoshi , who viewed the post-war violence as being controlled by the Albanian secret service SHIK (Shërbimi Informativ Kombëtar). Almost all agents who were released from the formerly notorious Sigurimi secret service of the dictator Enver Hoxha are said to have been reactivated after the socialists came to power, according to Bukoshi. Around 200 high-ranking SHIK officers, said Bukoshi, are in Kosovo, including the “top agent” Xhavit Haliti , who is also the closest advisor to Hashim Thaçi and a member of the Kosovar-Albanian delegation during talks on the Rambouillet Treaty . The goal is the destabilization of Kosovo and its control by the leadership of Albania.
According to observers, the violence was said to have outraged many Kosovar Albanians as early as the winter of 1999/2000, who, however, due to the existing taboo of criticizing their “own” people, should not have dared to comment publicly.
Fall / Winter 1999 to 2008
The legal vacuum following the forced withdrawal of the Serbian-Yugoslav security forces prevailed in Kosovo for five months until a new set of transitional legislation was introduced. By October 13, 1999, despite hundreds of criminal cases, only 13 criminal trials had been conducted. It was not until the autumn and winter of 1999 that the NATO-led KFOR took control of the UÇK. But NATO carried out the “disarmament” of the so-called UÇK “fighters”, as promised in UN Resolution 1244 , only carelessly and parts of the UÇK were based on the Joint Interim Administration Council from January 2000 to September 20, 1999 modeled on the US National Guard founded with US military aid and set up as a “reception camp” for demobilized UÇK fighters, so-called Kosovo Protection Corps (TMK, also: “Kosovo Protection Corps”) under the command of former UÇK Commander in Chief Agim Çeku . The TMK, regarded by important leaders of the UÇK as the core force for the army of a future independent Kosovo, had been officially recognized as a Kosovar civil defense organization since January 2009 and had a dominant Kosovar-Albanian membership community with numerous high-ranking UÇK leaders. This auxiliary police TMK thus offered a legal platform for the former UÇK fighters, formerly classified as " terrorists " by the West . The Deputy Chief of the International Police in Kosovo, Uwe Schweifer, described disarming the region as a pure illusion.
It was not until the beginning of 2000 that the KPS (“Kosovo Police Service”; German also: “Kosovo Police”) was set up as its own Kosovar police, but its police officers acted “rather hesitantly” against offenders of Albanian ethnicity, also because of their fear of revenge Members of the ethnic Albanian family clans or organized crime that pervades practically all areas of Kosovar society. While the KPS was viewed by UNMIK as one of its greatest successes and was described by UNMIK boss (SRSG) Michael Steiner as a “multi-ethnic police with western standards”, the Serb minority saw it as an instrument of power for the Kosovar Albanians. According to UNDP surveys , the satisfaction of the Serb minority with the KPS fell from 4.6 percent in July 2003 and 14.3 percent in November 2003 to 0.5 percent after the March pogroms in 2004 .
A lack of engagement by the international occupying powers meant that in mid-March 2000 there were still not enough police officers available in the Kosovo protectorate, so that former members of the Policia Ushtarahe (PU), the UÇK military police and the TMK often took over police functions. An article published at the time OSCE report by the "police" was actually -Tätigkeit but especially in the exercise of such crimes as extortion , intimidation, arrest, torture and murder. The OSCE report also criticized the fact that poor law enforcement is losing public confidence in law enforcement agencies, which further increases crime. The UÇK not only committed crimes in the context of the struggle for independence and internal power struggles, but also intensified drug trafficking , which, according to a civilian employee of UNMIK , can be understood as a business between Albanian mafia gangs and the UÇK, in that the mafia groups delivered weapons to the UÇK and were unhindered by them the KLA were able to gain a foothold in Kosovo. NATO and the UN were also deemed to be complicit in the establishment of mafia-like structures. The international police complained that they were often abandoned by Western politicians and officials. UNMIK boss Bernard Kouchner and the German KFOR commander Klaus Reinhardt had publicly apologized to Hashim Thaçi for the fact that UNMIK police had disarmed Thaçi's bodyguard and confiscated one million dollars in Thaçi's brother's apartment. Thaçi was then able to state that his staff would be informed in advance about planned controls.
Human trafficking flourished via port cities in Albania such as Vlora , Durrës and Saranda , including people from Kosovo, from which police officers, customs officers and boat owners profited. According to the editor of the Albanian newspaper "Tema", Mero Baze, the police chief of Durrës kept a veritable "harem" of prostitutes from Moldova . According to police inspector Janoz Terstena, Kosovar Albanians were lured to alleged training courses in Tirana by bus and then taken to secret hospitals in Greek, Macedonian, Italian or Turkish for illegal organ removal. Numerous Albanian villages operated cannabis cultivation or illegal transport services as an economic basis . There were two secret heroin factories in the Dajti Mountains near Tirana , and the construction of a third was announced for Kosovo. In addition to black market transactions and the smuggling of a wide variety of goods such as cigarettes and motor vehicles, the illegal import of weapons into Kosovo remained the main problem.
Despite the violent, criminal situation, UNMIK did not act consistently against crimes committed by the KLA. It took until August 2002 for the UNMIK judiciary to prosecute former UÇK leaders for the crimes they had committed, namely Rrustem Mustafa, one of six regional leaders of the TMK after the war and Ramush Haradinaj, who was now the leader of the AAK . It was not until February 18, 2003 that KFOR extradited former UÇK members to the Hague Tribunal (ICTY) for the first time, including Fatmir Limaj as the main defendant , leader of the parliamentary group and vice-president of Thaçis PDK and vice-president of the transitional parliament . As with other former UÇK leaders, Limaj's trials before the ICTY and EULEX, which resulted in a political affair, addressed the lack of witness protection in Kosovo.
After the wave of pogroms and expulsions against the minorities in March 2004, the US-KFOR granted the TMK, through joint patrols with TMK and KPS, the role of public security that was sought after by the successor organization of the KLA, which it enjoyed from UNMIK and the central KFOR command had been denied there.
According to the report of the Society for Threatened Peoples (GfbV) from November 2004, "the so-called" drive-by-shootings "in which Serbs, Roma or other minorities are shot from the car" remained, even after the bloody March pogroms of 2004 with impunity. In the case of minor offenses, there would usually be no report, "because the victims are afraid of reprisals". The "almost complete impunity for crimes against minorities" intimidated the victims so much that they had no "confidence in the international protection institutions". Criminal files of criminals of Albanian ethnic group would disappear, prisoners of Albanian ethnic group would escape "under bizarre circumstances from prisons," wrote Der Spiegel . The Kosovar police would partially refuse to investigate. The UN administrators were also hit by death threats and intrigues from the Kosovar Albanian side. The UNMIK bosses such as Hans Hækkerup and Michael Steiner therefore resigned from office after each short term. Kosovar Albanian politicians were neither ready to negotiate the question of future status nor to discuss war crimes committed by the Kosovar Albanian side. The “misdeeds” of the UÇK and the “Albanian leaders” like Ramush Haradinaj would treat them as taboo subjects. The Serbian population has “a miserable existence in Kosovo” and their protection is not guaranteed in Kosovo despite the use of international funds. "Since the beginning of the preparations for the independence of Kosovo", according to the report of the STP, "the pressure on the Roma, Ashkali and" Egyptians "to leave the country has increased. The KPS is only "officially a multi-ethnic police force", but actually consists mainly of ethnic Albanians and harasses members of the minorities. The Kosovo police are also accused by the minorities of having at least partly actively participated in the pillage and other acts of violence in March 2004 . Reports from the Roma girls are not uncommon, "who are picked up by the Albanian police and abused and mistreated in a prison cell overnight or even for several days."
According to an analysis by the Federal Intelligence Service (BND) on February 22, 2005, the content of which was published by Weltwoche on October 26, 2005, the province of Kosovo was dominated by networks of high-ranking politicians and internationally active Kosovo-Albanian mafia gangs who “had no interest in building up a functioning state order ”,“ through which their flourishing business could be impaired. ”The aim of these networks is to create a“ suitable political environment ”for their criminal business in Kosovo. The BND assumed that Kosovo would continue to "play a key role as a transit region for drug trafficking in the direction of (Western) Europe", since representatives of the political leadership in Kosovo are significantly involved in the criminal activities of the Mafia. According to the BND, these "key players" or "multifunctional persons" also included Hashim Thaçi and his confidante, PDK deputy and later parliamentary president Xhavit Haliti or who was referred to as "friend and partner" by the UN special envoy and UNMIK boss Sören Jessen-Petersen Ramush Haradinaj. These top political figures used their connections to organized crime to assert their own interests and in return, with their influence in politics, business and security authorities, created "freedom and access" for the classic fields of organized crime, which cover the "entire spectrum of criminal, political and military activities ”, in particular drug, cigarette and weapons smuggling, illegal fuel trafficking, people smuggling and extortion. The head of government at the time, Agim Çeku, was also connected to the criminal business of the Kosovar-Albanian mafia groups known as the “brotherhoods” and belonged to the group around Thaçi and Haliti, who control the Drenica region. Kosovo, in particular, is seen as the center of organized crime from which criminal activities across Europe are controlled. The Western European countries are and will remain a place of preparation and retreat for Albanian organized crime, both a logistical location and a destination for drug trafficking and other areas of crime. A large Albanian diaspora , namely in Germany and Switzerland, offers Albanian organized crime "an ideal base for operations". According to the BND, Interpol and the Council of Europe, the Kosovo region should be 60 percent involved in European drug trafficking and 98 percent in human trafficking.
In 2007 the Institute for European Politics (IEP) carried out a study commissioned by the German Ministry of Defense, the contents of which became known in January 2008 despite being classified as classified information by the Russian news agency RIA Novosti . According to this IEP study, the Mafia in Kosovo exercises social control “which, in the short or long term, will lead to a complete collective deprivation of the affected society and prevent liberal and democratically minded forces from growing up .” “Both the police and the judiciary in Kosovo ", So the IEP study," are extremely weak and in essential cases unwilling to act security institutions, which do not represent a neutral point of contact, especially for members of minorities. "" The dishonest and extremely short-sighted appeasement policy towards organized crime and the devaluation that goes with it democratic foundations ", judged the study," finds its scandalous climax in the open obstruction of the investigative work of the Hague War Crimes Tribunal [ICTY], which not only exposes the politics of the international community of bigotry , but fundamentally the endeavor to democratize Kosov o runs counter to. ”Regarding the responsibility of the western states, the IEP study wrote:“ The international community and its representatives in Kosovo are largely responsible for the alarming spread of mafia-like structures in Kosovo and, thanks to the open support of political-criminal actors, have credibility in many ways international institutions damaged. Through the repeated public support for criminal and violent top politicians on the part of leading forces of UNMIK and KFOR, the meanwhile firmly established inner-Kosovar fear regime was promoted with sight and in this way contributed to the structural repression of non-corrupted social actors. ”In the outlook, the IEP study summarizes: “To sum up, there is little room for maneuver not to describe the process of security sector reform in Kosovo, which has now been going on for several years, as extremely deficient. The involvement of the international community in this regard must at least in parts be characterized as counterproductive and gives little reason to hope that this can be changed through short-term measures. "
Legal and security policy since 2008
Despite the EU aid funds of 3.5 billion euros that flowed into Kosovo between 1999 and 2007 alone, a worldwide EU aid record per capita, according to a report by the European Court of Auditors (ECA) from 2012, corruption and crime in Kosovo remained that way as serious as at the end of the war in 1999: “Corruption and organized crime are still high. Responsible for this are in part Kosovo's authorities, which do not observe the principles of the rule of law enough. In part, it is up to the EU to provide better aid, ”said the rapporteur, Gijs de Vries . In addition to the top position in the level of corruption according to Transparency International , the report also quoted an OSCE employee on the persistent maladministration in the judiciary, according to which “judges do not make their judgments solely on the basis of the law”, “but follow external interests in advance obedience”. Kosovo is corrupt at all levels and the plaything of political, economic and criminal interests. Neither in the rule of law nor in the fight against organized crime and corruption, the EU mission can point to lasting successes. The report concluded that organized crime "has not changed much since the international community intervened in the summer of 1999". Kosovo's authorities have even recently attempted to limit EULEX's executive power in the judiciary through legislative changes.
Even after full sovereignty was achieved on September 10, 2012, politics, administration, police and judiciary in Kosovo did not effectively fight crime, disorder, corruption, the mafia and ongoing breaches of contract. While the "ambassadors of the leading western countries" also with the withdrawal or termination of the mandate of Pieter Feith , until 2011 " EU Special Representative " (EUSR) and until September 10, 2012 civilian representative ("International Civilian Representative" = ICR) for Kosovo, their Expressing satisfaction with the Thaçi government, the Kosovar population was increasingly dissatisfied with the government. The Kosovo government itself named the unclear situation of the densely Serbian-populated communities in northern Kosovo as the main source of smuggling and organized crime . In contrast, the Kosovar Foreign Minister Enver Hoxhaj described the termination of international surveillance in 2013 as a great success: “We have built a new state with a social, educational and health system. We are practically the success story in the Balkans. And we managed to end independence surveillance last year. Unlike in Sarajevo, there is no longer an international representative in Prishtina to monitor us. "
For its decision to extend the NATO deployment of German KFOR soldiers in Kosovo on the basis of UN Resolution 1244, “until the Kosovar security organs can guarantee the security of all population groups equally”, the German government also mentions only those “dominated by Kosovar Serbs North of the country ”in an explicit form. On the other hand, she does not mention any minority problems in the rest of Kosovo, but explains the continuing tension of the situation with the fact that "parts of the Kosovo-Serb population in the north" reject the agreement reached in the dialogue between Serbia and Kosovo on April 19, 2013. The Kosovo Police (KPS), which is supposed to "guarantee the security of all population groups in Kosovo", have "repeatedly demonstrated their operational readiness and their capabilities" and are supported by EULEX Kosovo, which is initially mandated until June 14, 2014, which " proceed with increasing efficiency throughout the national territory ”, whose determination is however“ repeatedly put to the test, especially in northern Kosovo ”and whose freedom of movement is“ partially restricted ”. The establishment of the Kosovar security force KSF as a “multi-ethnic and professional security body” for crisis response and ordnance disposal as well as civil defense is proceeding successfully.
The Yellow House case
accusations
On the basis of several investigations and research, serious allegations have been raised that in 1999 people abducted by the KLA to Albania became victims of organized crime, human trafficking, organ harvesting, murder and other serious crimes, partly in connection with an internationally active organ trafficking ring. The exact events have not yet been conclusively clarified, but for a long time the region of Burrel with the Yellow House moved into the center of public reporting on the alleged organ trafficking.
The Albanian Burrel was a notorious place in the communist era of Albania. In the isolated Albanian town, the Stalinist dictator Enver Hoxha got rid of political opponents in a centrally located prison, often through life imprisonment under inhumane conditions. After the disintegration of the communist system in Albania, rival and mafia-like organized crime gangs are said to have fought deadly clashes in this region .
Since 1998 there have been kidnappings in the then Serbian autonomous region of Kosovo (then part of Yugoslavia), which were attributed to the KLA.
About 400 Serbs have been missing since the war ended in 1999 , according to the human rights organization Human Rights Watch in 2008. According to the "Association of the Families of Kidnapped and Missing Persons in Kosovo and Metohija " from 2008, 533 Kosovar Serbs were still missing, of which 430 "disappeared" after June 10, 1999. According to the Office of Missing Persons and Forensics (OMPF), at the beginning of 2010 there were still 375 unsolved cases of non-Albanians, mainly of Serbian ethnicity, who disappeared after the arrival of the KFOR troops on June 12, 1999.
According to the results of the prosecuting authority of the Hague Tribunal (ICTY), which were made public in 2008, the KLA is supposed to take up to 300 prisoners from the Serbian province of Kosovo, which is partly controlled by the KLA, to northern Albanian places such as Kukës and Tropoja after the end of the Kosovo war (June 1999) (also: Tropojë) kidnapped and held in warehouses and barracks. From there, selected prisoners who, according to witness statements, were younger and healthier and "unlike other prisoners, received food, were examined by doctors and not beaten" (Human Rights Watch), were brought to the "Yellow House". This yellow house is in a village near Burrel or near this small town. Up to 50 prisoners are said to have had organs removed there and then transported abroad via Tirana Airport , where wealthy buyers are said to have been waiting for the organs to be transplanted. The alleged victims were mostly ethnic Serbs, who have been missing since the arrival of UN and NATO troops in Kosovo. However, women from Kosovo, Albania, Russia and other Slavic countries are believed to have been among the prisoners .
According to a press report from 2008, according to the "authorities and media in Serbia", the "mostly young Serbs [...] had organs removed from the neurosurgical department of prison 320 near the northern Albanian town of Tropoje" (Doctors newspaper). Another report, based on a report in the Serbian newspaper Politika, about organ transplant locations in Albania, appears to contradict this : “Part of the hospital in the Bajram Curri barracks, [the] health center in the Coca-Cola factory in Tirana, [ the] mental hospital in prison number 320 in the city of Burrel and an improvised hospital in the so-called Yellow House near the village of Tropoje were also used for organ transplants ”( B92 ). The press also reported, referring to Milijana Mitrovic as an alleged witness for the prosecution of the Hague Tribunal, that the Yellow House was in Tirana .
According to the results of the investigations carried out on behalf of the Council of Europe , published in 2010/2011, prisoners kidnapped from Kosovo were transported across the porous border to Albania and until the end of the war in Kosovo in June 1999 as so-called "prisoners of war" by the UÇK in Kukës , Cahan and Durrës interned, interrogated and mistreated. After the end of the NATO bombing (June 1999), the UÇK is said to have kidnapped around 500 people, mostly of Serbian ethnicity, from Kosovo until almost a year after the end of the war in secret detention facilities in Albania and killed many of them. The report describes that the KLA subjected the prisoners in secret prisons to "inhuman and degrading treatment before they finally disappeared". Gradually, smaller numbers of prisoners were sorted out according to criteria such as ethnicity and health condition. From July 1999 to mid-2000, a large number of "missing" people were held in a separate ad hoc network of places (Bicaj, Burrel, Rribe and Fushë-Kruja ) and allegedly killed without exception. A small number had become "victims of organized crime", their kidneys had been removed for the operation of an illegal international organ trafficking ring (for example in Fushë-Kruja). Some prisoners would have passed several "transit stations" before they were delivered to the surgical clinic as an end point. The victims were shot in the head before the kidneys were removed.
The investigation process
Serbia had long complained about atrocities committed by the KLA after July 1999 when NATO air strikes forced the Serbian-Yugoslav security forces to withdraw from the Serbian province of Kosovo. The first allegations of organ trafficking were also made by the Serbian side in the 1990s, at the time of the war in Kosovo. Serbs accused the Albanian side of dragging hundreds of prisoners to Tirana, killing them and removing organs from them. According to the Russian news agency RIA Novosti , according to Serbian information, there were “at least 2,000 victims”. Newspapers in Serbia, the USA and Great Britain are said to have reported on it.
Montgomery's first journalistic research from 2002–2003
In 2002, testimony of human trafficking in connection with organ harvesting led the American war journalist Michael Montgomery and colleagues, who are reputed to be reputable and independent, to investigate the “yellow house” near the central Albanian town of Burrel, where a witness brought prisoners and handed them over to doctors wanted to have. According to his statements, Montgomery's witnesses were three UÇK drivers. One witness said he was there when the dead were buried in a nearby cemetery. The team of journalists collected material on the alleged UÇK organ trade until 2003.
UNMIK investigation
Involvement of UNMIK forensic scientist Baraybar
Finally, the Montgomery team turned to the then head of the UN Office for Missing Persons in Kosovo ( Office of Missing Persons and Forensics = OMPF), José Pablo Baraybar, for support . Baraybar is considered to be "one of the few UN people who stood up for the missing Serbs at the time and who had the courage to investigate, including against the UCK [UÇK]" (magazine). According to the Peruvian forensic scientist Baraybar, the accumulated burden of proof was not sufficient for a conviction, but the circumstantial burden, as well as testimony, was sufficient for a prosecution. Baraybar is one of the few people who has spoken personally to the KLA sources who were used for the UN report of October 2003 and named Fushe Kruja as one of the kidney removal sites . In a TV report by ZDF from 2011 about the illegal organ trade in Kosovo, Baraybar was convinced of the existence of the illegal organ trade in Kosovo.
Morina is said to have been used as a border crossing from Kosovo to Albania , where German soldiers were stationed in the summer of 1999 to control the border between Kosovo and Albania.
In an interview with ZDF reporters in 2011 , the UÇK commander, Ismet Tara , who was responsible for the region at the time, denied both that UÇK camps for kidnapped Serbs ever existed and that the technical prerequisites for organ harvesting in Albania were ever given.
Fushe Kruja , near Tirana airport, is named as another location for kidney removal , and Istanbul is listed as the destination airport .
Investigations by the Hague Tribunal from 2003
In 2003, the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY, ICTY, also "Hague Tribunal") in The Hague , said former chief prosecutor at the Hague Tribunal Carla Del Ponte in 2008, information from "credible journalists", " that in Kosovo after June 12, 1999, when NATO troops invaded Kosovo, between 100 and 300 people were kidnapped and then deported to northern Albania ”(Human Rights Watch). During this time, Del Ponte was busy with the politically explosive, extensive and much-noticed "Milošević Trial" of the Hague Tribunal. On June 29, 2001, she handled the indictment against Slobodan Milošević and four other Serbian-Yugoslav leaders, the first international indictment brought against a ruling head of state. Del Ponte is said to have initially considered the organ trafficking allegations unlikely and "not possible", but had "at least her people investigate", especially since her specialists are said to have assured her that the removal of organs is less medically difficult than theirs Preservation.
Investigation by UNMIK, ICTY and journalists in the Yellow House in 2004
As a result, disagreements arose between the three parties involved in the investigation, forensic scientist Baraybar from the UN Office for Missing Persons, journalist Montgomery and the Del Pontes team from the Hague Tribunal. Montgomery protected the identity of his witnesses against the Hague Tribunal, which requested full access to the files and could not determine the identity of the witnesses.
On February 4, 2004, the parties involved in the investigation joined forces and around two dozen experts visited the house where an Albanian family lived. The team of investigators consisted of staff from the UN and the Hague Tribunal (ICTY) and was led by Matti Raatikainen. Among other things, medical supplies suitable for surgical interventions were found on the premises, such as medicine bottles - including a muscle relaxant commonly used in operations - or gauze, infusion bags and syringes. In the house, widespread traces of blood in the kitchen could be made visible with the help of luminol spray. While the Albanian family claimed that the house had always been painted white, investigators found remains of yellow paint in one spot under the white paint of the house, and old photos show an earlier yellow paint job. According to Baraybar, UN investigators under his leadership were evicted from villagers while attempting to dig for possible victims in a nearby cemetery: "The mood was quite hostile," Baraybar said. For three days, employees of Baraybars and Carla Del Pontes as well as the journalist Montgomery and a colleague stayed at the alleged crime scene, where an expert dispute broke out when the Albanian Katuci family, who owned the house, became entangled in contradictions. Some investigators wanted to pursue the case, others judged the evidence to be too little.
The alleged pieces of evidence found in Burrel, such as syringes and empty medicine containers, were brought to the International Court of Justice in The Hague, but were destroyed there shortly afterwards, about a year after the investigation, by the war crimes tribunal. The dossier on the investigation was filed. The 2004 Hague Tribunal investigation later became controversial. The SZ described them as "superficial" and "inconclusive". In a ZDF report from 2011, on the other hand, taking into account the confidential UN report from 2003, the view is taken that the investigations were stopped although the suspicion of organ trafficking had been confirmed. The head of UNMIK, the French Bernard Kouchner , even publicly "denied" the results of his investigators - according to the ZDF report, with reference to Kouchner's reaction to a journalist's inquiry. Del Ponte also said that she was only “shocked” after her work as chief prosecutor had ended that evidence for the possible removal of organs in Albania had disappeared at the Hague Tribunal: “It was blood samples, rags, photos and the like from the yellow house in Rribe in northern Albania ", says Del Ponte," It was clear to us at the time that something medical had taken place in the house. "
After the house inspection in 2004, the responsible UNMIK authorities in Kosovo took no further steps in the organ trafficking case. Montgomery's original sources (witnesses) "disappeared". One was killed in a suspected unrelated case, the others could not be found. In 2010, Montgemery suspected that none of his witnesses were already alive. Del Ponte later stated that several witnesses had refused to testify: "They were afraid because several of our witnesses had been murdered". Above all, the Hague Tribunal's initial investigations stalled at the time because Albania had discontinued cooperation: "We had heard of mass graves with possible victims of organ harvesting in Albania, and I wanted to have this investigated, but the Albanian authorities blocked themselves."
Publication by Carla Del Pontes from 2008
It was not until 2008 that the “Yellow House” case suddenly became known to the world public when Carla Del Ponte, who was chief prosecutor of the Hague Tribunal from 1999 to 2007, accused the UÇK in her autobiography in April 2008 , after the NATO military intervention in 1999 kidnapped at least 300 Serbian prisoners from Kosovo to northern Albania and removed organs from them in order to take them out of the country via the airport in Tirana and sell them. In doing so, Del Ponte confirmed and reiterated the information communicated to her in 2003 by the journalists with the procedures carried out by the Hague Tribunal. According to witnesses, prisoners' kidneys were removed while they were still alive, only to be killed later and then further organs to be removed from them. The prisoners are said to have been aware of their fate. Some victims are said to have been buried near the house in Burrel and in a nearby cemetery. Albanians are said to have been among the victims as well as women abducted from Eastern Europe who were forced to work as prostitutes.
In her book Del Ponte describes The Hunt - Me and the War Criminals (English: The Hunt ) not only their investigations of incidents of organ trafficking to the yellow house , but rises in this regard also serious allegations against the Hague Tribunal and the political unwillingness of authorities of the UN and Albania to come to terms with crimes committed by Kosovar Albanians. During her investigations she had come across a "wall of silence" from both the Kosovar Albanian and the western side, so that she was not able to complete her investigation successfully. On the balance sheet of her eight years in the prosecution of the Hague Tribunal, Del Ponte complained about the one-sidedness of the prosecution: "The investigations against parts of the KLA turned out to be the most frustrating in the course of the work of the Yugoslavia Tribunal." The Hague Tribunal had its attention Unilaterally aimed at crimes committed by the Serbian side, while it did not prosecute crimes involving Kosovar Albanians, despite sufficient evidence. Former KLA leader Ramush Haradinaj and so-called Prime Minister of UNMIK-administered Kosovo from 2004 to 2005, who was found “not guilty” on April 3, 2008, was charged with organizing rape, murder and intimidation of thousands of Serbs and Roma involved in the sale of organs taken from executed prisoners in Kosovo. Del Ponte accused the governments of Albania and Kosovo of having been involved in the lucrative business of organ trafficking.
In her book, Del Ponte referred to UNMIK investigators, who in turn referred to a "team of credible journalists". About these journalists, Del Ponte further stated in the book: "Among the journalists there is allegedly also someone who himself had driven such organs to the airport".
The information released by Del Ponte has now been reviewed by Human Rights Watch and found to be "valid and credible". Fred Abrahams, who was Senior Researcher in the Crisis Areas Department for Kosovo and Albania from 1993 to 2000, said that "serious and credible allegations [...] had become known that terrible ones after the war in Kosovo and Albania Human rights violations have been committed ”and urged the governments of Kosovo and Albania to“ demonstrate their commitment to justice and the rule of law by conducting properly conducted investigations ”and to ensure adequate witness protection.
After the publication of Del Ponte's book in April 2008, leading Swiss figures called for Del Ponte to step down. With the publication of the book, Del Ponte received a “Redverbot” (Spiegel) from the Swiss government. The Swiss foreign ministry forbade the then ambassador to Argentina from advertising for her book. Both presentations of the book and numerous interviews with the international press were prohibited at short notice by the FDFA . Chief diplomat Martin Dahinden said the book contained "statements that cannot be made by a Swiss government representative." However, the FDFA was unable to prohibit the publication of the book because Del Ponte was not the head of mission at the time . The Swiss Foreign Ministry did not limit itself to prohibiting Del Ponte Readings from reading and appearing with it, but also expressly distanced itself from the book under Micheline Calmy-Rey. Despite the strong criticism of the first edition published in Italian in 2008, Del Ponte published the German edition for 2009, without making any changes to the content. The FDFA now banned her from appearing with the book and did not allow her to interview the book on the grounds that advertising was incompatible with her role as an ambassador. However, due to the “muzzle” imposed by the Swiss Foreign Ministry ( Die Presse , Tages-Anzeiger), she was still not allowed to comment on the book herself or to comment on the allegations made against her.
The filing of an indictment motion was rejected by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia on the grounds that the tribunal was dissolved in 2010. The Albanian War Crimes Tribunal refuses to investigate for lack of evidence.
Dick Marty Council of Europe investigation report 2010/2011
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Shortly after the publication of Del Ponte's book, Russia obtained a political mission. On June 25, 2008, at the request of 17 MEPs, the Council of Europe's Commission on Human Rights was given the task of preparing a report on the allegations of “inhuman treatment and organ smuggling in Kosovo”. On behalf of the Council of Europe, the Swiss member of the Council of Europe and former public prosecutor Dick Marty took on the special investigation. In November 2008, a report by the European Commission drew attention to the fact that the Kosovar authorities had failed to investigate allegations of illegal trafficking in organs harvested from Serbs after the war in Kosovo in the late 1990s and that the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE ) started work on a report (the Dick Martys Council of Europe report). The report of the Council of Europe, the preliminary version of which is dated December 12, 2010, was presented to the PACE Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights on December 16, 2010, which it unanimously approved and approved on the same day and appeared as Final version on January 7, 2011.
The report was prepared by Marty on the basis of an investigation with the help of other experts over the course of two years, is based in part on the investigations of the FBI and on intelligence from secret services and confirms the allegations of organ trafficking. The report mainly offers no new information, but rather collects facts and evidence or circumstantial evidence about the crimes of the Albanian and Kosovar "Mafia". The report declares of itself that it is not a criminal investigation and that it is unable to judge guilt or innocence.
The report accuses the KLA of involvement in illegal organ trafficking. Immediately after the end of the NATO air strikes and the forced withdrawal of the Serbian security forces in summer 1999, “numerous Serbs and oppositional Kosovar Albanians were detained and tortured” (NZZ) in secret prisons in northern Albania before they disappeared in an unexplained manner. "Numerous indications" have reinforced the suspicion that organs had been removed from some previously murdered prisoners in an improvised clinic near Fushë-Kruja , who had taken them abroad via the nearby Tirana airport and put them on the international black market foreign clinics were sold.
According to the report, a group of former UÇK members, including Kosovar Prime Minister Hashim Thaçi, was responsible for the kidnappings, physical abuse, civil executions and, in some cases, the forcible removal of human organs from Albanian territory. The crimes were committed after the end of the Kosovo war on June 12, 1999. The victims were mainly ethnic Serbs and Roma from Kosovo, but also ethnic Albanians who were suspected of collaborating with the Serbian-Yugoslav government before or during the war, or members of rival armed groups. The activities were organized by UÇK leaders linked to organized crime and would "continue to this day [January 2011] in a different form". Marty estimates in the report that 40 prisoners in captivity in Albania have survived and are still alive.
The report explicitly refers to Hashim Thaçi as the head of the " Drenica Group ". This “small but unimaginably powerful group of UÇK personalities” has taken control of organized crime since 1998. The Drenica group, through its organized crime network that prospered in Kosovo and Albania after the war in Kosovo, had control of numerous dishonest businesses, including drug trafficking and six secret detention facilities in Albania, some of which were used for the black market for human organs were. It is said that Thaçis UÇK is the main organization responsible for smuggling people across the porous border into Albania. It is true that Hashim Thaçi was identified as the most dangerous of the KLA's “criminal bosses” by intelligence reports back in 1999. But Thaçi, who had already been given the leadership of the Kosovar-Albanian delegation in February 1999 by the US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright during the talks on the Rambouillet Treaty enforced by the USA and some European states , managed to get through the diplomatic and political side Support of the USA and other Western countries after the Kosovo war believed to be “untouchable”.
The report also highlights Shaip Muja as a key figure who is said to have played a central role in organ trafficking. Muja, a UÇK medical commander based in Albania and a member of the “Drenica Group”, remains a close confidante of Thaçi and is (2010/2011) the current political advisor in the Prime Minister's office, with responsibility for health: “We have numerous convergent evidence uncovered from Muja's central role [in] international networks including illegal organ traffickers, mediators of unlawful surgical treatments and other organized crime offenders, ”the report said.
Marty states in the report that behind the "interrogation policy" in the UÇK prison camps, accompanied by torture, was Kadri Veseli, Thaçi's later head of the secret service, who is considered one of the best-informed men in Kosovo even beyond the war, and like Thaçi from the Drenica Region originated. Thaçi and Veseli had known each other since the early 1990s, when the first plans for the KLA's armed struggle against the government emerged. Thaçi and Veseli later spent several years as refugees in Switzerland and traveled back to the Balkan region before the outbreak of war. Fighters accuse them of having spent most of the time in Albania in safety.
According to Marty, most of the alleged crimes covered in the Council of Europe report have allegedly been committed since the summer of 1999. At this point in time, the Serbian-Yugoslav security forces had already had to leave the Serbian province of Kosovo due to the military intervention of NATO, while the international KFOR troops of NATO - according to the report - took a long time to take control. Because the NATO military intervention, which was not authorized by the UN Security Council and therefore viewed by various sides as illegal under international law , was essentially carried out as an air war by bombing Kosovo and the rest of Serbia, the KLA de facto had the role of NATO allies and effective on the ground Gained control of Kosovo and some northern Albanian border regions. This UÇK rule was not, however, a constructive and state-like exercise of power. In this context, numerous crimes were committed against Serbs who remained in the region as well as against Kosovar Albanians who were suspected of being “traitors” or “ collaborators ” or who were victims of internal KLA rivalries. Most of these crimes went unpunished. The international forces had cooperated with the KLA as the local authority for military operations and the restoration of order. As a result of this situation, certain crimes have actually been hidden and gone with impunity, committed by KLA members, including some top KLA officials. Since the arrival of the KFOR troops in Kosovo (also after the withdrawal of the Serbian-Yugoslav security forces) around 470 missing persons have disappeared, of whom 375 are non-Albanians, mainly Serbs. 95 on the other hand are Kosovar Albanians, although the number of unreported cases is still to be expected, since "many Kosovar Albanian families who lost a relative after June 12, 1999 allegedly declared an earlier date before this" deadline "for their disappearance" fear that their relatives might be considered “traitors” who were punished as such by the KLA. Significantly, the law on compensation for the families of “martyrs” in Kosovo specifically excludes those who died after the arrival of KFOR. The Kosovar authorities would also take the position that the law on compensation for the families of missing persons should only cover the disappearance of persons between January 1, 1999 and June 12, 1999 (i.e. again before the arrival of the KFOR troops). This matter is an absolutely taboo subject that seriously inhibits the establishment of the truth. The "hunt" for so-called "traitors" had often overshadowed the bloody feuds between the KLA factions and served to cover up crimes committed by members and partners of the KLA. Efforts to determine the fate of the missing would suffer from a clear lack of cooperation between various international authorities with the Kosovar and even more with the competent authorities in Albania. While Serbia had cooperated in efforts to suspect mass graves after initial doubts, such investigative steps within the area of Kosovo had turned out to be far more complicated and remained impossible on the territory of Albania. In particular, there was no cooperation between the Kosovo authorities in relation to the 470 cases of those missing after the end of the war. The lack of cooperation in the determination of the fate of Serbs and even of Kosovar Albanians who are believed to have fallen victim to crimes of the KLA by authorities from Kosovo and Albania raises serious doubts about the political will to establish the truth about such events.
The report of the Council of Europe also incriminates the Albanian secret service, which has cooperated with the KLA. The Albanian government, which had tolerated secret UÇK camps on its territory, in which organs had also been removed, also refused to undertake a "serious and independent investigation" and "unreserved cooperation" with EULEX Kosovo and the Serbian authorities. However, cooperation with the Albanian government is essential because the alleged KLA crimes were committed on Albanian territory, where there are presumably mass graves of Serb victims and where at least six KLA camps existed where Serb prisoners were held.
Marty also claims that Western governments were aware of the crimes, but ignored them and therefore made themselves complicit. The FBI, CIA and five European drug enforcement agencies are said to have "already known in the 1990s that Thaci was connected to the drug trade" (RIA Novosti). In addition to NATO, the intelligence services of at least four countries had been well informed for years about the criminal activities of the KLA and Hashim Thaçi's involvement in them, namely the German BND, the Italian SISMI , the British MI6 and the Greek EYP . But although the results are said to have been known internationally to Marty's secret services and governments, no one was held accountable for political reasons of “stability”. The international authorities responsible for the region had ignored the concrete evidence of KLA crimes that had existed since the beginning of the first decade of the 21st century, or had only investigated them incompletely and superficially. This made it possible for the UÇK to use the UN protectorate of Kosovo as a "hub for drug, arms and human trafficking" (Spiegel). The report accuses Kosovo-based international organizations of "implicit complicity" (NZZ). The international organizations in Kosovo had for their pragmatic policy of "short-term stability at any price sacrificed some important principles of the judiciary" and for a long time neglected the taking of evidence in connection with crimes of the KLA against the Serbian population and certain Kosovar Albanians. The war was too rigid "was reduced to the shadowy idea of a Serbian perpetrator and an innocent Kosovar-Albanian victim - regardless of a far more complex reality" (NZZ). At a press conference, Marty stated that "crimes have been committed that (...) have gone unpunished". Allegations of criminal acts and human rights violations were known: "This was admitted in private conversations," said Marty, "but for political reasons they preferred to remain silent."
- Yellow House as a site of prisoner selection for organ trafficking: The Council of Europe report assumes, based on testimony, that the Yellow House near Burrel within a northern Albanian network was occupied and controlled by the KLA. He describes it as a makeshift prison where prisoners were taken and held. According to sources close to the UÇK, these include a large number of women and girls who were sexually exploited there by UÇK soldiers and some of the villagers. A small number of the UÇK prisoners are said to have died in or around the Yellow House. The prisoners are said to have been abducted from July 1999 to mid-2000, mostly from southern Kosovo, and - in contrast to those held in Kukës - were primarily of Serbian ethnicity. In contrast to the suspicions in Del Ponte Buch, the Council of Europe report comes to the conclusion that the Yellow House was not the scene of organ harvesting. The captured Serbs were brought there after the Katuci family moved out and the UÇK took possession of it. Like other ad hoc prisons , the house primarily served as a stopover for the selection of candidates for organ harvesting. For this purpose, medical checks and blood tests were carried out in the Yellow House, whereupon a "handful" of prisoners who had been singled out for organ removal were finally transported from the Yellow House to the organ clinic in Fushë-Kruja. "Its exact function and its significance for the overall operation may have been misunderstood earlier," Marty finally judged about the function of the Yellow House in relation to the memoirs of Carla Del Ponte and their sources.
- Fushë-Kruja as a place for organ removal: As one of the crime scenes for organ removal from a “handful” of prisoners, the Council of Europe report named a two-story house on a farm near the central Albanian town of Fushë-Kruja as an “improvised clinic” not far from the airport the Albanian capital Tirana. In contrast to other UÇK prisoners, these victims were well nourished and treated relatively well, for example by being comparatively well nourished and getting enough sleep. The prisoners abducted by the KLA are said to have included not only ethnic Serbs, but also Kosovar Albanians who were classified as collaborators with the Serbs or who were disliked for other reasons. The victims were shot in the house of an Albanian who was closely associated with the KLA leadership before they were taken to an operating room where their organs were removed. The operations did not take place on living bodies, as reported by journalists in Del Ponte's book. After they were shot and dismantled by surgeons, their organs were taken to the airport in nearby Tirana. According to unconfirmed reports, the organ removers are said to have been in Israel or Turkey . The organ trade was only one of the various sources of income for the "Drenica Group" (up to 100,000 or 200,000 euros per kidney are said to be paid on the international market), but the UÇK leaders are said to have enriched themselves personally in the organ business.
In his report, Marty also refers to recent reports from Kosovo that illegal organ trafficking was going on in Kosovo until the time the report was published. It was only in October 2010 that it became known that seven people had been charged with organ trafficking in Kosovo (Medicus case).
According to available witness statements, the Prime Ministers of Kosovo, Hashim Thaçi and Agim Çeku , as well as the Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha are accused of having known directly about the incidents or of even having personally visited the yellow house .
Reaction from Hashim Thaçis and the PDK
On December 14, 2010, the Serbian radio station B92 , which according to its own information already had the Council of Europe report at that time, announced the publication of the report for December 16 and disclosed details of its content, such as the alleged conduct of one in the Organ trafficking entangled organization by the Kosovar Prime Minister Hashim Thaçi. The content of the Council of Europe report with the allegations that the Kosovar Prime Minister Hashim Thaçi was head of a mafia-like organization at the end of the 1990s and was involved in organ trafficking, contract killings and other crimes, among other things, became known on December 14, 2010. This took place two days after Hashim Thaçi's re-election as Prime Minister of Kosovo, in which the opposition spoke of massive electoral fraud. known. Thaçi had just become the winner of the first election since the unilaterally declared independence of the Serbian province from Serbia.
Shortly after Marty's Council of Europe report was published in December 2010, Thaçi threatened all of Marty's Albanian interlocutors. Thaçi said he had evidence of who helped Marty to obtain the information and one day he would publish this evidence: "Many will be ashamed." Thaçi announced legal action against Marty compared Marty's report with Joseph Goebbels ' propaganda and named him Racist tinted “pamphlet”, which is an insult to the entire “Albanian people” and aims to “criminalize the freedom struggle against the Serbian policy of oppression”. Opposite the daily newspaper Die Presse and advised Thaçi Marty to find “a team of good lawyers”. In fact, Thaçi, against whom no investigation was opened, subsequently refrained from filing a lawsuit against Marty and finally acted statesmanlike. Agency reports also reported that Thaçi was considering suing The Guardian , which first made the report public.
Thaçi rejected the allegations in the report of the Council of Europe as baseless and spoke of an "invention". The allegations have been investigated three times, by the Hague Tribunal (ICTY), by UNMIK and most recently by EULEX Kosovo. But no confirmatory evidence could be found: "All of his allegations are based only on hearsay." Thaçi claimed that the report was instead based on "political reasons": "This is a political report that is not based on any facts." Marty intended with his Accusations of “dragging two independent states in the dirt” (NZZ), “Kosovo and Albania” (Thaçi): “Dick Marty's report is unfounded and is an anti-Kosovo report.” The report also attacks the USA, the EU Countries and the UN for their role after the war in Kosovo. Marty wanted to counter the declaration of independence of Kosovo: "Dick Marty was always against the freedom of Kosovo and against the NATO air raids on Serbia in 1999." "Marty", so the NZZ Thaçi again, "raise the allegations to the image of the To damage the state of Kosovo and all Albanians in the region and to hinder the process of international recognition of Kosovo. And he is trying to prevent the formation of a new government in Kosovo after the recent elections. ”Thaçi told the AP news agency on December 21, 2010 that he had nothing to hide. He wanted to “clear the fog around the allegations raised in a report by the Council of Europe. The Kosovo authorities are ready to cooperate openly ”(NZZ).
Thaçi's party, the PDK , declared the allegations in the Council of Europe report on December 14, 2010 as “lies” based on “unproven and fabricated facts”, with which the report intended to harm the UÇK and its leadership. The party responded by announcing that it would "take all possible and necessary steps to address Marty's lies, including legal action."
The PDK top politician Xhavit Haliti, a close confidante of Thaçi and former head of logistics of the UÇK, massively criticized Marty's Council of Europe report. According to NATO intelligence reports, in addition to his role as a leading politician, Xhavit Haliti is also a leading figure in organized crime with considerable influence over Thaçi. Haliti has close ties to the Albanian mafia and the Kosovar secret service KShiK .
Response of the political leadership in Albania
In Albania, high-ranking politicians described Marty as a “charlatan” who “is in the service of the Russian-Serbian alliance and has always been against the independence of Kosovo” (SZ). Prime Minister Sali Berisha called Marty an anti-Albanian " racist " who had already opposed NATO military intervention and later against the independence of Kosovo. However, Albania is ready to allow an investigation by EULEX, although the EULEX mandate is limited to Kosovo. The investigators of the Hague Tribunal (ICTY) would also be welcome, although Albania is not in their area of competence. The Albanian President Bamir Topi accused Marty of making charges based on hearsay and without evidence that came from the "old kitchen of ultra-nationalist circles". The sole purpose of the report was to slander "Albania, the Albanian nation and their identity". The slander had been investigated several times, had repeatedly turned out to be unfounded and would endanger the peace and stability of the entire region. The Albanian Public Prosecutor Ina Rama said there was no evidence of the existence of a transplant center in Fushe-Kruja or anywhere else in Albania. The accusation that Albania is blocking investigations is groundless. Carla Del Ponte, on the other hand, told Swissinfo that the Albanian government had banned investigations.
According to the UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Arbitrary and Mass Executions, Philip Alston, all Albanian government officials described the allegations as "ridiculous" while the Council of Europe's investigations were still ongoing. However, the Albanian government has not supported the efforts so far (as of February 2010) to clarify the allegations. In February 2010 the UN asked Albania to allow an independent investigation into the alleged trafficking in organs of Serbian prisoners in the late 1990s. Alston accused the Albanian authorities of creating "formal obstacles", engaging in a "bureaucratic and diplomatic ping-pong game" and ultimately "stalling" the matter. Although Albania is willing to allow investigations, it is blocking it in practice. The Albanian government has so far not complied with any investigation efforts and is holding up an investigation into reports that Serbs captured during the Kosovo war were "slaughtered" for the purpose of organ harvesting (BBC News). The Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha dismissed the allegations as fiction and said that they had already been investigated.
According to the Serbian War Crimes Public Prosecutor's Office, more than 130 testimonies had been gathered about the illegal organ trade for the period from 1998 to 1999, according to which ethnic Albanians had killed up to 500 Serbs in order to sell their organs abroad. After the publication of the report of the Council of Europe, it was reported that Serbia was planning a diplomatic offensive in order to achieve an international investigation in Albania. It was again pointed out that the Serbian public prosecutor had 130 testimony from Serbs who had survived the KLA camps. The Serbian newspaper Politika accused Berisha of being involved in the illegal arms trade.
Reaction of the owners and residents of the Yellow House
The family who owned the Yellow House , the Brama family, sued Dick Marty in a Tirana court in March 2011 for defamation. Marty stated that he never mentioned the family name (Brama) in his report or in interviews. However, the family's name had appeared in the press several times. The lawsuit was dismissed.
In the reports on the allegations of organ trafficking, the family name Katuci was also mentioned for the owners of the Yellow House . When asked about the UN experts who examined the house in 2004, a member of the family living in the house, Mersin Katuci, said for a ZDF report from 2011: “These are Serbian agents, criminals.” Abdulla Katuci, who in The press was also called the owner, told an AP journalist that no Kosovar, neither Serbs nor Albanians, had ever set foot on his property .
Response from EULEX Kosovo
EULEX Kosovo denied the allegations in the report that EULEX Kosovo had taken into account the political functions of potential or suspected criminals in its investigations: "We are already investigating and pursuing numerous cases connected with war crimes and organized crime." on the arrest of five suspects in the Medicus Clinic in Pristina in October 2010, about whom hearings in the proceedings in Pristina had been ongoing since December 15.
For EULEX, according to the time in January 2011, “the case is not one of the priorities, it is believed that the investigations by the authorities in the» yellow house «so far have not been sufficient for the start of proceedings.” EULEX Kosovo urged Marty in a written statement by EULEX spokeswoman Karin Limdal to provide evidence for the allegations of the Council of Europe report: "Anyone who has concrete evidence for the allegations in the report should please forward them to the competent authorities." About references to a connection between the The authorities did not dispose of the crimes reported by Marty and the Medicus case. However, EULEX has not yet investigated in Fushë-Kruja.
Investigations by EULEX from 2011 and other events
When the Legal Affairs Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) "unanimously adopted" the report of the Council of Europe on December 16, 2010, the Council of Europe announced that MEPs were calling for "a series of international and national inquiries". The Council of Europe resolution states that there is “a lot of concrete and matching evidence” that the KLA detained and abused Serbs and Kosovar Albanians before they disappeared. The press release said: “Numerous pieces of evidence seem to confirm that in the period immediately after the end of the armed conflict, organs were removed from some prisoners in a clinic on Albanian territory near Fushe-Kruje in order to be taken abroad for transplantation purposes become". The Council of Europe Committee also made serious allegations against the international organizations in Kosovo. According to the MEPs, these have promoted “short-term stability at any price” in the troubled region and “sacrificed some important principles of justice”.
After the Council of Europe report made the allegations of organ trafficking known, Carla del Ponte called for international investigations. But she stressed on December 16, 2010 that the legal steps should not take place in Kosovo or Albania: "They have already said that everyone is innocent". EULEX Kosovo is a candidate for the investigation to review the allegations, but it would have to be equipped accordingly.
Vincent Degert, who has headed the EU delegation in Belgrade since October 2011 , said that the EU takes Marty's allegations very seriously that it is now up to EULEX to check their validity.
In January 2011, PACE approved a special resolution on Marty's Council of Europe report and called on the “international community” to investigate the allegations in the Martys report and to conduct further investigations into the alleged illegal organ trafficking in Kosovo by the EU police and police To conduct Justice Mission in Kosovo ( EULEX Kosovo ). On January 25, 2011, Marty's Council of Europe report was adopted as an official document by PACE. The press release of the European Parliament announces the consequences decided by the PACE after the deliberations on January 25, 2011, which the Council of Europe should draw from the report: "The Assembly [...] called for further investigations into the evidence of secret information from the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA). controlled detention centers and the disappearance of people in connection with the Kosovo war and the "so often lamented collusion between organized criminal groups and political circles". She called for a clear assignment of mandates for EULEX, the European Union's rule of law mission in Kosovo, as well as the granting of the resources and high-level political support it needs to carry out its "extremely complex and important task". The assembly particularly emphasized the need for effective witness protection programs. "
In January 2011, a NATO document also reached some western media, according to which the former KLA leader Hashim Thaçi is described in military dispatches as one of the "biggest fish" of organized crime in Kosovo. His close confidante Xhavit Haliti, the PDK's top politician and former head of logistics at the UÇK, is said to have had connections with the Albanian mafia and was involved in the arms and drug trade. Secret NATO documents released by the Guardian state that the US and other Western countries that supported the Kosovar government have had extensive knowledge of the criminal ties of Thaci and other members of the KLA for years. NATO said the documents leaked to the media were intelligence intelligence acquired around 2004. When Dick Marty presented the report to the Council of Europe on January 25, 2011, numerous new and old allegations against Hashim Thaçi were made in the media, which go back to the time of the talks on the Rambouillet Treaty . It was recalled that, according to the BND , Thaçi was said to have been the “liaison between organized crime and the political scene” (n-tv), that the “former Stalinist ” (n-tv) Thaçi murdered opponents from the separatists' own camp, according to the New York Times and that the more recent allegations by Del Ponte and the Council of Europe report Martys would reinforce the older allegations of links between the now liberal MEP Thaçi and organized crime. Even Human Rights Watch raised the demand that the investigation should now by an independent prosecutor be performed. The "international community" is also obliged to protect the witnesses.
Also on January 25, 2011, Russian state television broadcaster Russia Today reported that while it was nearly impossible to find live victims of the crimes, Dick Marty's group had found the closest evidence by backtracking money. The reporter Vuk Cvijić from the Serbian newspaper Blic stated that the UÇK had accounts in Swiss and German banks. It is believed that some alleged humanitarian organizations such as Aid for Kosovo have opened the accounts. According to Cvijić, it is suspected that bank accounts were opened in Switzerland, Albania, Germany and some other European countries for the purpose of depositing money from illegal organ trafficking in Kosovo and Albania and of covering criminal activities. According to the Blic report from December 2012, both the Serbian Special Prosecutor for War Crimes and the US Federal Police FBI, which started investigations into the financing of extreme Islamic groups after the attacks of September 11, 2001 , came across the trail of bank accounts. Marty also assumed in the Council of Europe report that the alleged mafia network around Prime Minister Thaçi had financial sources abroad. Members of the "Drenica Group" would have brought funds that had originally been provided by the Kosovar-Albanian diaspora for the secession fight of the KLA. These funds were stored in bank accounts in Switzerland and Germany, among other places. According to the Council of Europe report , the financial resources for the "Drenica Group" had "increased dramatically " with the establishment of the UÇK fund Atdheu Thërret ("The Fatherland Calls"). According to the 1999 state security report by the Swiss Federal Police , Switzerland served Albanian "resistance fighters" as a "logistics base and financing base" in the Kosovo conflict from the end of 1998 to June 1999. Kosovo Albanian organizations in Switzerland were repeatedly suspected of serving to finance war transactions. In July 1998, for example, CHF 1.2 million from the Vendlindja Thërret association was confiscated by the Swiss federal prosecutor's office and later transferred to a newly established foundation for “aid projects” in Kosovo.
At the end of January 2011, it was finally reported that EULEX Kosovo had agreed to investigate allegations of illegal organ trafficking by KLA members and that the EU public prosecutors had initiated an initial investigation. The daily newspaper Die Welt presented it differently after the Medicus trial, which was concluded in April 2013, in which the judge Dean Pineles had severely criticized the Council of Europe and Dick Marty for rejecting the request of the prosecution in Pristina with reference to immunity , Marty may testify as a witness. While Marty had already expressly emphasized after the publication of his final report in January 2011 that he saw himself with his investigation as a "denunciator" but not as an "investigating judge", the world wrote that the Council of Europe report was being questioned by the EU and was an independent one Commission of Inquiry currently investigating Marty's allegations. The chief investigator expects the investigations to be completed and the results presented by 2014. Prosecutor Williamson said in April 2013 that more than a hundred witnesses had already been heard.
In April 2011, NDR Info reported on a secret UN document that reiterated the allegations against the UÇK. UNMIK documents from 2003 name the places of Prizren , Suhareka (Serbian: Suva Reka) and Rahovec (Serbian: Orahovac) as starting points for the illegal prisoner transports in 1999 and 2000 . The German Bundeswehr contingent of the NATO force KFOR was responsible for checking these places and the border crossing from them to Albania .
In June 2011, EULEX Kosovo announced that it would investigate the allegations raised in Marty's report.
In July 2011, the ZDF report “Bloody Business - On the Traces of Organ Trafficking in Kosovo” was broadcast for the first time. Twelve years after the end of the Kosovo war, it took up the growing suspicion that war crimes involving organ trafficking took place in Kosovo in the summer of 1999 who have never been cleared up. The report draws connections to the Medicus Clinic in Pristina, which is financed by a German, and, with the help of expert opinions, raises the possibility that an international organ trafficking ring from the Kosovo war to the present (as of 2011) trades in human kidneys in the Balkan region .
SITF investigations from 2011 and other events
Since autumn 2011, the EU rule of law mission has been investigating with its own investigation team headed by the American John Clint Williamson . Head of the EU Special Investigative Task Force (SITF) formed from September 2011 . took over Williamson in October 2011.
Williamson co-authored the indictment against Serbian President Slobodan Milošević at the end of the 1990s, which is why he can hardly be denied and denigrated as “friendly to Serbs”. The Williamson investigative apparatus is not in Kosovo, but in Brussels . Until January 2012, Williamson himself only traveled once to Serbia, Kosovo and Albania. For more than two years, Williamson investigated in Kosovo, Serbia, Albania and Macedonia. From research circles it was said that Williamson had found witnesses to war crimes of the KLA in at least two Balkan states by 2014. Compared to the US magazine New Yorker said Williamson, it was difficult to find evidence of organ trafficking.
Russia's Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov announced in January 2012 that it would support “the investigation into the participation of the Kosovar authorities in the illegal organ trade” (RIA Novosti). Vladimir Markin of the Russian Investigation Committee emphasized that Russia had testimony from two Russians who were victims of illegal transplants in 2008. The Russian news agency RIA Novosti wrote that the Russian involvement in the search for witnesses lifts the case from the European level (EU investigation) to the international level and is "urgently needed" because witnesses can hardly be found in Kosovo and it is Russian nationals are among the victims.
In May 2012 the Albanian Parliament approved a law that allows EULEX to conduct investigative activities in Albania.
In September 2012, the Serbian TV broadcaster B92 announced that the Serbian authorities, represented by the head of the Serbian National Council for Cooperation with the ICTY, Rasim Ljajic, and the chief prosecutor of the Hague Tribunal (ICTY), Serge Brammertz, were investigating the cases want to discuss organ trafficking in Kosovo in the late 1990s. The Serbian public prosecutor's office found a witness who personally carried out illegal organ transplants in Kosovo during the Kosovo conflict. Ljajic reasoned: "Some countries are not interested in an investigation into this matter and we can only counter this if we provide serious evidence and arguments". According to the Serbian public prosecutor's office, the protected witness is a former UÇK fighter who, in the late 1990s, removed the heart of a Serbian prisoner near the town of Kukës , who, according to the witness, went to an airport near the Albanian capital Tirana to be sold on the black market. On September 10, 2012, the day on which Kosovo received full international sovereignty, the Serbian state TV broadcaster RTS broadcast a detailed report by the witness, who had been reported the day before by the Belgrade prosecutor in charge of prosecuting war crimes, Vladimir Vukčević had been announced as a "key witness". The witness, filmed unrecognizable during his testimony, describes in a technically distorted voice in Albanian a scenario in which he cut open the chest of a living prisoner and exposed the heart, which was then placed in a cool box and, to his knowledge, later at Tirana airport had been handed over to a buyer. The filmed testimony of the witness was commented on on the program by the author of the program, Miloš Milić, in an interview with the deputy prosecutor for war crimes, Bruno Vekarić. "In the case, both the Serbian authorities and the EU mission in Kosovo [EULEX Kosovo] are investigating" (RIA Novosti). It was reported that John Clint Williamson, chief prosecutor of the special investigation team that is investigating the case under the auspices of EULEX Kosovo, had been briefed two months earlier of the testimony of the new witness. Williamson's office, on the other hand, was irritated by the “sudden” ( FR ) presentation of a key witness on Serbian television and announced that the Serbian public prosecutor's office would be asked to access the alleged accomplice. Doctors reported doubts about organ removal without operating conditions. The US special investigator Williamson announced that it would check the credibility of the witness in Belgrade.
In May 2013, UÇK veterans hosted the arrest of five suspected UÇK war criminals who were accused by EULEX Kosovo of mistreating civilians in a UÇK prison camp in Likovac (Likovc) in Kosovo in the late 1990s public protests in Pristina.
In January 2014, Serbian media reported that diplomatic sources in Brussels had told Tanjug that the EULEX special team investigating Dick Marty's organ trafficking allegations would continue to work if the investigation was not completed by June 2014. The report from Special Investigator John Clint Williamson will be awaited and then a decision will be made on how to proceed. The EULEX mandate for investigating war crimes, which expired in June, continues to apply. Reports from Pristina that the EU is preparing to hand over all investigations into war crimes and organized crime to the Pristina judiciary have been denied. The Russian State Broadcasting Service, Voice of Russia , reported on January 15, 2014 that, according to the newspaper "Express" (Pristina), the special investigative group EULEX led by John Clint Williamson was investigating organ trafficking cases in Kosovo in the late 1990s and early 2000s Years have ended. The EULEX has not discovered a place where the remains of the kidnapped Serbs were buried. The first charges should be brought in the first half of 2014. Specific names were not given. In contrast, on January 15, 2014, the Serbian national press agency, Tanjug , reported that, according to Joao Sousa, spokesman for special investigator John Clint Williamson, the EULEX Special Investigative Task Force had not yet investigated the allegations contained in Dick Marty's special investigation report of the Council of Europe have finished. Sousa said it was too early to predict when the investigation would be completed. He said he declined to comment on the report from "Express" (Pristina) that the investigation had ended and charges would follow, including some of Kosovar's closest partners, Hashim Thaçi.
On February 13, 2014, in an interview with Euronews reporter Isabelle Kumar, when asked whether he could irrevocably declare that no member of the KLA was involved in organ harvesting , Hashim Thaçi said he was certain that this had not happened . He had first heard of these allegations from Dick Marty's report on the Council of Europe and could “never ever believe that a freedom fighter could do something like that”. It is a "science fiction story" that "nobody" can believe. When asked whether, in view of his nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize (together with Serbian Prime Minister Ivica Dačić and EU Foreign Affairs Representative Catherine Ashton ), in stark contrast to the ongoing criminal investigations against him, he believed that he had deserved this nomination on the grounds that it had signed all the Kosovo agreements with the international community that would have led to peace and freedom.
SITF opinion of 29 July 2014
On July 29, 2014, SITF chief investigator Williamson presented the results of his investigation in Brussels. According to his opinion, the SITF Special Investigative Group on behalf of the EU came to the conclusion that several former high-ranking leaders were involved in the investigation of allegations against the KLA, which had been in the room for years of systematic organ trafficking in the Kosovo conflict in 1998 and 1999 UÇK should answer for crimes against humanity and organ trafficking in an international court. Williamson said the SITF's three-year investigation largely coincided with the 2010/11 report by Council of Europe MEP Dick Marty, in which Marty had also accused Kosovo's previous Prime Minister, Hashim Thaçi, of being a rebel leader in the kidnapping of Serbs.
According to Williamson, in up to ten cases there is "conclusive evidence" that prisoners were killed in order to harvest organs and sell them. Williamson stressed that the organ removal was the act of individual KLA members who had sought "political power and personal wealth for themselves". The suspicions that hundreds of missing or killed members of ethnic minorities fell victim to the Kosovar organ traffickers, however, could not be confirmed, but the investigators would continue to search for evidence of possible illegal organ trafficking. According to Williamson, thousands of documents were evaluated and hundreds of witnesses interviewed for the investigation. A major problem was the intimidation of witnesses, which continues. As soon as there is an opportunity to conduct an independent and transparent process that also guarantees the highest level of witness protection, charges could be brought. Williamson warned verbatim in connection with the abuses of witness protection in Kosovo: "If some powerful people continue to try to thwart the investigation of their criminal activities, the whole population of Kosovo will suffer because it will cast a shadow on the country." The EU and the government in Pristina still had to agree on the establishment of a special court.
Williamson said reports of other UÇK human rights abuses have been largely confirmed. These former members of the KLA were "responsible for the persecution of ethnic Serbs, Roma and other minorities in Kosovo, as well as against Kosovar Albanians who they accused of collaborating with the Serbs or, more often, who were political opponents of the KLA leadership". Williamson said these results should come as no surprise as they are consistent with the OSCE report “Kosovo - As Seen As Told, Volume II” and the Human Rights Watch report “Abuses Against Serbs and Roma in the New Kosovo”. However, it is now the first time that the allegations in these reports, as well as those in the Marty report, have been subjected to prosecution in connection with Kosovo-wide investigations. According to Williamson, information gathered by SITF showed that "certain elements of the KLA" had targeted crimes against members of the ethnic minorities and the Albanian opposition in 1998 and 1999, including "unlawful killings, kidnappings, evictions, and illegal detention in camps in Kosovo in Albania, sexual violence and other forms of inhumane treatment ”. Therefore, charges of crimes against humanity and war crimes are justified. Ultimately, it was about “ ethnic cleansing ” of large parts of the Serbs and Roma population from the areas south of the Ibar River, with the exception of a few scattered minority enclaves. The SITF is convinced that these crimes were not the acts of individual perpetrators, but that they were organized and committed with the support of certain people in the highest management levels of the KLA.
SITF chief prosecutor Williamson did not name the suspects in his statement. A number of KLA leaders switched to politics in the country after the 1999 Kosovo war.
Judicial prosecution
In autumn 2011 the EU (EULEX) commissioned the experienced US prosecutor Clint Williamson to initiate a new investigation after the failure of the UN mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) and the Hague Yugoslavia Tribunal (ICTY). The EULEX results of the two-year investigations under Williamson expected for June 2014 should serve as the basis for the trials planned from 2015 before a new tribunal to be formed.
According to media reports, it was considered likely that the allegations of large-scale human rights violations will have far-reaching implications for the future of Kosovo and embarrass the US and Western governments, which were passionate about supporting the KLA leadership during the war would.
Extension of EULEX and plans to set up a war crimes tribunal
EU plans to set up a tribunal
At the beginning of April 2014, reports were made of the European Union's plans to set up an international tribunal to investigate crimes in Kosovo committed by insurgents of ethnic Albanian ethnic groups during the Kosovar war.
The plans to create an independent court were seen as an admission of the West's failure to hold its ethnic Albanian allies accountable for crimes they committed. Although the insurgents enjoyed NATO's support in the Kosovo war and the West had consistently worked to ensure that Kosovo emerged from the Kosovo conflict as an independent state, the ethnic Albanians had also come under increasing pressure from the international community to set off their own war crimes, including alleged or suspected organ removal. The court should be set up and funded by the EU and is assisted by the United Nations. It is supposed to investigate both the organ removal allegations against the UÇK insurgents and the disappearance of around 400 mostly Kosovar-Serb people at the end of the Kosovo war. The two-year investigation led by US Attorney Williamson, which was scheduled to conclude in mid-June 2014, was to serve as the basis for all charges to be brought before the court.
A senior EU official said the proposed court is expected to start proceedings in 2015. However, the rules and scope of the tribunal would still be discussed with the Kosovo authorities. Symbolically, the court should have its seat in Kosovo, but the main proceedings, such as the witness hearings, would take place in the Netherlands. The EU official spoke to the news agencies on condition of anonymity, as the "deal" still had to be confirmed by the Kosovar parliament . He said the procedures needed to be done. In addition, they would have to take place abroad if they were to have any chance of being credible.
The US Ambassador to Kosovo, Tracey Jacobson , insisted on April 4, 2014 that the judicial authority to be established must be a Kosovar and not an international court, as the term “international court” implies an external mechanism created without Kosovo's say. On the other hand, EU member states such as Spain have shown reluctance to endorse a court that would recognize Kosovo as a state and enforce its laws, since they rejected the secession of Kosovo from Serbia.
Deputy Public Prosecutor for War Crimes in Serbia, Bruno Vekarić, described the formation of the planned tribunal as "a support for the victims and their families" and said: "This is important to achieve justice and reconciliation in the region."
Fred Abrahams (Frederick Cronig Abrahams), a special adviser to Human Rights Watch (HRW) who investigated human rights abuses in Kosovo, was the project coordinator of the HRW anthology "Under Orders - War Crimes in Kosovo" from 2001 and not only as a witness in 2002 Indictment in the trial against Slobodan Milošević had appeared before the Hague Tribunal, but carried out investigations for the prosecution from April to June 2000 and in August 2001 as a "research analyst" and submitted analyzes for the Kosovo indictment against Milošević, i.e. had worked on the indictment himself , said of the proposed court that this is important because it could shed light on the fate of hundreds of missing people: "Organ trafficking is a diversion from the main problem," said Abrahams. "The main problem affects more than 400 people, mainly Serbs disappeared after the war. "
The plans to set up the court met with anger from former insurgents, many of whom held senior government posts in Kosovo. Muharrem Xhemajli, the head of the UÇK Veterans Association, called the plans absurd and pointless and criticized: "Our war was supported by the international community, the USA and all freedom-loving peoples and is now being brought to justice."
When the news magazine Der Spiegel asked Hashim Thaçi in July 2015 that even 16 years after the war, Kosovar MPs were unable to vote for a special tribunal with the required two-thirds majority and whether Hashim Thaçi, even the most serious crimes such as contract killings, was drug trafficking , Blackmail, and trafficking in organs of Serbian prisoners of war was accused, Thaçi replied: “The thing with the trafficked organs is pure fantasy. A product of the propaganda of our enemies, who have tried defamation since they lost the war. I believe in the truth and have nothing to fear. ”The special tribunal will“ come ”.
Convocation of the Kosovar Parliament
On April 18, 2014, the Kosovar ruling party PDK and thus the leadership of the former KLA, after long hesitation and tough internal disputes, finally had to give in to international pressure from the USA and the EU and the decision of the Kosovar parliament on the establishment of a special court for war crimes in Kosovo -Albans during and after the Kosovo war from 1998 to 1999. The Kosovar Foreign Minister and Vice-President of the PDK, Enver Hoxhaj, said that the discussion about the alleged organ trafficking had seriously damaged Kosovo's foreign policy. After months of negotiations between the EU and the Kosovo government about a special tribunal for war crimes, Kosovar Prime Minister Hashim Thaçi gave in to the urging of the European Union and convened parliament to vote on a war crimes tribunal that would resolve the allegation of organ trafficking from the Council of Europe report of 2011 should investigate, in which Thaçi himself and other active politicians in Kosovo are suspected. At the same time, Thaçi, who had shown himself to be open to investigations when Dick Marty's 2011 Council of Europe report was published and said he had nothing to hide, described the establishment of a special tribunal now that the investigation was about to be concluded as an injustice and insult to the victims and the struggle for freedom of the Kosovar people. Thaçi said in parliament that the KLA had waged a "clean and just war against the Serbian occupier" and was not involved in any war crimes. Despite the unjust and insulting nature of the tribunal, Parliament would respect international standards in order to deepen cooperation with the US and the European Union. As a result, he asked the representatives of the people to vote in parliament for the establishment of the court. After all, according to Thaçi, he will never oppose the US, which made Kosovo's independence possible. After the Kosovar President Atifete Jahjaga had previously campaigned for the tribunal, Thaçi, after initial resistance, agreed that the Kosovar parliament should support the establishment of a special tribunal, which - also on the basis of Williamson's investigations - with international participation on alleged ones The UÇK should judge war crimes. According to media reports, the alternative was “a tribunal imposed by the UN, in which the government of Kosovo had no say” and which Thaçi wanted to avoid.
According to the Kosovar daily Bota Sot, there is now a list of dozens of people who are said to have been involved in organ trafficking during the Kosovo war, including the Kosovar Prime Minister Hashim Thaçi and some of his close colleagues. According to the Kosovar newspaper Expres , the names of 120 leading persons of the then KLA who were responsible for the disappearance of 320 Serbs should be listed in the Williamson dossier. It was eagerly awaited whether the name of the Kosovar Prime Minister Hashim Thaçi, who was brought up by Marty in connection with the organ trafficking allegations, as one of the political leaders of the UÇK in 1998 and 1999 would also be included. The results of Williamson's investigations were also eagerly awaited in the USA, as they could cast a heavy shadow on the UÇK, which at the end of the 1990s tried to split Kosovo from Serbia by force of arms and with which NATO and the USA in 1998 / Had worked closely together in 1999. Kosovar press reports indicated that top politicians Xhavit Haliti , Kadri Veseli and Azem Syla were at the center of the investigation . Xhavit Haliti and Kadri Veseli were leading members of the KLA's secret service at the time.
According to US press reports, Williamson did not find anything in his two-year investigation into organ trafficking, but in relation to other human rights violations committed by KLA members. This should include torture in the KLA prisons in northern Albania and the killings of political opponents such as those of members of the rival organization FARK (Forcat e Armatosura të Republikës së Kosovës), a military formation under the influence of former Prime Minister Bujar Bukoshi .
The formation of the war crimes tribunal, which was supposed to deal with the organ trafficking allegations from 1998 to 1999, was foreseen in an agreement between Kosovo and the European Union, which also refers to the extension of the current EULEX mandate for another two years. The agreement was part of a draft law submitted to the Kosovar parliament by the Kosovar government.
Decision of the Kosovar parliament
On April 23, 2014, the Kosovar parliament approved the agreement between Kosovo and the European Union, which resolved to extend the EU rule of law mission EULEX for another two years and to set up a war crimes tribunal to deal with alleged KLA crimes in Kosovo -War from 1998 to 1999 should deal. The decision to establish the special tribunal for the judicial prosecution of alleged war crimes committed by the Kosovar Albanian side was made in an urgent manner, under strict security measures and in the presence of several Western diplomats. At the same time, however, it was expressly stated that the war crimes tribunal to be formed should rebut the organ trafficking allegations, which the EU-appointed US prosecutor John Clint Williamson was investigating, whose investigations should probably be concluded by June 2014.
The German Foreign Office welcomed the approval of the Kosovar parliament to an extension of the EU rule of law mission EULEX Kosovo. This enables the establishment of a special court to investigate the allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity - including allegations of organ trafficking - from the so-called "Marty Report" of the Council of Europe. A spokesman for the Federal Foreign Office said on April 24th, “The broad approval in parliament is a testimony to the maturity and sense of responsibility of a large majority of those in charge of politics in Kosovo”. Kosovo had "clearly committed itself to the judicial processing of crimes even in highly political cases". The decision is "at the same time a clear sign for the continuation of the close cooperation with the EU in the area of rule of law and security structures as well as for the country's approach to the EU."
In the parliamentary debate, the formation of the war crimes tribunal was supported by four leading parties - the ruling PDK, its smaller partner AKR, as well as the opposition LDK and the AAK . Prime Minister and ex-UÇK commander Hashim Thaçi had announced before the vote that the war crimes tribunal would restore “the country's reputation tainted by unjust allegations”. The war crimes tribunal called for by the West was "unjust", but the "only option" to deal with the allegations, which Thaçi referred to the Marty report from 2010. Although the Kosovar parliament voted with more than the necessary two-thirds majority in favor of the formation of the war crimes tribunal, according to a report by Bahri Cani in the Deutsche Welle , the Kosovar government originally did not want a war crimes tribunal. Accordingly, almost all political parties were against the war crimes tribunal. Thaçi said, however, that there was “no real alternative”, as such a war crimes tribunal would have been established by a decision of the UN Security Council if the Kosovar parliament had not voted in favor. Thaçi called the tribunal unfair, but said in his speech to parliament that the only option was to cooperate with the US and the EU and to establish the tribunal. This was signaled by the representatives of the USA, Great Britain and France in Pristina. The head of the Foundation for Humanitarian Law in Kosovo , Bekim Blakaj, said that the establishment of the new special court had been approved “under incredible pressure from the international community”. Before the vote in parliament, several EU representatives and even US Vice President Joe Biden called on the Kosovar leadership to approve the formation of the war crimes tribunal. Biden had "warmly recommended" the Kosovars in a letter to agree to the establishment of a special court. Dukagjin Gorani, policy expert and former advisor to Prime Minister Thaçi, said the decision under international pressure was further evidence that Kosovo was still "not a sovereign country".
The nationalist movement Vetevendosje spoke out firmly against the war crimes tribunal. Your MP Glauk Konjufca called it a government failure. The former transport minister and former Thaçi employee, Fatmir Limaj , described the new court as "selective", since it should only deal with the war crimes caused by the Kosovar Albanian insurgents.
The human rights activist Blakaj criticized that even 15 years after the war in Kosovo, the institutions in Pristina had shown no interest in investigating allegations of alleged war crimes committed by the KLA during and after the war. In his opinion, the Kosovar prosecutors and judges would not want to deal with the issue. According to Blakaj, the war crimes tribunal is expected to have a second seat in The Hague in addition to its headquarters in Kosovo, as there is insufficient witness protection in Kosovo, although a law had been passed years earlier: “It was never properly implemented. The media, lawyers and civil society have very often put pressure on potential witnesses. They also made the identities of protected witnesses public, ”Blakaj said. This danger led to many witnesses refusing to testify in court. "As a result, we will now have a special court that will be practically under the control of the international community," said Blakaj. Investigators said that the witnesses would not testify in Kosovo, but only in the Netherlands , where a special chamber of the special tribunal is to be set up. Most of the witnesses are apparently already outside Kosovo, some are said to have been given a new identity and could be given a livelihood abroad once the trial is over. Such extensive witness protection programs are seen as the only possibility for the judiciary to achieve success in serious cases of war crimes. According to media reports, the special court should work according to Kosovar laws, which are compliant with EU law. However, the trials are led solely by foreign judges and prosecutors, and local judicial officers are excluded. The new special tribunal is to negotiate Dick Marty's allegations under the direction of US prosecutor John Clint Williamson.
On April 24, the former chief prosecutor of the Hague Tribunal, Carla Del Ponte, gave the media the impression that the new court was in Kosovar hands and had its seat only in Pristina. She was astonished by the decision to set up a new war crimes tribunal and stated that, in her view, no new court was necessary to judge alleged Kosovar war crimes from the late 1990s. In addition, she hardly believes in the new tribunal: “I have to say that I am amazed,” said del Ponte, “I have a number of doubts about it.” Del Ponte pointed out that the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague is already there there was a tribunal that had been working on war crimes in the former Yugoslavia for years. The investigation of possible crimes in Kosovo belongs to its area of responsibility. Del Ponte expressed her surprise that the tribunal that had been decided had its seat in Kosovo. Kosovo never cooperated with the Hague Tribunal in investigating illegal organ trafficking. These investigations have been going on for four years without anything having come of it. Against the representation of Del Pontes and against Del Pontes role in the investigation of the cases, it was objected that the Hague Tribunal under the leadership of Del Pontes had failed after the Kosovo war to find evidence of the organ trafficking by UÇK people and that the few pieces of evidence that UN investigators had collected in Albania in 2004, which were later destroyed in The Hague. Enver Robelli pointed out in an article that Dick Marty had already described this practice as a mistake, since evidence would never be destroyed, especially not if there is no statute of limitations. Robelli also cited Del Pontes' falling out with her former deputy in The Hague, British prosecutor Geoffrey Nice.
Former KLA chief of staff and Minister of Security Forces, Agim Çeku , said that former KLA members would not oppose the investigation of certain crimes. However, he was of the opinion that the formation of a special court was not necessary, since the current Kosovar judiciary could deal with it. He denied media reports that he could be the first to be in the dock as speculation against the state TV broadcaster RTK.
Replacement of the SITF chief prosecutor
In July 2014, SITF Chief Prosecutor Clint Williamson announced in his report that he was stepping down after three years of service, so that the tribunal he hoped to be set up by early 2015 would be headed by a new Chief Prosecutor. Williamson's term of office expired in August 2014. The US lawyer David Schwendiman was appointed as his successor on December 11, 2014.
After the EU nominated Schwendiman as the new SITF chief prosecutor, Human Rights Watch called on the newly formed Kosovar parliament on December 16, 2014 to immediately adopt the legal and constitutional changes necessary for the work of the special tribunal for post-war atrocities.
Medicus case
In the Medicus Clinic , located on the outskirts of the Kosovar capital Priština , illegal transplants of at least 23 kidneys and related human trafficking occurred in 2008. According to other information, the experts in the investigation organized by EULEX have so far been able to prove at least 30 cases of illegal organ removal. Most of the destitute organ donors came from poor areas of Turkey and countries in the post-Soviet space, including Russia , Moldova and Kazakhstan . They were lured to Pristina with false assurances that they would receive amounts of around 10,000 to 12,000 euros for a kidney, but some of them never received the amounts. The majority of the organ recipients were wealthy patients from Israel who paid 80,000 to 100,000 euros for a kidney. The illegal operations came at a time when Kosovo was under the aegis of the UN. Officials from UNMIK, which was replaced by the EULEX mission in 2008, headed all legal protection and judicial bodies.
Clinic, Funding, Ownership and Management
The Medicus Clinic had a special status and was under the auspices of the Kosovar Ministry of Health. She was licensed to operate. According to a ZDF report from 2011, the Medicus Clinic, for which the name “Klinika Gjermane” (“German Clinic”) was advertised, was financed by a German urologist . The German doctor and professor Manfred Beer was registered as the owner of the clinic in the Pristina commercial register. Although the German urologist was the owner of the Medicus clinic, Beer denied having been informed about the illegal organ trade. He only found out after the clinic was closed that transplants were being performed there. According to a report by Der Spiegel from 2012, the opposite can be concluded from emails between him and Lutfi Dervishi, who is his deputy and co-owner of the clinic according to the commercial register. A preliminary investigation against him was stopped in 2011, according to Spiegel, still ignorant of the emails, after a German organ recipient refused to testify. The German financier of the clinic himself had transplanted kidneys in a German clinic a few years earlier. According to the Medicus representative, he invested three million euros in the hospital and also helped to find doctors who could rent operating rooms in the clinic.
Medicus trial: judgment (1st instance)
In October 2010 it became known that seven people had been charged in connection with organ trafficking in Kosovo. The indictments on the organ trafficking case in the Medicus Clinic were submitted on October 15 and 20, 2010. Five people were charged with trafficking in human organs, organized crime and presumptuousness, and two people were charged with illegal medical practice. Among the defendants were a number of doctors as well as a person who had previously worked at the highest level in the Ministry of Health. An international arrest warrant was issued against two other suspects. The two wanted by Interpol for “crimes against life and health, human trafficking, smuggling and illegal immigration” are Yusuf Sönmez and Moshe Harel. The Special Prosecution Office of the Republic of Kosovo (SPRK) requested that the two charges be merged. According to EULEX Kosovo, the Medicus case was initiated by the Kosovo and UNMIK police in November 2008 and the investigation by officers of the EULEX executive police continued under the supervision of the SPRK. EULEX judges were charged with the case.
According to a report, proceedings against seven defendants have been ongoing in Pristina since December 2010. According to further information, a trial has been going on in Pristina since autumn 2011 with the participation of EULEX Kosovo against seven defendants, who are mainly doctors, or against four doctors and a former state secretary, among other things for human trafficking, organized crime and illicit medical practice.
In April 2013, after hearing around 80 testimony from witnesses, the judges' panel, which consists of two EULEX judges and a local judge, sentenced five defendants to a total of 20 years in prison in the first instance. This was the first time that organ traffickers from Kosovo were found guilty by a court.
The former top official of the Kosovar Ministry of Health, Ilir Rrecaj, who had been charged with abuse of office and forgery of documents, received acquittal. During the trial, Rrecaj said that the transplants were performed without a license, but that he was not to blame.
The prosecution allegedly had access to telephone tapping, confiscated hard drives with relevant material and data on monetary payments for their evidence in the case .
Lutfi Dervishi (convicted)
Eight years of the imprisonment pronounced in April fell to the director of the Medicus Clinic, the leading urologist in Kosovo and former professor and director of the University Clinic in Pristina, Lutfi Dervishi. His son, the doctor Arban Dervishi, also spent over seven years. According to the indictment, Lutfi Dervishi was allegedly connected to the highest levels of government in Kosovo and met personally with the Minister of Health and the Prime Minister's advisor. According to a November 2010 report in the New York Times , Lutfi Dervishi came into contact with Yusuf Sönmez at a doctors conference in Istanbul in 2006 and was the head of the organization that carried out organ transplants in the Medicus Clinic in 2008. Lutfi Dervishi worked years after the Medicus Clinic had closed at the University Clinic in Pristina and opened the Uro-Medica Hospital just a few steps away from the old Medicus Clinic , where he continued to perform operations after the Medicus Clinic had closed. As early as 1998, the Serbian newspaper Blic is said to have alleged that eyewitnesses accused Dervishi of having been involved in kidnapping civilians by the KLA in order to later forcibly remove their organs.
Important suspects who, like Dervishi, are seen as “masterminds” ( NZZ ), remain on the run after the verdict from the end of April 2013 (as of September 2014), such as the Turkish surgeon Yusuf Sönmez and the Israeli Moshe Harel.
Yusuf Sönmez (fugitive suspect)
Not Lutfi Dervishi, but Yusuf Sönmez was seen by the prosecutors as a central figure in the illegal trade. Yusuf Sönmez, who years earlier in the media as a “black surgeon”, “Doctor Frankenstein”, “Dr. Vulture ”or“ Yusup ”became known and, according to media reports, has been one of the main players on the black market for transplants since around 2001, has repeatedly come under the spotlight of Turkish authorities over the years because of suspected illegal kidney transplants. Sönmez had already been taken into custody by the Turkish police at the end of the 1990s for illegal organ transplants. In 1998, Turkish television, whose reporters posed as organ donors, found seven patients, mostly from Israel. Sönmez was later banned from working in the Turkish health sector. According to a high-ranking source from government circles in Kosovo, Shaip Muja is said to have done business with Sönmez on his trips to Turkey around the time of the Kosovo war, from which kidney transports from Albania to Istanbul would have developed. There is a connection from this time to the role of Muja in initiating and carrying out the Medicus actions less than ten years later. Also in 2005, Sönmez was arrested by the police during a raid in Istanbul's Bostancı district, identified in a trial as the head of an organ trafficking gang and sentenced to one year imprisonment, which was suspended or which he did not have to serve due to an amnesty . He is said to have been investigated against him in Azerbaijan in 2006 for having carried out illegal kidney transplants in Baku University Hospital . In 2006 Sönmez is said to have made personal contact with Lutfi Dervishi at a doctors conference in Istanbul and to have relocated his activities to Pristina. At the invitation of Lutfi Dervishi, Sönmez worked from then on in the Medicus Clinic. In late April, police in Istanbul stormed a Sönmez-owned clinic, injuring several people in an exchange of fire. Sönmez himself was arrested for the fourth time two years after his conviction in 2005 and sentenced to ten years in prison, but went on appeal. When the police tried to arrest him, they did not find him. After his clinic in Istanbul was closed, Sönmez moved his work to the Medicus clinic in Pristina. When, at the beginning of November 2008, a Turk with a known name collapsed at the customs of Pristina airport and blood was seeping through his clothing, the airport doctor discovered that a kidney had just been removed and the organ donor named the Medicus clinic, which the police then went to Villa moved in and found the Israeli organ recipient. When the police stormed the Medicus Clinic, Sönmez was identified as the operating doctor by both an organ donor and the recipient of the donor kidney. Sönmez escaped arrest and fled back to Turkey. The clinic was closed after the police raid in 2008. At the request of the Kosovo authorities, more precisely the Canadian public prosecutor Jonathan Ratel, Interpol wrote Sönmez to be wanted for "crimes against life and health, human trafficking, smuggling and illegal immigration". On January 11, 2011, he was arrested in connection with the Medicus Clinic and taken to the public prosecutor's office the following day. He was charged with organ trafficking and illegal organ transplants in Azerbaijan and Kosovo, but was released on bail after the first trial on January 12, 2011 . The Istanbul court opened a case against Sönmez on suspicion of organ trafficking, but rejected the prosecutor's request for an arrest warrant. An extradition was refused by Turkey. The Serbian War Crimes Prosecution Authority announced unconfirmed information on September 2, 2014 that Yusuf Sönmez had been sighted in Amsterdam and that this information had been passed on to the EU chief investigator in Kosovo. According to media reports, he was not arrested. The Serbian authorities suspected Yusuf Sönmez of being responsible for trafficking the organs from the "yellow house". They assumed that the same mafia-like structures were behind this as in the case of the Medicus hospital.
Moshe Harel (fugitive suspect)
Moshe Harel, who, as an Israeli of Turkish origin, has both Israeli and Turkish citizenship and who is also investigating Interpol for “crimes against life and health, human trafficking, smuggling and illegal immigration ” (end of April 2013), is charged with the To have organized illegal trade together with Sönmez and Dervishi and to have been responsible for the provision of both the organ donor and the organ recipient. He is regarded as the "main mastermind" and "main back man of the ring" who acted as an intermediary. Most of the mediated victims arrived in Pristina unaccompanied and without knowledge of the national language and were persuaded to sign forged documents. Harel was arrested in 2008 after the police raid in the Medicus clinic in Pristina. Four weeks later, the court allowed him to travel to Turkey for a month for family reasons, but Harel never returned to Kosovo. In May 2012, Harel was arrested in Israel again as the alleged "leading head" of an illegal organ trafficking network in Kosovo by the Israeli authorities on charges of having passed on illegally removed organs in the Medicus Clinic in Pristina until 2008. However, the Israeli authorities released him shortly afterwards, subject to conditions. The Israeli authorities declined to interview a team of reporters. According to rumors , Moshe Harel , who is registered to live near Tel Aviv, is now working with the authorities. In a 2012 report by Claudio von Planta with reporter Juliana Ruhfus, published on Al Jazeera English , speculation is expressed that the Israeli authorities because of the kidney trade saving the lives of many members of the Israeli political and economic elite , unwilling to act in the fight against organ trafficking.
Shaip Muja (witness)
Shaip Muja, Kosovar parliamentarian ( PDK ) and, at the time of the organ trafficking, health advisor to Hashim Thaçi, had also been called as a witness. He was due to give explanations to the court regarding his possible involvement after former Health Minister Alush Gashi testified in court that Muja asked him over lunch why the licensing of the Medicus Clinic was being delayed. As a witness, Muja testified that he had only asked about the status of the license because he wanted to help a family who wanted to be treated in the clinic. The Medicus Clinic did not have a proper license for operations and was not approved to carry out organ transplants. Muja also testified that he had met Yusuf Sönmez, who was introduced to him by Lutfi Dervishi at a wedding party. Muja, who was described in the report of the Council of Europe as a member of the “Drenica Group” of the KLA and as a “key player” of the alleged organ trafficking ring, also with connection to the alleged organ harvesting cases in 1999, vigorously denied any involvement in the organ trafficking ring.
German organ recipient
Among the organ recipients is a German who allegedly paid 82,000 euros and received the kidney of a Jewish woman who emigrated to Israel from Russia. He first flew to Istanbul, from where he and the organ donor were flown in a smaller plane to Pristina with the destination Medicus Clinic. Der Spiegel researched this case and published the story in July 2012.
Investigations in the Medicus Clinic case
According to the Canadian prosecutor Jonathan Ratel, who came to Kosovo in 2010 to work for EULEX Kosovo and who soon afterwards dealt with the illegal organ trade at the Medicus clinic, the illegal organ trade only works because Kosovar doctors and officials cover it. If the investigator Ratel had not “taken hold of” the case of the young Turk, whose collapse at Pristina airport in November 2008 led to the police raid, according to Der Spiegel in 2012 , then “in Kosovo [the] judiciary would probably have looked the other way ". Ratel had put together a team to track the Medicus Clinic's worldwide connections. Ratel emphasized to the Spiegel: "We are very concerned about a number of our witnesses". During the years of investigations between 2008 and 2012, some of the donors have already died. The young Turk, who collapsed at the airport in November, later returned to Turkey, where neither local nor international investigators could find him, so investigators assume that he is no longer alive. The organ donors are lured with false promises and later intimidated: “We also found bondage. It goes so far that they were held captive until the operation took place ”. The promises of remuneration were often not kept after the operation and, as Ratel described graphically, "The victims were literally thrown out again at the airport, like superfluous material after an operation." With the criminal business "one can make downright obscene profits" and it is, according to the warning from Europol, a "rapidly growing" business of criminal gangs. For the mafia system behind organ trafficking, the illegal organ trade is said to be “sometimes more profitable than a drug business” (Steffen Winter, Spiegel).
In December 2012, a film report was published on Al Jazeera English , for which it was shot in Kosovo, Turkey and Israel, and which reports on Yusuf Sönmez and Moshe Harel.
Relation of the Medicus case to the alleged organ harvesting from 1999–2000
Dick Marty is convinced that there is a close and direct connection between the Medicus case and the alleged organ trafficking immediately after the end of the war, which can be demonstrated in particular by matching “prominent Kosovar Albanian and international personalities” who, in both cases, assumed a characteristic conspiratorial function would have. So it is the same group of perpetrators. The names of these people, according to the Council of Europe report, were left out in the report “out of consideration” for the ongoing investigations and the EUMEX judicial proceedings in Kosovo. High-ranking sources in the Kosovar government told the press that it was most likely Shaip Muja and Yusuf Sönmez. These are the two names mentioned independently by a Washington intelligence source that had been monitoring criminal networks, including KLA personalities, since 1999. The source described the two as "the common bond" that connects the activities from 1999 to 2000 with those around the Medicus clinic. The two independent sources of the Guardian report link the cases of Sönmez from 2008 (Medicus Clinic) and from before 2000 (organ harvesting in northern Albania). On the one hand, the Guardian cites “high-ranking people with access to the Kosovar government” and names Shaip Muja, whose involvement in the alleged organ trafficking of 1999 is also addressed in the Martys Council of Europe report. On the other hand, the Guardian cites a "source with a connection to the US secret service in Washington", according to which Sönmez played a central role in the coupling of the Medicus case and the KLA activities in 1999 and 2000. Muja is also mentioned in this source.
In the press it was claimed that organ trafficking was the continuation of organ harvesting: "After the situation in Kosovo had normalized to the point where people could not simply disappear, they continued with the" normal "paid organ trafficking" (Tagesanzeiger). According to the British newspaper The Guardian , the organs of Serbs and Albanians who were captured and killed by the KLA in 1999 were also flown from Tirana to a clinic in Istanbul . According to a news service source based in Washington , the kidneys, which - according to the Council of Europe report - were taken in 1999 by a UÇK faction loyal to Hashim Thaçi from "a handful" of Serbian prisoners after they were shot in the head and then allegedly flown to Istanbul, are given to Yusuf Sönmez sold. It was assumed that Sönmez had established his relationship with Kosovar Albanians at that time, who, in the opinion of the investigators, are related to the Medicus-Klinik case: “In many ways, both are similar processes. In both cases you have illegal formations linking experienced Kosovar Albanian players who trade in the organs of innocent victims and conduct international profiteering in order to benefit from Sönmez's operations ”( Guardian according to an unnamed source).
Criticism and ratings
Criticism of EULEX and sending states
Although since the unilaterally declared independence of Kosovo in 2008 public prosecutors and judges from EU countries have been asked to establish an independent judiciary within the framework of EULEX, nepotism and the close connection between politicians and organized crime are still considered to be the greatest problems in Kosovo, one of the most corrupt countries in Europe is counted. On the corruption index of Transparency International in 2013 and 2014, Kosovo was ranked 111 and 110 respectively, a place far behind Serbia or Bosnia-Herzegovina in the tabular ranking according to the corruption perception index . In 2014, EU judges came to EULEX as the EU's police and judicial mission, which was supposed to support Kosovo in building a “clean” state after the declaration of independence - even under suspicion of corruption and EULEX increasingly lost its reputation.
The inefficiency of EULEX as the first large and expensive police and rule of law mission in the EU is well known. In its 2012 report, the ECA attested the police and judiciary only modest success with the high level of organized crime and corruption in Kosovo. The judiciary continued to suffer from political interference, inefficiency and a lack of transparency and enforcement. According to the ECA, there are also “significant shortcomings” with regard to the protection of important witnesses within Kosovo. The fight against corruption is also having "limited impact" and continues to be "a cause for great concern". Although the complexity and fragmentation of responsibilities increased the risk of corruption, the EU had not addressed this problem at the political level.
A basic problem of EULEX was identified as the fact that EU officials in Kosovo can hardly be called to account because their immunity, unlike in the judicial systems from which they come, is difficult to lift. Similar to the high officials of the UNMIK mission, which ran until 2007 and which had administered Kosovo on behalf of the UN, who were suspected of corruption, the international aid workers, all of whom were protected by immunity, were never charged. According to the criticism, EULEX has the mandate to ensure more rule of law in Kosovo, but the executive mission itself lacks a basic principle of control. According to observers, one of the biggest problems is that the sending states would not treat it as a requirement that judges and prosecutors spend several years in Kosovo in order to be able to close cases after a training period. In most cases, the length of stay in the country is only two to three years, for police officers only one year. Many states also set an upper limit of two to three years for posting.
In April 2014, the media first reported allegations of bribery against EULEX prosecutors and judges in war crimes trials. The Vice-President of the EU Parliament, Ulrike Lunacek , expressed the view that with allegations of corruption in 2014 and in view of the fact that EULEX is the most important mission of the EU, the entire “EU foreign and security policy” is on the agenda Game stand. You yourself have repeatedly pointed out the inefficiency of EULEX.
A lack of education and witness protection problems in Kosovo
Of the 1700 or so missing from the war in Kosovo, around 500 were members of minorities, mainly Serbs and Roma. Former UN chief prosecutor Carla Del Ponte complained in her memoir in 2008 about a "wall of silence" in Kosovar Albanian society. The former KLA commanders, who assumed the leading positions of power in Kosovo after the war, enforced a culture of remembrance that ruled out their own misconduct or war crimes during the armed and, depending on the interpretation, “terrorist” or “resistance” struggle against the repressive government in Belgrade . While Hashim Thaçi praised his time as a “liberation fighter” in the UÇK in the local media, he denied having been at the front in the western media. According to information from international organizations, however, many former UÇK commanders demonstrably exploited Kosovo unrestrainedly.
Widespread intimidation of witnesses and their families posed a particular difficulty in judicial processing in Kosovo. The prosecution of insurgents of Albanian ethnicity was severely impaired both in Kosovo and before the Hague Tribunal in the Netherlands. The Hague Tribunal had already had considerable difficulties in recent years (as of 2014) in finding witnesses in Kosovo who were willing to incriminate former UÇK commanders. Fearing revenge, some witnesses were forced to withdraw their testimony in the courtroom, while others committed suicide or died under mysterious circumstances. Those who testify against their own compatriots are often defamed as traitors in Kosovo. When the EU mission arrested several former KLA leaders in 2013 for alleged atrocities in Kosovo, hundreds of people took to the streets in the small town of Skenderaj (Srbica) and displayed the identity of a "protected" witness on large posters. In the pro-government media in Kosovo, Dick Marty, whose 2011 Council of Europe report raised serious suspicions against Thaçi, was defamed and demonized as a “friend of the Serbs and Russians”. The 2011 Council of Europe report also criticized the fact that witnesses who testify in court about possible crimes are labeled traitors, lose their jobs or are killed. In Pristina only a few found the courage to openly support the efforts of the international community to come to terms with the law. Thaçi's threats one day to reveal the names of Marty's Kosovar Albanian interlocutors are remembered. SITF chief investigator Williamson said in his end-of-tenure report that the investigation had been hampered by ubiquitous intimidation from witnesses and described it as "a dark cloud over the country."
The trials against former UÇK leaders, such as the trial of one of the most powerful Kosovar politicians, Fatmir Limaj, were discussed as an example of inadequate witness protection. The trial against Limaj, the former parliamentary group leader and vice-president of Thaçis PDK as well as vice-president of the transitional parliament and transport minister, who eventually fell out with Prime Minister Hashim Thaçi and chaired his own party, was one of the most important EULEX proceedings. Limaj had been charged with war crimes several times, including before the ICTY, before which he was acquitted twice for lack of evidence. During the EULEX proceedings, the main witness against Limaj, Agim Zogaj, who lived in Germany for protection for a few months, was found dead in Germany in 2011. The German authorities concluded that he had committed suicide. According to Zogaj, Limaj is said to have cruelly mistreated and killed Serbs and Kosovar Albanians who were considered “collaborators” in 1998 and 1999 in a prison camp in Klečka. He is also said to have ordered Zogaj to kill two Serbs. After the death of the key witness, for whom the family blames EULEX, Limaj was acquitted again. Limaj was also charged with serious corruption and accused of having personally enriched himself as a minister through abuse of office and accepting bribes. But the former UÇK commander Limaj was still considered "inviolable".
Controversy over the organ trafficking allegations
Del Ponte's allegations led to UNMIK being accused of having come to terms with the former KLA fighters. High- ranking KLA commanders like Ramush Haradinaj , against whom Del Ponte had investigated and charged several times, had established themselves as leading politicians in Kosovo after the NATO military intervention in 1999. Del Pontes witnesses for the prosecution during the trials of alleged UÇK main perpetrators who were charged with the kidnapping and killing of Serbs were successively murdered. The witness protection of the UN authorities was accused of being catastrophic. With reference to the killing of witnesses from past trials before the Hague Tribunal against Kosovar Albanians, Dick Marty also complained that although there were many witnesses for the criminal organ trafficking, he questioned the effectiveness of the EULEX's witness protection. He repeatedly referred to the problem that witnesses had been murdered in several trials of the Hague Tribunal against Kosovar Albanians. For example, at the trial of the Hague Tribunal against former UÇK commander Ramush Haradinaj, who went into politics after the war and appeared together with UNMIK boss Sören Jessen-Petersen , witnesses were suddenly killed - Haradinaj was later acquitted. Marty himself refuses even years later (as of September 2012) to present his witnesses publicly, since witness protection in Kosovo and thus their safety is not fully guaranteed.
Before the publication of her book from 2008, Del Ponte was dubbed a war criminal “hunter” and “iron angel of justice and Joan of Arc of international law” in the western media and received numerous awards. After the publication of her allegations against the “international diplomacy”, the Hague Tribunal and the witness protection in Kosovo, Die Presse wrote that “critics” often accuse the “gruff lawyer” of “making a lot of foam as her chief prosecutor But not having prepared the charges thoroughly enough: The recent [April 2008] acquittal of the former Kosovo Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj and the missed conviction of the Serbian ex-President Slobodan Milosevic, who died in custody in 2004, are also to be blamed for errors in the indictment ”. For years Del Ponte said that in her time as chief prosecutor, “targeted media vortex” was the only way to “finally get hold of” accused who were on the run. Both in the west and in the capitals of the former Yugoslavia, mostly only public pressure could induce politicians to cooperate with the Hague Tribunal.
According to her own admission, Del Ponte could not do anything because the "Mafia" were in control in Kosovo and witnesses were being intimidated so that it was not possible to collect evidence there. Even judges of the Hague Tribunal in The Hague believed they were afraid of the Kosovar Albanian perpetrators. Still, Del Ponte has been criticized for failing to explain in her 2008 book why she remained silent on the subject for years. Former staff members of the Hague Tribunal, which were heavily incriminated by the allegations in Del Ponte's book, turned against Del Ponte's actions. Del Ponte's successor at the Hague Tribunal, Serge Bammertz, openly opposed Del Ponte. The Hague Tribunal announced in April 2008 that there was no “substantial” evidence of the alleged organ trafficking in Kosovo. Del Ponte's former spokeswoman, journalist Florence Hartmann, also now turned away from Del Ponte and described Del Ponte's account as “ irresponsible ”and“ unworthy ”.
Similarly, Del Ponte was attacked by Mirko Klarin, an authority at the Institute for War and Peace Reporting (IWPR) for reporting on the Hague Tribunal and war crimes in the Balkans. He described Del Ponte's allegations as “irresponsible and appalling […] This is more journalistic than prosecution. She shouldn't put any rumors in her book. ”The IWPR, on the other hand, was itself accused of one-sidedness and partiality in favor of the prosecution. It had therefore emerged in the reporting of trials at the Hague Tribunal with a kind of exclusive trial reporting, together with another, closely associated organization (CIJ). Numerous personal, structural and financial interdependencies between the Hague Tribunal, financiers of the Hague Tribunal and rapporteurs of the IWPR are said to have had consequences for the content of the media reporting before the Hague Tribunal, which NATO spokesman Jamie Shea as “a friend of NATO “Had designated. The foreign ministries of the USA and other European countries, CNN , NATO and George Soros are said to have directly or indirectly belonged to the donors of the IWPR .
Mutual allegations within the Hague Tribunal had come to light shortly after the death of Slobodan Milošević, who died during the trial after the Hague Tribunal had denied him heart treatment in Russia. Carla Del Ponte, the UN chief prosecutor in the Milošević trial, then declared in 2006 that there had been politically motivated attempts to influence her work. Del Ponte had also stressed on this occasion that it was "difficult and regrettable" that, although the USA in particular had supported the Hague Tribunal, "the Americans do not participate in the International Criminal Court". This came close to the accusation expressed by another party that the US would use the Hague Tribunal (ICTY) as an instrument for its own purposes against Serbia, but not subject itself or its citizens to the jurisdiction of the ICTY, the ICC or the ICJ . Sir Geoffrey Nice , who was ennobled in 2007 for his work as chief prosecutor in the Milošević trial, publicly accused his former superior at the Hague Tribunal, Del Ponte, in April 2007 of having an agreement with the Serbian leadership following an illegitimate agreement Avoided the conviction of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the genocide charge of Bosnia and Herzegovina against Yugoslavia by hiding crucial evidence from the UN Supreme Court. Nice also complained that the Del Ponte trial against Ramush Haradinaj , according to the FAZ in May 2013, “lost a leading politician at an important phase in its history”. The FAZ editor Hubert Spiegel quoted Haradinaj's comment in connection with the fight against corruption in Kosovo: “We have lost precious years.” The BND report of February 22, 2005, which Dick Marty described as a “careful analysis” and which was expressly used for his report on the Council of Europe , with which the Council of Europe report cites Haradinaj's BND classification as a “key personality” of organized crime in Kosovo, Spiegel did not mention Haradinaj in its FAZ report, but instead simply wrote: “Haradinaj's German Wikipedia entry mentions bloody clan disputes and cites alleged secret reports from the Federal Intelligence Service, according to which Haradinaj must be counted as an organized crime in Kosovo. "
Matti Raatikainen, head of the war crimes unit of EULEX Kosovo, said in the run-up to the publication of Dick Marty's Council of Europe report at the end of May 2010 that there was no evidence of any organ trafficking in Kosovo, neither bodies nor witnesses. The media attention and reports were not helpful to anyone. The main problem is that the scandal created by the allegations has diverted attention from the real work of finding the remains of the 1,861 people still missing from the war and its aftermath, and their murderers, “in Serbia, Kosovo and Albania ”. The BBC commented in an article by Nick Thorpe that the failure to find either the original sources or new evidence since 2004 could mean the allegations are baseless. It is expected that Marty's report of the Council of Europe would focus far more on political questions about the government involved than on the revelation of new facts. The allegations of organ trafficking were described as "fairy tales" by an unnamed EULEX public prosecutor. Thorpe emphasized against allegations of organ trafficking for which no bodies are available, the priority of investigating war crimes on the basis of corpse finds, with which the investigators are fully occupied. The Martys report, which is expected to be published at the end of June 2010, contrasts with the exhumations expected in August 2010 of a newly found mass grave near the Serbian Raška , in which 250 ethnic Albanians who were killed by Serbs were buried. Thorpe further emphasizes that only a fraction of the bodies identified since 2001 (2,244) are non-Albanian (301) and of these about 228 were Serbs missing after the end of the war on June 10, 1999, and that it is assumed that during the entire Kosovo Conflict or immediately after 13,500 people were killed. In contrast to the killings of ethnic Albanians by Serbs, Thorpe titled the killings of Serbs by ethnic Albanians as "revenge killings".
After the results and allegations by Del Ponte and Marty, old and new allegations were voiced in the press that the UÇK Thaçis fighting organization was "from the beginning a resistance movement and a Mafia organization at the same time" (Spiegel). As early as 2005, former UÇK top people were identified in a confidential report by the BND with Mafia contacts in Kosovo and Hashim Thaçi identified as a “key player”. However, the governments of the USA and the EU would have deliberately ignored this and failed to take action against the criminal organizations in order to keep the NATO KFOR protection forces out of fighting with the mafia.
The Council of Europe report on the accusations against Hashim Thaçi came out just days after Thaçi was confirmed in his post as prime minister and made it difficult to form a government after an election in which almost all parties complained to the state election commission about allegedly massive forgeries by the PDK and requested a repeat vote in seven or more parishes. The second-placed LDK called for new elections. Thaçi had "firmly expected" the participation of the Serbs in the new government (Stern). But now the top Kosovar Serb politician Radmila ("Rada") has declared Trajković from the Serbian unity list to rule out a coalition with the man who is supposed to be a mafia boss. "Thaci absolutely wants to become head of government again in order to protect himself from criminal prosecution through immunity," said Trajkovic "( SZ ).
Albanian Ambassador to Great Britain and Ireland, Zef Mazi, told Russian broadcaster Russia Today that the main purpose of Dick Marty's report on the Council of Europe was to "promote the nation and people of Albanians on both sides of the border", their culture, tradition and history offend. He also tried, without justification, to draw a parallel between the acts of Milošević's "war machine" and those of the UÇK. In addition, in 2004 the Albanian authorities fully cooperated with Carla Del Ponte's team of 15 ICTY prosecutors. The ICTY team came to the conclusion that there is no reason to open a case. Dick Marty also came to Albania in 2009 and received all the support he needed. The public prosecutor's office in Tirana had just issued a statement rejecting the statements in the report of the Council of Europe as completely inaccurate. With the report, Dick Marty misused his mandate for a report on organ trafficking, since a large part of the report was not about suspected organ trafficking, but about the criminal Albanian mafia, crime by the state in Kosovo or acts of the UÇK.
Bernard Kouchner , who as UN Special Representative (SRSG) and Head of the UN Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) had extensive powers in Kosovo from mid-1999 to early 2001 and was French Foreign Minister at the time of the organ trafficking in Pristina in 2008, responded in a violent and personally offensive manner when the Voice of America journalist Budimir Ničić approached him on March 3, 2010 about allegations of organ trafficking. At this time Kouchner was visiting the health center of the Serbian enclave Gračanica, where he was just meeting with the Kosovar Serb politician Radmila Trajković. In the presence of the international press and TV camera crews, Ničić asked Kouchner what he would say to the relatives of abducted people who accused him of being involved in organ trafficking. Kouchner laughed out loud and replied to the journalist: “Organ trafficking? You're sick, aren't you? Do I look like someone who would trade organs? They are insane that they believe all sorts of such nonsense ”. When the journalist asked what Kouchner's position on the so-called yellow house was, Kouchner initially pretended not to know the term and replied scornfully: “Yellow houses, what is it, yellow houses? Which yellow house? Why yellow Sir, you should consult [a doctor (pointing first at the journalist and then at the health center)]. There was no yellow house, there was no organ trade. […] The people who say that are bastards and murderers. ”The conversation was broadcast on radio and television reports and has also made it onto Internet video portals such as YouTube . In other interviews, too, Kouchner took a sarcastic stance on the issue of organ trafficking: "You were looking for a yellow house and found nothing but a blue house."
In 2011, Kouchner described Del Ponte's approach as dubious because it was not based on serious investigations. He denied that he had ever been informed about allegations of organ trafficking: “We were informed about attacks. We knew about organized crime, human trafficking and prostitution in the Balkans. (…) But we never heard of organ trafficking. ”Kouchner - himself a doctor - argued that the Kosovar KLA did not have the necessary funds to trade in organs. “There wasn't even a heater in the Pristina hospital” (NZZ online).
Accordingly, in 2008 the Serbian neurosurgery professor Momcilo Djordjevic was quoted in the press with a statement that he had made to the Belgrade newspaper NIN : “For something like this you need a sophisticated organization, technique, technology, perfect knowledge and just as perfect logistics necessary. [...] Albania could not have all of this at the time and it does not have it today ”. According to another assessment of a Swiss forensic doctor, under primitive circumstances, as assumed for 1999 in Albania, an organ removal is only conceivable for the kidneys, but not for other organs such as the heart, liver or lungs.
The report of the Council of Europe from December 2010 and January 2011, respectively, emphasizes that, according to witness statements, the victims were systematically and methodically killed beforehand by headshots for the removal of the kidneys, so that the kidneys removed post mortem and made available for the organ trade are now so-called "corpse kidneys" acted. Therefore, no advanced surgical methods that required controlled clinical conditions such as the use of anesthetics were necessary. According to experts, the "corpse-kidney" method is said to have been used in other places in similar illegal contexts.
Before the “yellow house” was seen as a sideline and not as the main location for organ harvesting, at least since the Martys investigations, arguments appeared in the press that questioned the credibility of the accusation of organ trafficking due to the poor infrastructure in the Burrel region. It was emphasized that the house in Rribe, painted white, is a typical “large Albanian farmhouse” (magazine) that “can only be reached via gravel and scree” (Spiegel) and “through narrow serpentines and crater-deep potholes” (Spiegel ) and is "literally at the end of civilization" (Spiegel). It was questioned that in this poor, hard-to-reach region at that time the "organization, technique, technology, perfect knowledge and just as perfect logistics" (Ärztezeitung) were available that are necessary for such difficult surgical interventions. The fact that the house "should have been specially painted so brightly [yellow] in the omnipresent gray and brown of the landscape and the shabby houses" (Ärzte Zeitung) was presented as questionable.
Sevim Dağdelen , member of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the German Bundestag and spokeswoman for the Left Party for International Relations, criticized in the 2011 ZDF report on organ trafficking in Kosovo the "continuities of German Balkan policy, which made crimes such as illegal organ trafficking possible in the first place" have. She took the answer from the federal government to her small question about the involvement of high-ranking Kosovar politicians such as Hashim Thaçi as the background . Dağdelen speaks of a “culture of impunity under the eyes of the Bundeswehr in Kosovo and the granting of diplomatic honors to Kosovar war criminals in Germany”. "According to the BND, Hashim Thaçi, whom the federal government continues to court as a diplomat, [is] also involved in the criminal machinations". In Dağdelen’s view, the crimes in Kosovo prove “that the efforts of the EU and Germany to promote democracy and state building have failed. The billions that have been squandered unprecedented in the history of EU foreign policy in favor of an evidently criminal power elite, which has achieved diplomatic immunity through Germany's recognition policy, did not bring the ' rule of law ' to the region, but rather the import of corruption and impunity ”.
As to the reasons why the UN report of October 2003 was kept under lock and key, Dick Marty told ZDF reporters in 2011 that he believed that the western states are driving out the Serbian-Yugoslav army with bombs, i.e. without using their own ground troops wanted and therefore left the soil and thus Kosovo to the UÇK, which is why critical reports about the UÇK such as the UN report of 2003 did not suit Western interests: “The paper, if you read it, is explosive. The paper would of course have required a serious investigation. Nothing was done, these papers were put in a drawer and, like many other reports, these papers were considered secret. That's the biggest scandal, I think. ”,“ One must not forget that until 1998 the KLA was classified as a terrorist group in Washington and in the other capitals of the world as a terrorist group, with Interpol as Organized Crime, and suddenly are they have become socially acceptable. Why? After the bombing, NATO needed an ally on the ground, and you had those with the strongest presence on the ground. And that was clearly the KLA. "
In November 2010, in an interview with the Russian state television broadcaster Russia Today, the political analyst Misha Gavrilovic took the view that organ trafficking in Kosovo is economically motivated rather than ethnically or racially. It was only able to develop in Kosovo because of the lawlessness that prevailed there after the war in Kosovo. The NATO military operation had not only aimed to force the withdrawal of the Yugoslav army, but also of the police and all judicial authorities from the Serbian province. As a result, under the supervision of NATO, lawlessness has established itself in many areas of society, which is not limited to organ trafficking, but is also expressed, for example, in drug trafficking and the destruction of most of the Serbian Orthodox churches. The authorities had not responded to the kidnapping, especially of Serbian citizens, but also of ethnic Albanian citizens loyal to the Yugoslav state, in Kosovo, which made the allegations of organ trafficking at the expense of “disappeared” people possible. In his opinion, the western states, which are interested in recognizing Kosovo as an independent state, have tried to cover up the lawlessness in Kosovo that has been going on for around ten years. Gavrilovic sees the reason for the cover-up that the case of Kosovo is of great importance for the Western alliance in order to be able to present a “good” work. NATO carried out the military intervention of 1999 in the form of an illegal war of aggression against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, which became the forerunner model for subsequent wars that were illegal under international law, such as in Iraq or Afghanistan , but which in the western world - especially in the case of Iraq - are now failed undertakings would be perceived. Kosovo, on the other hand, was presented as a "protected" country by NATO and NATO's military operation in Kosovo was rated positively. The fact that this image is now being questioned not by China or Russia, but by the Council of Europe, puts NATO in a difficult situation.
Quotes
"In this yellow house, according to the journalists, a room had been converted into a makeshift operating theater, where the doctors removed organs from the prisoners [...] Victims from whom a kidney had been removed, were sewn up and locked again in a barracks, until the other vital organs have been removed from them. When the other prisoners found out about their impending fate, they are said to have begged their tormentors to kill them immediately. "
"The investigations against parts of the KLA turned out to be the most frustrating in the course of the work of the Yugoslavia Tribunal ."
"I think some judges at the Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia were afraid that the Albanians would come and settle their accounts."
"None of the efforts to investigate have received meaningful co-operation on the side of the government of Albania."
"None of the efforts to investigate has met with meaningful cooperation on the part of the Albanian government."
«Il n'y a pas eu de maison jaune, il n'y a pas eu de ventes d'organes. […] Vous croyez qu'on échangeait des organes. Les gens qui disent ça sont des salauds et des assassins. »
“There was no yellow house, there was no organ trafficking. [...] They believe that we exchanged organs. The people who say that are bastards and murderers. "
“The fact is that there is no evidence whatsoever in this case […] No bodies. No witnesses. All the reports and media attention to this issue have not been helpful to us. In fact they have not been helpful to anyone. "
“The fact is that there is no evidence in this case […] No bodies. No witnesses. All of the reports and media attention on the matter have not been helpful to us. In fact, they have not been helpful to anyone. "
“The end of the 'fairy-tale' of organ-trafficking, as one Eulex prosecutor calls it, would still leave was crimes investigators with plenty to do. This month, a mass grave was found near the southern Serbian town of Raska. Three lorry loads of bodies - around 250 in total - believed to be Albanians killed by Serb forces in Kosovo, were reburied there in early June 1999. ”
“The end of the“ fairy tale ”of organ trafficking, as one EULEX prosecutor calls it, would still leave war crimes investigators enough work to do. A mass grave was found this month near the southern Serbian town of Raška. Three truckloads of corpses - around 250 in total - believed to have been killed by Serb forces in Kosovo were reburied there in early June 1999. "
“The international organizations in place in Kosovo favored a pragmatic political approach, taking the view that they needed to promote short-term stability at any price, thereby sacrificing some important principles of justice. For a long time little was done to follow up evidence implicating KLA members in crimes against the Serbian population and against certain Albanian Kosovars. "
“The international organizations on the ground in Kosovo have favored a pragmatic approach, adopting the view that they must promote short-term stability at all costs; in doing so, they sacrificed some important principles of justice. Over a long period of time, little was done to investigate evidence linking KLA members to crimes against the Serbian population and against certain Albanian Kosovars. "
“In particular, we found a number of credible, convergent indications that the organ-trafficking component of the post-conflict detentions described in our report is closely related to the contemporary case of the Medicus Clinic, not least through prominent Kosovar Albanian and international personalities who feature as co-conspirators in both. "
“In particular, we found a number of credible, convergent evidence that the organ trafficking component of postwar internment described in our report is closely related to the current case at the Medicus Clinic, not least by prominent Kosovar Albanian and international ones Personalities that are characteristic of both as co-conspirators. "
“The way Marty wrote his report reminds me of Joseph Goebbels' propaganda. The undertone of this pamphlet is racist. Mr. Marty insults the whole Albanian people and tries to criminalize our struggle for freedom against the Serbian policy of oppression. "
“As for the claims of trafficking in human organs, these are fictitious inventions. Even today, 12 years after the war, our hospitals and our doctors are unable to trade in organs or to remove human organs at all and to implant them in other people. "
“The first intention was to liquidate these people. And then coincidentally because of [the] contacts you had, you still made money with it. "
“Did this organ trade exist? Without doubt. I'm convinced of it."
“It is very likely that in 1999 the KLA fighters removed organs from the people they executed and sent them to Turkey. Turkey, and especially a doctor named Yusuf Sönmez, were involved in illegal organ transplants. These were transplants of organs taken from the dead, but also organs from people who sold their kidneys. "
See also
literature
- Carla Del Ponte, Chuck Sudetic: La caccia. Io ei criminali di guerra . Feltrinelli , Milano 2008. ISBN 978-88-07-17144-4 . German edition: On behalf of the prosecution. My hunt for war criminals and the search for justice . S. Fischer, Frankfurt am Main 2009. ISBN 978-3-10-013911-5
- Renate Flottau: The house at the end of the world . In: Der Spiegel . No. 39 , 2008 ( online ).
- Ian Traynor: Former war crimes prosecutor alleges Kosovan army harvested organs from Serb prisoners . In: The Guardian , April 12, 2008
- Thomas Zaugg: What happened in Burrel? In: The magazine . February 13, 2010 ( copy of the article ( memento of November 23, 2010 in the Internet Archive )).
Web links
Press
- Yellow house and allegations from Italian general and Peruvian forensic scientist Jose Pablo Barajbar
- Description of the yellow house and further information
Film reports or TV broadcasts
- People and Power - Organ Traders ( Memento from May 10, 2013 on WebCite ) (English, 24 minutes). Al Jazeera English (distribution), film by Claudio von Planta (direction, camera and editing) and Juliana Ruhfus (report), December 2012. Alsoavailableon YouTube : People & Power - The Organ Traders (English, approx. 24 minutes), uploaded by YouTube user AlJazeeraEnglish on December 19, 2012.
- Juliana Ruhfus talks in the report with the doctor Lutfi Dervishi, who was convicted in the Medicus case in 2013, and his lawyer Linn Slattengren, with the lawyer Mordechai Tzivin of the defendant Moshe Harel, who was on the run in the Medicus case, with the Turkish public prosecutor Reşat Soysal, who for the Turkish trial against Yusuf Sönmez, who was on the run in the Medicus case, and Sönmez's lawyer Cem Sofuoğlu.
- Research in the area of the organ mafia . (mp4 file, approx. 2:30 minutes; 27.2 MB), Der Spiegel, 31/2012. URL for smartphone users: http://www.spiegel.de/app312012organhandel
- The Spiegel reporter Steffen Winter reports in the video about the research carried out by the Spiegel team in the case of the German organ recipient in the Medicus Clinic in 2008.
- Анатомија злочина - Емисија "Анатомија злочина" у којој објављујемо део исповести заштићеног сведока ( Memento of 12 May 2013 Webcite ) (website: Serbian; Video: Serbian and Albanian with Serbian subtitles) - (anatomija zločina dt .: Anatomy of a crime ), РТС 1 (RTS 1), September 10, 2012, author of the program: Милош Милић (Miloš Milić), interlocutor: Бруно Векарић (Bruno Vekarić). Separate video links: RTS (Serbian, flv file download: 136.67 MB); YouTube: Kosovo and Albania - Organ Trafficking (Anatomy of a Crime) (video, Serbian with English subtitles, approx. 68 minutes), uploaded by YouTube user DjukiNew on February 1, 2013. Translated transcripts of testimony of the witness (Serbian): Анатомија злочина ОВК ( Memento from May 12, 2013 on WebCite ), RTS, September 10, 2012.
- The video shows statements made by Miloš Milić and the Serbian Deputy Public Prosecutor for War Crimes Bruno Vekarić of an alleged, ethnic Albanian perpetrator in the alleged organ harvesting case of 1999 (but not in the case of the Yellow House in the narrower sense), which was reported in 2012 by the Serbian state broadcaster RTS1 as a future Key witness was presented.
- Correspondent Confidential: Strange Border Kidnappings in Kosovo ( Memento from July 10, 2015 on WebCite ) (English, 13:13 minutes), Vice News, 2014, by Michael Montgomery; also published as: Strange Border Kidnappings in Kosovo: Correspondent Confidential . YouTube, published by the YouTube channel VICE News on June 16, 2014.
- In the video, Michael Montgomery briefly summarizes the investigations from his first research shortly after the Kosovo war to the EU investigations from 2011–2014.
Council of Europe report
- Inhuman treatment of people and illicit trafficking in human organs in Kosovo (PDF) Council of Europe Report - AS / JUR (2010) 46, The Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights, December 12, 2010, by Dick Marty
- Inhuman treatment of people and illicit trafficking in human organs in Kosovo . (Draft report, provisional version; PDF ( Memento from January 5, 2015 on WebCite )), Parliamentary Assembly, Report: AS / Jur (2010) 46, Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights, December 12, 2010, by Dick Marty ( archived ( Memento from December 1, 2013 on WebCite )
- Inhuman treatment of people and illicit trafficking in human organs in Kosovo (Report; PDF ( Memento from January 5, 2015 on WebCite )), Parliamentary Assembly, Doc. 12462, Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights, by Dick Marty, Jan. 7, 2011.
Reports from UNMIK and ICTY
- UNMIK Investigation Organ Trafficking Kosovo (PDF)
- UNMIK Forensic Report Organ Trafficking Kosovo (PDF)
Human rights reports
- Abuses against Serbs and Roma in the new Kosovo . ( Memento August 10, 2014 on WebCite ) Human Rights Watch , August 1999, Volume 11, No. 10 (D).
- Human Rights in Kosovo: As Seen, As Told . Volume II, June 14 - October 31, 1999. (PDF) OSCE / OMIK (English). With an introduction by Daan Everts. November 5, 1999. Also as Serbian version: osce.org (PDF).
Legal proceedings
Medicus case:
- Indictment (Lutfi Dervishi et al.) (English, PDF, no official version !; 390 kB), Special Prosecution Office of the Republic of Kosovo, Special Prosecutor - EULEX (Jonathan Ratel), PPS no. 02/09, October 15 2010 (indictments against Lutfi DERVISHI, Arban DERVISHI, Driton JILTA, Ilir RRECAJ and Sokol HAJDINI). A facsimile version of the indictment can be found on lajmeshqip.com (Albanian).
- Submission on Confirmation of Indictment Hearing - On behalf of Defendant Lutfi Dervishi (Lutfi Dervishi et al.) (English, PDF, no official version !; 149 kB), PPS no. 02/09, December 1, 2010
- District Court of Pristina
- KA 278/20, P 309/10, KA 309/10, P 340/10, Medicus case - April 27, 2011 (English, PDF; 290 kB)
- KA 278/20, P 309/10, KA 309/10, P 340/10, Medicus case - March 2, 2011 (English, PDF; 1.3 MB)
Remarks
- ↑ a b The designation of the victims of Albanian ethnicity varies in the sources of “Kosovo Albanians that were loyal to the Yugoslav state”. Source: Misha Gavrilovic: Russia Today, November 14, 2011 ), “ethnic Albanians to settle old scores "(" ethnic Albanians with whom "old bills should be settled"; source: New York Times, December 15, 2010 ) and "Kosovar Albanians who were considered collaborators or were otherwise in the way" ( view .ch, December 14, 2010 ) on "Kosovar Albanians who were considered to be collaborators with the Belgrade authorities" ( SZ, December 16, 2010 ) to "Kosovar Albanians in opposition" ( NZZ, December 16, 2010 ), " non-loyal Albanians "( NZZ, March 31, 2011 ) or" "Kosovar Albanian traitors" "( Zeit, January 1, 2011 ) The designation" Albanians "is not without problems, as one must always consider whether it means belonging refers to the ethnic group or the state of Albania. Also for the terms "oppositional" and "loyal" must be considered whether these relate to loyalty or opposition to the official government or to a dominant organization such as the KLA. Marty himself used more nuanced formulations such as “Kosovar Albanians suspected of having been 'traitors' or 'collaborators', or who fell victim to internal rivalries within the KLA” (“Kosovar Albanians who were suspected of being 'traitors' or 'collaborators') or the internal rivalries within the KLA fell victim ”; source: Council of Europe, January 7th 2011, p. 6 ) or simply“ certain Albanian Kosovars ”(“ certain Albanian Kosovars ”, source: Council of Europe, January 7th 2011, p. 2 ).
- ↑ The TMK was trained by the US military company Military Professional Resources Inc. (MPRI) , which was also involved in the training and management of the Croatian armed forces, which expelled 200,000 Krajina Serbs from the Croatian Krajina region with Operation Oluja in 1995 . Source: Carl Polónyi: Salvation and Destruction: National Myths and War using the Example of Yugoslavia 1980–2004. Berliner Wissenschafts-Verlag, 2010, ISBN 978-3-8305-1724-5 , p. 442.
- ↑ Different spellings of the first name: Dzavit, Xeka, Xhavdit, Djavit; Last name: Halitaj. Source: BND analysis of May 22nd, 2005 ( Memento of May 26th, 2013 on WebCite ) (PDF; 3 MB). BND (Internet version on archived copy ( Memento of the original from May 26, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this note. ), May 22nd 2005.
- ↑ a b The Tages-Anzeiger and the Basler Zeitung reported on December 16, 2010 (deviating from the EULEX Kosovo press release of December 12, 2010 ) that on October 15 and 20, 2010 indictments had been filed against five people with whom they are "doctors and people who have previously worked at the highest levels in the Ministry of Health" who are accused of trafficking in human organs, organized crime and abuse of public authority.
- ↑ Juliana Ruhfus spoke to the brother of the Turkish organ donor for a film report from December 2012, who assured him that he was still alive and that he was fine. Source: People and Power - Organ Traders ( Memento from May 10, 2013 on WebCite ) (English, 24 minutes). Al Jazeera English (distribution), film by Claudio von Planta (direction, camera and editing) and Juliana Ruhfus (report), December 2012. Also available on YouTube : People & Power - The Organ Traders (English, approx. 24 minutes), uploaded by YouTube user AlJazeeraEnglish on December 19, 2012.
- ↑ a b Later the Serbian broadcaster B92 reported that the forensic investigations were negative and no organic traces were found. The law enforcement agency does not want to announce the results, but continues to dig to further check whether it could be a mass grave. Source: No mass grave found near town ( Memento from May 9, 2013 on WebCite ). B92, August 11, 2010.
- ↑ Transcription of Kouchner's statements: [When asked by VOA journalist Budimir Ničić to Bernard Kouchner, he laughs loudly and replies:] “La vente des organes! Mais vous êtes malade, non? J'ai une tête à vendre des organes, moi ?. Mais vous êtes fou, vous croyez n'importe quelles conneries. Alors, Rada [Radmila Trajković, Director of the Gračanica Hospital and representative of the Executive Committee of the Serbian National Council of Kosovo and Metohija] et moi, on aurait volé des cadavres pour vendre des organes? Corn à qui? Ne croyez pas ces bêtises! ”, [When the VOA journalist asked whether he was aware of the existence of the Yellow House]:“ Les maisons jaunes, c'est quoi, la [les] maison [s] jaune [s ]? Source [s] maison [s] jaune [s]? Pourquoi jaune [s]? "," Phhhh! Monsieur, vous devriez aller consulter [pointing finger at Budimir Ničić and then at the health center]. Ça suffit, merci! Il n'y a pas eu de maison [s] jaune [s], il n'y a pas eu de ventes d'organes. Elle était médecin, moi aussi. Vous croyez qu'on échangeait des organ. Les gens qui disent ça sont des salauds et des assassins! D'accord? “. See Michel Dantan: C'est une maison jaune accrochée… Trafic d'organes: Kouchner pète les plombs ( Memento of May 4, 2013 on WebCite ) (French). Le nouveau NH, March 3, 2010.
- ↑ The destruction of Serbian Orthodox sacred buildings took place continuously after the end of the Kosovo war and the associated withdrawal of the Serbian-Yugoslav security forces from Kosovo and the takeover of control by UNMIK and NATO-led KFOR forces. The greatest bursts of destruction occurred in the first months after June 1999 and during the bloody riots in March 2004 .
Individual evidence
- ^ Paul Lewis: At family farm, grim claims of organ culling from captured Serb soldiers. In: The Guardian . November 25, 2008, accessed October 9, 2010 .
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w Thomas Zaugg, pictures by Fabian Biasio: What happened in Burrel? - Did Albanians murder Serbs and sell their organs after the war? ( Memento from May 3, 2013 on WebCite ) (PDF) Das Magazin , 6/2010, February 13, 2010 ( Further archive version ( Memento from November 23, 2010 in the Internet Archive )).
- ↑ a b c d e f Dick Marty: Inhuman treatment of people and illicit trafficking in human organs in Kosovo . ( Memento from May 2, 2013 on WebCite ) Council of Europe: Parliamentary Assembly, Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights, Doc. 12462, January 7, 2011.
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Karl-Peter Schwarz: Kosovo - The UCK and the organ trade . ( Memento from May 17, 2013 on WebCite ) Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, January 1, 2011.
- ↑ a b c Paul Lewis: Kosovo PM is head of human organ and arms ring, Council of Europe reports - Two-year inquiry accuses Albanian 'mafia-like' crime network of killing Serb prisoners for their kidneys. In: The Guardian . December 14, 2010, accessed January 31, 2020 .
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Stefanie Bolzen: Dirty organ trade from Kosovo to the EU . ( Memento from May 9, 2013 on WebCite ) Die Welt, May 1, 2013.
- ↑ a b c Five jailed over Kosovo organ trafficking ( Memento from May 13, 2013 on WebCite ) (English). The Guardian, April 29, 2013.
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i Kosovo: New tribunal to refute allegations of organ trafficking ( Memento from April 27, 2014 on WebCite ) derStandard.at, April 24, 2014.
- ↑ a b c d e Enver Robelli: Kosovo allows trials of war criminals - the parliament in Pristina reacts to the accusations in the report by Ticino Dick Marty: A special tribunal is to judge alleged Kosovar-Albanian war criminals . ( Memento from May 2, 2014 on WebCite ) Tagesanzeiger, April 23, 2014.
- ↑ a b c d e f g h Allegations against the KLA in the Kosovo conflict - “Conclusive evidence” for organ trafficking ( memento from August 11, 2014 on WebCite ) tagesschau.de, July 29, 2014.
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j Statement of the Chief Prosecutor of the Special Investigative Task Force 29 July 2014 ( Memento from 10 August 2014 on WebCite ) (English; PDF). www.sitf.eu, July 29, 2014. Cf. Statement by the Chief Prosecutor of the Special Investigative Task Force (SITF) on investigative findings ( Memento from August 10, 2014 on WebCite ), SITF press release, July 29, 2014.
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i Markus C. Schulte von Drach: Kosovo - EU investigator wants to indict UÇK fighters . ( Memento from August 10, 2014 on WebCite ) Süddeutsche.de, July 29, 2014.
- ↑ a b Andreas Ernst: The Failure of the West in Kosovo ( Memento from August 11, 2014 on WebCite ) NZZ.ch, August 7, 2014.
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l Krsto Lazarević: Organ trade - Dr. Frankenstein on the run . ( Memento from January 5, 2015 on WebCite ) TagesWoche, September 7, 2014.
- ↑ "A slap in the face for Kosovo's political elite" - Ten ex-commanders of the Kosovar Liberation Army UCK face charges of war crimes. Assessments by TA editor Enver Robelli ( memento from August 13, 2014 on WebCite ) tagesanzeiger.ch, interview by Vincenzo Capodici with Enver Robelli, July 27, 2014.
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p Illegal organ trafficking in Kosovo - business with human spare parts . ( Memento from April 30, 2013 on WebCite ) Neue Zürcher Zeitung, April 30, 2013.
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x Paul Lewis: Kosovo physicians accused of illegal organs removal racket - Medicus clinic linked in Council of Europe report to alleged Kosovo Liberation Army organ harvesting atrocities . ( Memento from May 13, 2013 on WebCite ). The Guardian, December 14, 2010.
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k The Turkish doctor - head of an organ trading ring in Kosovo? ( Memento from May 15, 2013 on WebCite ) Tages-Anzeiger , December 16, 2010. Also published in: Basler Zeitung , December 16, 2010, archived ( Memento from May 15, 2013 on WebCite ) from the original on May 15, 2013.
- ↑ Wolfgang Petritsch, Robert Pichler, Kosovo - Kosova - The long way to peace , Wieser, Klagenfurt a. a. 2004, ISBN 3-85129-430-0 , pp. 9f.
- ^ Military Technical Agreement between the International Security Force ("KFOR") and the Governments of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the Republic of Serbia ( Memento from May 19, 2013 on WebCite ) (English). www.nato.int, June 9, 1999, updated: August 2, 1999.
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i Helmut Kramer, Vedran Džihić, The Kosovo Balance Sheet - Is the International Community Failing ? , LIT Verlag Münster, Vienna 2005, ISBN 3-8258-8646-8 , pp. 37–40.
- ↑ Peter Bouckaert, Failure to Protect: Anti-minority Violence in Kosovo, March 2004 . (English). Human Rights Watch, Vol. 16, No. 6 (D), July 2004, pp. 11-13. Alternative internet resource at [http://www.unhcr.org/ unhcr.org], accessed March 12, 2013.
- ^ A b c Peter Bouckaert, Failure to Protect: Anti-minority Violence in Kosovo, March 2004 . (English). Human Rights Watch, Vol. 16, No. 6 (D), July 2004, pp. 13f. Alternative internet resource at [http://www.unhcr.org/ unhcr.org], accessed March 12, 2013.
- ↑ G-8 countries: Agreement on how to proceed in the Kosovo conflict ( Memento from May 22, 2013 on WebCite ) Der Spiegel, May 6, 1999.
- ↑ a b Resolution 1244 (1999) of June 10, 1999 ( Memento of May 22, 2013 on WebCite ) (German translation, PDF; 1.4 MB), United Nations Security Council, June 10, 1999.
- ^ A b c d e f g Carl Polónyi: Salvation and Destruction: National Myths and War Using the Example of Yugoslavia 1980-2004. Berliner Wissenschafts-Verlag, 2010, ISBN 978-3-8305-1724-5 , p. 438ff.
- ↑ The EinsExtra topic: 10 years ago: Kosovo War - EinsExtra in conversation , ARD, broadcast on March 21, 2009, Ulrich Timm in conversation with Prof. Wolf Oschlies . YouTube link (video, 52 minutes): The Kosovo War: It began with a lie - Germany's way into the Kosovo War , published on July 3, 2012 by YouTube user Bildungsverein der Roma zu Hamburg e. V. accessed on May 22, 2013. See also: Wolf Oschlies, Ten Years of Kosovo War: The illegitimate war , sheets for German and international politics, 3, 2009, pp. 93–99.
- ↑ a b c d Jürgen Elsässer : "Kristallnacht" in Kosovo . ( Memento from February 22, 2013 on WebCite ) Telepolis , March 19, 2004.
- ^ A b c Carl Polónyi: Salvation and Destruction: National Myths and War using the Example of Yugoslavia 1980-2004. Berliner Wissenschafts-Verlag, 2010, ISBN 978-3-8305-1724-5 , pp. 442f.
- ↑ a b c d Renate Flottau: If necessary, a guerrilla war . In: Der Spiegel . No. 8 , 2000 ( online ).
- ↑ INTERPOL statement concerning arrest warrant for Agim Ceku ( Memento from May 19, 2013 on WebCite ) Interpol, press release, March 28, 2006.
- ↑ United Nations Resolution 1244 ( Memento of March 22, 2013 on WebCite ) (English) also unmikonline.org (PDF). UNSC Resolution 1244, June 10, 1999 ( original PDF ( memento of March 22, 2013 on WebCite )).
- ↑ Wolfgang Petritsch, Karl Kaser, Robert Pichler: Kosovo - Kosova: Myths, data, facts. 2nd Edition. Wieser, Klagenfurt 1999, ISBN 3-85129-304-5 , p. 224.
- ↑ Heinz Loquai: The Kosovo conflict - ways into an avoidable war: the period from the end of November 1997 to March 1999. Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft, Baden-Baden 2000, ISBN 3-7890-6681-8 , p. 27f.
- ↑ John R. Fulton, NATO and the KLA: How the West Encouraged Terrorism ( Memento of February 3, 2013 on WebCite ) (PDF; 169 kB), Global Security Studies, 1 , (3), 2010, pp. 130-141 .
- ^ A b Carl Polónyi: Salvation and Destruction: National Myths and War using the Example of Yugoslavia 1980-2004. Berliner Wissenschafts-Verlag, 2010, ISBN 978-3-8305-1724-5 , pp. 444f.
- ↑ a b Enver Robelli: war crimes in Kosovo - from the mysterious death of the witness X . ( Memento from May 24, 2013 on WebCite ) Süddeutsche Zeitung, October 4, 2011.
- ^ A b Henri Bohnet, Johannes Gold: The Limaj Affair: A practical test for Kosovo's Prime Minister Thaçi and the EULEX . ( Memento from May 24, 2013 on WebCite ) (PDF), Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung e. V., June 1, 2010.
- ↑ International Crisis Group (ICG), Collapse in Kosovo ( Memento from March 21, 2013 on WebCite ) (English, PDF; 623 kB; Albanian, PDF ( Memento of the original from September 4, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this note .; Serbian, PDF ). ICG Europe Report No. 155, Pristina u. a., April 22, 2004, p. 23. See also: Collapse in Kosovo - Executive Summary and Recommendations ( Memento of March 21, 2013 on WebCite ) (English, also available in Albanian and Serbian), ICG Europe Report No. 155 , April 22, 2004.
- ↑ a b Results of a research from January 1 to October 31, 2004 - KOSOVO: Roma and Ashkali without a future? ( Memento from February 10, 2013 on WebCite ) Society for Threatened Peoples , Report, November 17, 2004, Paul Polansky (preliminary remark by Tilman Zülch ). Internet link for download (PDF) ( Memento from February 10, 2013 on WebCite ).
- ↑ Renate Flottau, Alexander Szandar, Erich Wiedemann: Kosovo - United in hatred . In: Der Spiegel . No. 13 , 2004 ( online ).
- ↑ a b c d BND analysis of February 22, 2005 ( Memento from May 26, 2013 on WebCite ) (PDF; 3 MB), BND (Internet version on archived copy ( Memento of the original from May 26, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this note. ), February 22, 2005.
- ↑ Jürgen Roth: Kosovo on the way to independence - rule of law? D rather not! ( Memento from May 27, 2013 on WebCite ) Die Weltwoche, 43/2005.
- ^ Reception of alleged war criminals in the Bundestag scandalous . ( Memento from May 26, 2013 on WebCite ) Press release from Sevim Dagdelen, sevimdagdelen.de, November 30, 2011.
- ^ Reception of alleged war criminals in the Bundestag scandalous ( Memento from May 26, 2013 on WebCite ) Die Linke im Bundestag, MPs - Press release by Sevim Dagdelen, November 30, 2011.
- ↑ a b c d e Andreas Förster: Ruled by the mafia . In: Berliner Zeitung , August 7, 2006.
- ↑ a b c BND analysis from 02/22/2005 ( memento from May 26, 2013 on WebCite ) (PDF; 3 MB), BND (internet version on archived copy ( memento of the original from May 26, 2013 in the internet archive ) Info: Der Archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this note. ), February 22, 2005, p. 26.
- ↑ Kosovo's “most dangerous man” with a Swiss past - the secret NATO files on Parliamentary President Xhavit Haliti, who came to power from Zurich ( Memento from May 26, 2013 on WebCite ) Neue Zürcher Zeitung, January 28, 2011.
- ↑ Helmut Lorscheid : The BND in Kosovo . ( Memento from May 26, 2013 on WebCite ) Telepolis , November 29, 2008.
- ↑ Wolf Oschlies, Ten Years of Kosovo War: The illegitimate war , sheets for German and international politics, 3 (March), 2009, pp. 93–99, here p. 97.
- ↑ Operationalization of Security Sector Reform (SSR) in the Western Balkans - intelligent / creative approaches for a long-term positive design of this region ( Memento from May 26, 2013 on WebCite ) (PDF; 9.6 MB), Institute for European Politics , Balkan Forum .org Berlin, January 9, 2007.
- ↑ Michail Logvinov: Kosovo: UN mission impossible, NATO helpless, role of the USA counterproductive . ( Memento from May 26, 2013 on WebCite ) RIA Novosti (German Internet version on ag-friedensforschung.de), January 9, 2008.
- ↑ Operationalization of Security Sector Reform (SSR) in the Western Balkans - intelligent / creative approaches for a long-term positive design of this region ( Memento from May 26, 2013 on WebCite ) (PDF; 9.6 MB), Institute for European Politics , Balkan Forum .org, Berlin, January 9, 2007, p. 16.
- ↑ a b Operationalization of Security Sector Reform (SSR) in the Western Balkans - intelligent / creative approaches for a long-term positive design of this region ( Memento from May 26, 2013 on WebCite ) (PDF; 9.6 MB), Institute for European Politics , balkanforum.org, Berlin, January 9, 2007, p. 79.
- ↑ Operationalization of Security Sector Reform (SSR) in the Western Balkans - intelligent / creative approaches for a long-term positive design of this region ( Memento from May 26, 2013 on WebCite ) (PDF; 9.6 MB), Institute for European Politics , Balkan Forum .org, Berlin, January 9, 2007, p. 113.
- ↑ Operationalization of Security Sector Reform (SSR) in the Western Balkans - intelligent / creative approaches for a long-term positive design of this region ( Memento from May 26, 2013 on WebCite ) (PDF; 9.6 MB), Institute for European Politics , Balkan Forum .org, Berlin, January 9, 2007, p. 78.
- ↑ a b Stefanie Bolzen: Eulex Mission - In Kosovo, EU billions seep away ( Memento from May 22, 2013 on WebCite ) Die Welt, October 31, 2012.
- ↑ Stefanie Bolzen: New Sovereignty - Kosovo - the unstable freedom of a "failed state" . ( Memento from May 22, 2013 on WebCite ) Die Welt, September 10, 2012.
- ↑ a b International Civilian Office, February 2008 - September 2012 ( Memento from May 26, 2013 on WebCite ) (English). International Civilian Office - Kosovo.
- ↑ a b Communique - Sixteenth and final meeting of the International Steering Group for Kosovo ( Memento from May 26, 2013 on WebCite ) (English, PDF; 64 kB). International Civilian Office - Kosovo, September 10, 2012.
- ↑ a b Norbert Mappes-Niediek: Kosovo sovereign state - No public holiday in Pristina ( Memento from May 26, 2013 on WebCite ) Frankfurter Rundschau, September 10, 2012.
- ↑ "Serbs have accepted Kosovo as a reality" . ( Memento from May 22, 2013 on WebCite ) Die Presse, May 20, 2013 (online edition), May 21, 2013 (print edition).
- ↑ Foreign deployment - Bundeswehr still in Kosovo ( Memento from May 30, 2013 on WebCite ) The Federal Government , May 29, 2013.
- ↑ a b c d e f g Renate Flottau: The house at the end of the world . In: Der Spiegel . No. 39 , 2008 ( online ).
- ↑ OSCE: Kosovo / Kosova - As Seen, As Told - An analysis of the human rights findings of the OSCE Kosovo Verification Mission - October 1998 to June 1999. 1999, ISBN 83-912750-0-0 , p. VIII.
- ^ The Independent International Commission on Kosovo: The Kosovo Report - Conflict - International Response - Lessons Learned. Oxford University Press 2000, ISBN 0-19-924309-3 , p. 69; Note: This report was prepared by nine of the eleven commissioners, two from the USA and one each from Benin, Japan, Canada, Great Britain, France, Germany and the Czech Republic, while the two members from Palestine and Russia did not were involved in the report. The FRY did not enter into discussions with this commission, however, as the chairman of the commission, Richard Goldstone from South Africa, as the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia from August 1994 to September 1996, was accused of anti-Serbian bias has been.
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i Kosovo / Albania: Kidnappings and kidnappings to Albania to be investigated ( Memento from May 4, 2013 on WebCite ) Human Rights Watch, press release, May 5, 2008.
- ^ A b Dick Marty: Inhuman treatment of people and illicit trafficking in human organs in Kosovo . ( Memento from May 2, 2013 on WebCite ) Council of Europe: Parliamentary Assembly, Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights, Doc. 12462, January 7, 2011, p. 8f.
- ↑ a b c d German Press Agency : Was there organ theft in Albania? Doubts keep getting louder. In: Ärztezeitung online. October 29, 2008, accessed October 9, 2010 .
- ↑ Daily: Organs removed at KLA hospitals ( Memento from May 3, 2013 on WebCite ) (English). B92, December 25, 2010.
- ↑ Milijana Mitrovic: Bernard Kouchner Involved In Albanian Organ Market ( Memento from May 4, 2013 on WebCite ) (English). dalje.com, April 28, 2008.
- ↑ a b c Dick Marty: Detention facilities in Albania used by KLA members and affiliates for inhuman treatment and illicit trafficking in human organs . ( Memento from May 3, 2013 on WebCite ) (English, PDF; 768 kB) Council of Europe, Parliamentary Assembly, Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights, Annex to AS / Jur (2010) 46.
- ^ A b c Dick Marty: Inhuman treatment of people and illicit trafficking in human organs in Kosovo . ( Memento from May 2, 2013 on WebCite ) Council of Europe: Parliamentary Assembly, Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights, Doc. 12462, January 7, 2011, p. 26.
- ↑ a b c d Jan Puhl: Traces of blood in the yellow house . In: Der Spiegel . No. 51 , 2010 ( online ).
- ↑ a b c Jean-Michel Berthoud: The strong man of Kosovo under massive attack . ( Memento from May 6, 2013 on WebCite ) Swissinfo , December 15, 2010.
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j Hashim Thaci: murderer and organ dealer? ( Memento from May 9, 2013 on WebCite ) Tages-Anzeiger , December 15, 2010.
- ^ A b c d e f g Henry Habegger: The terrible details from the report on the Kosovo war - “Swiss” mafia boss involved in organ trafficking! ( Memento from May 3, 2013 on WebCite ) Blick (newspaper) , December 14, 2010.
- ↑ a b c d Dick Marty: Inhuman treatment of people and illicit trafficking in human organs in Kosovo . ( Memento from May 2, 2013 on WebCite ) Council of Europe: Parliamentary Assembly, Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights, Doc. 12462, January 7, 2011, p. 24.
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Andrei Fedyashin: Organ trafficking and murders in Kosovo: Moscow is looking for evidence . ( Memento of May 7, 2013 on WebCite ) RIA Novosti, January 19, 2012.
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k Nick Thorpe: End of the road for Kosovo organ claims? ( Memento from May 9, 2013 on WebCite ) (English). BBC News, May 27, 2010.
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r Bloody business - On the trail of the organ trade in Kosovo , TV documentary by Arndt Ginzel, Martin Kraushaar and Ulrich Stoll, ZDF , 2011, broadcast on 13 July 2011 on ZDFzoom. Transcript ( Memento from May 7, 2013 on WebCite ) (German, PDF; 45 kB; Serbian ( Memento of the original from January 3, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and Archive link according to instructions and then remove this note. ), German transcript, sevimdagdelen.de
- ^ (First) Amended Indictment, Case No. IT-99-37-I ( Memento from January 7, 2013 on WebCite ) (English). ICTY, June 29, 2001.
- ^ Slobodan Milosevic ( Memento from January 13, 2013 on WebCite ), Who's who - Germany - The People-Lexikon, 1999–2012.
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i Organ trafficking in Kosovo Prime Minister Thaci in distress ( Memento from May 12, 2013 on WebCite ) Stern.de, December 17, 2010.
- ^ A b Tom Grange, Hroar Frydenlund: Forensic Examination and Assessment in Albania . ( Memento of May 4, 2013 on WebCite ) (English; PDF; 2.3 MB) UNMIK, Report (Internet version on guardian.co.uk) 4.-5. February 2004.
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j Matthias Chapman: “The prisoners begged their tormentors to kill them right away” . ( Memento from May 11, 2013 on WebCite ) Tages-Anzeiger , December 15, 2010.
- ↑ a b Dark suspicions in the Balkans - Was there organ harvesting in the post-war confusion? ( Memento from May 30, 2013 on WebCite ) RP Online (Source: AP), May 7, 2009.
- ^ A b c d e f Lawsuit against Dick Marty - Albanian family demands compensation after report on illegal organ trafficking ( memento from May 3, 2013 on WebCite ) Neue Zürcher Zeitung, March 31, 2011.
- ↑ a b Augustin Palokaj, Zeljko Pantalic, Katrin Teschner: organ trafficking during the Kosovo war? The secret of the yellow house . ( Memento from May 6, 2013 on WebCite ) WAZ, April 1, 2009.
- ^ The hunt of Carla Del Ponte ( Memento from May 9, 2013 on WebCite ) Neue Zürcher Zeitung, April 13, 2008.
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Enver Robelli: Kosovo Prime Minister Thaci - Organ trafficking, murder and illegal business ( Memento from May 7, 2013 on WebCite ) Süddeutsche Zeitung, January 31, 2011.
- ↑ a b Kouchner refers to reporter as "sick, insane" ( Memento from May 4, 2013 on WebCite ) (English). March 2, 2010.
- ↑ a b Reporter, associations react to Kouchner outburst ( Memento from May 4, 2013 on WebCite ) (English). B92, March 3, 2010.
- ↑ a b c Michel Dantan: C'est une maison jaune accrochée… Trafic d'organes: Kouchner pète les plombs ( Memento of May 4, 2013 on WebCite ) (French). Le nouveau NH, March 3, 2010.
- ^ A b Ian Bancroft: The tension between recognizing and relativizing war crimes . ( Memento from May 4, 2013 on WebCite ). The Guardian, March 10, 2010.
- ↑ a b Exclusif - Kouchner insulte un journaliste de Voice of America au Kosovo ( Memento from May 4, 2013 on WebCite ) (French), Novopress, March 3, 2010.
- ↑ a b c d e f g h Ian Traynor: Former war crimes prosecutor alleges Kosovan army harvested organs from Serb prisoners . ( Memento from May 2, 2013 on WebCite ) The Guardian, April 12, 2008.
- ↑ a b c d e f g h Frank Herold: Organ trade in the Kosovo War - Deported and gutted . ( Memento from May 6, 2013 on WebCite ) Frankfurter Rundschau online, September 13, 2012.
- ↑ a b Kosovo: A privileged partner ( Memento from January 23, 2013 on WebCite ) Internet version on www.politonline.ch, March 13, 2011; original source: german-foreign-policy.com of March 11, 2011; with reference to: Carla Del Ponte, La Caccia. Io ei Criminali di Guerra , Meiland 2008.
- ↑ Become part of the West ( Memento of May 8, 2013 on WebCite ) December 16, 2010
- ↑ Russia ups pressure on ex-war crimes prosecutor Del Ponte ( Memento from January 13, 2013 on WebCite ) (English). RIA Novosti, April 14, 2008.
- ↑ a b c Gaudenz Looser: Because of their memoirs: Muzzle for Del Ponte . ( Memento from May 11, 2013 on WebCite ) 20 minutes , April 7, 2008 3:59 p.m., updated: April 8, 2008 12:03 a.m.
- ↑ a b Julia Encke: The contradictions of truth - How do you tell about war? Carla Del Ponte and Emir Suljagic on the Yugoslavia conflict . ( Memento from May 11, 2013 on WebCite ) Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung, February 22, 2009, p. 28.
- ↑ a b c d Dani Glaus: EDA muzzles Carla Del Ponte ( Memento from May 11, 2013 on WebCite ), Tages-Anzeiger, February 5, 2009.
- ↑ a b c Thomas Roser: Excitement about alleged organ trade of the UÇK rebels . ( Memento from May 11, 2013 on WebCite ) Die Presse , April 14, 2008 (online edition) and April 15, 2008 (print edition).
- ↑ Kosovo (under UNSCR 1244/99) 2008 Progress Report - accompanying the Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council - Enlargement Strategy and Main Challenges 2008–2009 - {COM (2008) 674 ( Memento from May 30, 2013 on WebCite )}, Commission of the European Communities (English, PDF; 301 kB). SEC (2008) 2697, Commission Staff Working Document, Brussels, November 5, 2008, p. 26.
- ↑ Jessica von Felbert: Conflict Management in Southeast Europe. International intervention in the light of systemic disintegration ( Memento from May 30, 2013 on WebCite ) (PDF; 12.7 MB), dissertation, Westfälische Wilhelms-Universität zu Münster / Westphalia, 2011, p. 102.
- ↑ a b c d Inhuman treatment of people and illicit trafficking in human organs in Kosovo (provisional version) . (PDF) In: Council of Europe , draft resolution and explanatory memorandum by Dick Marty , (English, PDF; 396 kB) of December 12, 2010, accessed on December 19, 2010. Alternative online version ( Memento of December 1, 2013 on WebCite ) .
- ↑ a b c Organ trafficking in Kosovo: Marty's investigation and reaction of Switzerland ( Memento from May 7, 2013 on WebCite ) Humanrights.ch , Update: January 27, 2011.
- ↑ a b c Kosovo: EU Mission Needs Special Prosecutor to Investigate KLA - Witness Protection Key to Credible Investigation ( Memento from May 5, 2013 on WebCite ) Human Rights Watch, January 19, 2011.
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Kosovo's Prime Minister Thaci in distress - Council of Europe calls for legal action ( Memento from May 11, 2013 on WebCite ) Süddeutsche Zeitung, December 16, 2010, source and editor: dpa / AP / AFP / hai / segi.
- ↑ a b c d e f g ' Accusations in the Council of Europe: Kosovo Prime Minister Thaçi is said to be involved in organ mafia. In: Spiegel Online. December 15, 2010, accessed August 1, 2019 .
- ↑ a b c d e Paul Lewis: Report identifies Hashim Thaci as 'big fish' in organized crime - Kosovo's prime minister accused of criminal connections in secret NATO documents leaked to the Guardian . ( Memento from January 23, 2013 on WebCite ) The Guardian, January 24, 2011.
- ↑ Norbert Mappes-Niediek: A flexible character ( memento from January 23, 2013 on WebCite ) In: Berliner Zeitung , July 2, 2003.
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i Thomas Fuster: Horrible things about Kosovo's top government ( Memento from May 11, 2013 on WebCite ) Neue Zürcher Zeitung, December 16, 2010.
- ↑ Dick Marty: Inhuman treatment of people and illicit trafficking in human organs in Kosovo . ( Memento from May 2, 2013 on WebCite ) Council of Europe: Parliamentary Assembly, Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights, Doc. 12462, January 7, 2011, p. 13 f.
- ↑ Doreen Carvajal, Marlise Simons: Report Names Kosovo Leader as Crime Boss ( Memento from May 12, 2013 on WebCite ) (English) The New York Times, December 15, 2010.
- ^ Carl Polónyi: Salvation and Destruction: National Myths and War Using the Example of Yugoslavia 1980-2004. Berliner Wissenschafts-Verlag, 2010, ISBN 978-3-8305-1724-5 , pp. 298f, 307, footnote 166, with reference to Dietrich Willer: The new gentlemen in Kosovo? , taz, 17./18. April 1999, p. 15 (In: Der Kosovokrieg , taz-Dossier 1999).
- ↑ Wolfgang Petritsch, Robert Pichler: Kosovo - Kosova - The long way to peace. Wieser, Klagenfurt u. a. 2004, ISBN 3-85129-430-0 , p. 150.
- ^ A b Dick Marty: Inhuman treatment of people and illicit trafficking in human organs in Kosovo ( Memento from May 2, 2013 on WebCite ) Council of Europe: Parliamentary Assembly, Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights, Doc. 12462, January 7, 2011, p. 16.
- ↑ a b c d e f g h Fatmir Aliu: Kosovo Lawmaker Testifies in Medicus Organ Trafficking Case . ( Memento from May 13, 2013 on WebCite ). Balkan Insight (BI), February 14, 2012 (BIRN = Balkan Investigative Reporting Network).
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l Enver Robelli: The wall of silence falls in Kosovo - In these days the parliament in Pristina is likely to approve the establishment of a special tribunal to investigate the war crimes of high Kosovo rebels. Former member of the Council of States Dick Marty paved the way . ( Memento from May 1, 2014 on WebCite ) Basler Zeitung, April 22, 2014.
- ^ A b Dick Marty: Inhuman treatment of people and illicit trafficking in human organs in Kosovo ( Memento from May 2, 2013 on WebCite ) Council of Europe: Parliamentary Assembly, Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights, Doc. 12462, January 7, 2011, p. 18 ff., 6.
- ↑ a b c d e f Gregory Tinsky: Terrors of Priština. New facts about the Western special services, hiding KLC criminal activity ( Memento from May 8, 2013 on WebCite ) worldintellectual.net, October 17, 2011.
- ↑ Dick Marty: Inhuman treatment of people and illicit trafficking in human organs in Kosovo ( Memento from May 2, 2013 on WebCite ) Council of Europe: Parliamentary Assembly, Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights, Doc. 12462, January 7, 2011, p. 1.
- ^ A b Dick Marty: Inhuman treatment of people and illicit trafficking in human organs in Kosovo . ( Memento from May 2, 2013 on WebCite ) Council of Europe: Parliamentary Assembly, Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights, Doc. 12462, January 7, 2011, p. 2.
- ↑ a b c d Dick Marty: Inhuman treatment of people and illicit trafficking in human organs in Kosovo ( Memento from May 2, 2013 on WebCite ) (English) Council of Europe: Parliamentary Assembly, Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights, Doc. 12462, January 7, 2011, p. 22 f.
- ^ A b Dick Marty: Inhuman treatment of people and illicit trafficking in human organs in Kosovo . Ed .: Council of Europe. Doc. 12462, 7 January 2011 ( Council of Europe website - report for the Council of Europe). Council of Europe website ( Memento of the original of 26 June 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ A b Henry Habegger: Shock report on the Kosovo war: “Swiss” mafia boss involved in organ trafficking! In: look . December 15, 2010, p. 2 ( Blick.ch ).
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j Bernhard Odehnal: In the footsteps of Doctor Frankenstein - The organ trade business is flourishing. The traces always lead to Kosovo and Turkey . ( Memento from May 7, 2013 on WebCite ) Tagesanzeiger, December 18, 2010.
- ^ Prime Minister Thaci wins elections in Kosovo ( Memento from May 9, 2013 on WebCite ) Tages-Anzeiger , December 13, 2010.
- ↑ a b c Thaci criticizes Marty - Kosovo's Prime Minister demands an independent investigation ( Memento from May 11, 2013 on WebCite ) Neue Zürcher Zeitung, December 21, 2010.
- ↑ a b c Adelheid Wölfl: Kosovo and organ harvesting ( memento from May 30, 2013 on WebCite ) derStandard.at , September 11, 2012.
- ↑ a b c d e Thaci weighs heavily on secret documents ( memento from May 11, 2013 on WebCite ) Tages-Anzeiger, January 25, 2011.
- ↑ a b c d e Manfred Bleskin: interjection - organ trade: allegations against Thaçi . ( Memento from May 11, 2013 on WebCite ) n-tv, January 25, 2011.
- ↑ a b c d e f g UN says Albania 'stalling' Serb human organs inquiry ( Memento from May 4, 2013 on WebCite ) (English). BBV News, February 23, 2010.
- ↑ a b c d Organ trafficking allegations: UN criticizes Albania ( Memento from May 9, 2013 on WebCite ) derStandard.at , February 24, 2010.
- ↑ a b c Albania accused of obstructing organ trafficking case ( Memento from May 9, 2013 on WebCite ) (English). B92, February 23, 2010.
- ^ Lawsuit against Dick Marty. In: NZZ Online. March 31, 2011, accessed March 31, 2011 .
- ↑ Albanian court rejects defamation suit against Dick Marty. In: Southeastern Switzerland . June 8, 2011, Retrieved June 8, 2011 .
- ↑ a b Illegal organ trafficking: Were Kosovar Serbs kidnapped to Albania under the eyes of Bundeswehr soldiers? ( Memento from May 2, 2013 on WebCite ) NDR, press release, April 7, 2011.
- ↑ a b sheet: According to NATO, the head of the Kosovo government was a serious criminal ( Memento from May 11, 2013 on WebCite ) Reuters, January 25, 2011.
- ↑ PACE calls for investigation on alleged organ trafficking in Kosovo ( Memento from May 12, 2013 on WebCite ) (English). RT , January 25, 2011 (edited: January 26, 2011). Videolink: YouTube (English).
- ↑ Vuk. Z. Cvijić: Money from sold body organs ended on accounts in Switzerland . ( Memento from May 12, 2013 on WebCite ). Blic online, December 17, 2010.
- ↑ a b c d e “Blic”: Money from organ theft in Swiss accounts ( Memento from May 30, 2013 on WebCite ) Tages-Anzeiger, December 17, 2010.
- ↑ a b Serbia - Investigation into organ trafficking in Kosovo should be completed in 2014 ( Memento from May 17, 2013 on WebCite ) Zeit online, April 25, 2013.
- ↑ Deportations under the eyes of the Bundeswehr? (PDF; 278 kB) In: NDR Info. April 11, 2011, accessed October 11, 2012 .
- ↑ EU steps up probe into Kosovo organ-trafficking claims. In: EUbusiness. June 10, 2011, accessed May 11, 2012 .
- ↑ Thomas Fuster: Illegal organ transplants in Kosovo . In: Neue Zürcher Zeitung . No. 100 , May 2, 2013, p. 7 .
- ↑ About SITF ( Memento from August 10, 2014 on WebCite ) (English), www.sitf.eu, [undated].
- ↑ John Clint Williamson ( Memento from August 10, 2014 on WebCite ) (English), www.sitf.eu, [undated].
- ↑ Albania gives the green light to international investigations into organ trafficking. In: RIA Novosti. May 10, 2012, Retrieved May 11, 2012 .
- ↑ EULEX, arrests in Albania ?! (No longer available online.) In: Top Channel . May 10, 2012, archived from the original on February 21, 2014 ; accessed on May 11, 2012 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ a b c d Organ trafficking in Kosovo: Belgrade wants to bring new testimony to UN prosecutors ( Memento from May 9, 2013 on WebCite ) RIA Novosti, September 11, 2012.
- ↑ a b Анатомија злочина - Емисија "Анатомија злочина" у којој објављујемо део исповести заштићеног сведока ( Memento of 12 May 2013 Webcite ) (website: Serbian; Video: Serbian and Albanian with Serbian subtitles) - (anatomija zločina dt .: Anatomy of a crime), РТС 1 (RTS 1), September 10, 2012, author of the program: Милош Милић (Miloš Milić), interlocutor: Бруно Векарић (Bruno Vekarić). Separate video links: RTS (Serbian, flv file download: 136.67 MB); YouTube: Kosovo and Albania - Organ Trafficking (Anatomy of a Crime) (video, Serbian with English subtitles, approx. 68 minutes), uploaded by YouTube user DjukiNew on February 1, 2013. Translated transcripts of testimony of the witness (Serbian): Анатомија злочина ОВК ( Memento from May 12, 2013 on WebCite ), RTS, September 10, 2012.
- ↑ Video today in Europe: Organ trafficking in Kosovo - Serbia presents key witnesses for cruel organ trafficking in the Kosovo war (September 17, 2012, 2:00 min.) In the ZDFmediathek , accessed on May 12, 2013. (offline)
- ↑ Protest against arrests of possible war criminals in Kosovo ( Memento from May 28, 2013 on WebCite ) euronews, May 27, 2013.
- ↑ Five individuals arrested for war crimes ( Memento from May 28, 2013 on WebCite ) EULEX Kosovo, press release, May 23, 2013.
- ↑ EULEX to remain in Kosovo ( Memento from February 4, 2014 on WebCite ). Tanjug, January 9, 2014.
- ↑ "EU mission to remain in Kosovo" ( Memento from January 25, 2014 on WebCite ) (English). B92, January 10, 2014.
- ^ Investigation of organ trafficking in Kosovo ended ( memento from January 25, 2014 on WebCite ) Voice of Russia, January 15, 2014.
- ↑ Williamson's spokesperson: Yellow house probe still under way ( Memento from January 26, 2014 on WebCite ) (English). Tanjug, January 15, 2014.
- ↑ Hashim Thaçi: “Our people are not used to peace” ( Memento from February 18, 2014 on WebCite ) euronews, February 13, 2014, “ globalconversation ” interview by Isabelle Kumar with Hashim Thaçi. See also: Hashim Thaçi: “Our people are not used to peace” , YouTube, published by the YouTube channel Global Conversation on February 14, 2014.
- ↑ The road to recognition: Kosovo's PM Thaci on statehood, corruption and the EU dream ( Memento from February 18, 2014 on WebCite ) (English). euronews, February 13, 2014, “globalconversation” interview by Isabelle Kumar with Hashim Thaçi.
- ↑ a b c d Kosovo: Chief prosecutor confirms KLA indictments after investigation of Parliamentary Assembly allegations ( Memento from January 5, 2015 on WebCite ) (English). humanrightseurope.org, July 29, 2014.
- ↑ a b c d Julian Borger: Senior Kosovo figures face prosecution for crimes against humanity - Possible indictment of senior officials of former Kosovo Liberation Army relate to claims of ethnic cleansing since 1999 ( Memento from December 29, 2014 on WebCite ) (English) The Guardian, July 29, 2014.
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k Nebi Qena: EU to set up court for Kosovo crimes ( Memento from May 7, 2014 on WebCite ) (English). 3news, April 5, 2014.
- ↑ a b Germinal Civikov: Wesley Clark must not be a witness . Novo 90, September / October 2007
- ^ Transcript for the hearing of Frederick Cronig Abrahams' witnesses before the ICTY, June 3, 2002 , pp. 6029ff.
- ↑ Monday, March 6, 2002 - trial in two (2) segments 09:00 - 13:45 ( RAM ; 0 kB), video of the ICTY session on June 3, 2004, http://hague.bard.edu/ past_video / 06-2002.html
- ↑ Foreign Minister of Kosovo: “Like a prison in the middle of Europe” ( Memento from July 10, 2015 on WebCite ) spiegel.de, July 6, 2015, Interview by Susanne Koelbl with Hashim Thaçi.
- ↑ a b c d Erich Rathfelder: UCK in the dock - A special tribunal should clarify whether and which war crimes members of the Kosovar Albanian Liberation Army committed between 1999 and 2000 . ( Memento from May 24, 2014 on WebCite ) taz.de, April 24, 2014.
- ↑ a b c Kosovo: Parliament to vote on war crimes tribunal ( Memento from May 1, 2014 on WebCite ) euronews, April 18, 2014.
- ↑ a b c d e f Bahri Cani: New war crimes tribunal in Kosovo - A special tribunal is to investigate the crimes of the Kosovar Liberation Army - this has been decided by the Kosovar parliament. Among other things, it concerns the trade in organs from prisoners . ( Memento from May 1, 2014 on WebCite ) Deutsche Welle, April 24, 2014.
- ↑ a b c d e Helmar Dumbs: 15 years after the war in Kosovo: mass grave with 400 bodies? ( Memento from May 24, 2014 on WebCite ) DiePresse.com, April 16, 2014.
- ↑ a b c d e Kosovo - Parliament in Kosovo decides on war crimes tribunal ( memento from July 10, 2015 on WebCite ) Blick.ch, April 23, 2014. SDA report.
- ↑ Kosovo's parliament wants to comment on the war crimes tribunal ( memento from May 24, 2014 on WebCite ) Tiroler Tageszeitung, April 22, 2014. APA report.
- ↑ Continuation of EULEX Kosovo is a testimony to Kosovo's maturity and sense of responsibility ( Memento from May 1, 2014 on WebCite ) Federal Foreign Office, press release, April 24, 2014.
- ↑ Andreas Heegt: Foreign Office welcomes extension of the EULEX mission in Kosovo ( Memento from May 1, 2014 on WebCite ) Polenum.org, April 24, 2014, DTS report.
- ↑ a b c d e Enver Robelli: Witnesses to the war crimes are allowed to testify abroad - The new special tribunal for Kosovar-Albanian rebels wants to protect the witnesses above all. So far, they have lived dangerously: the fear of revenge among compatriots is great. The judgment will therefore meet in two places . ( Memento from May 2, 2014 on WebCite ) Tagesanzeiger.ch, April 24, 2014 (created on April 23, 2014). Also published under the same title ( Memento from May 1, 2014 on WebCite ) in: Der Bund, April 24, 2014.
- ↑ US lawyer new chief prosecutor for war crimes in Kosovo ( memento from December 29, 2014 on WebCite ) derStandard.at, December 12, 2014.
- ↑ a b Kosovo: Set Up Special Court - Justice Needed for Post-War Crimes ( Memento from December 29, 2014 on WebCite ) (English). Human Rights Watch, December 16, 2014.
- ↑ a b c d Suspect arrested - Doctors in Kosovo conduct illegal organ trafficking ( Memento from May 7, 2013 on WebCite ) Focus online, May 25, 2012.
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y Arndt Ginzel, Martin Kraushaar, Steffen Winter: The bought kidney . In: Der Spiegel . No. 31 , 2012 ( online ).
- ↑ Enver Robelli (Koha Ditore): Veshka e Verës dhe imazhi i Kosovës ( Memento from May 8, 2013 on WebCite ) (Albanian), Res Publica, August 2, 2012.
- ^ Illegal organ transplants: Trace from the Balkans to Germany ( Memento from May 8, 2013 on WebCite ) Wochenblatt , July 29, 2012.
- ↑ a b Organ trafficking in Kosovo ( Memento from May 8, 2013 on WebCite ) Kosmo (Kosovo and Metohija), August 22, 2012.
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i People and Power - Organ Traders ( Memento from May 10, 2013 on WebCite ) (English, 24 minutes). Al Jazeera English (distribution), film by Claudio von Planta (direction, camera and editing) and Juliana Ruhfus (report), December 2012. Also available on YouTube : People & Power - The Organ Traders (English, approx. 24 minutes), uploaded by YouTube user AlJazeeraEnglish on December 19, 2012.
- ↑ Indictment (Lutfi Dervishi et al.) ( Memento of the original from January 6, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (English, PDF, no official version !; 390 kB), Special Prosecution Office of the Republic of Kosovo, Special Prosecutor - EULEX (Jonathan Ratel), PPS no. 02/09, October 15, 2010 (indictment against Lutfi DERVISHI, Arban DERVISHI, Driton JILTA, Ilir RRECAJ and Sokol HAJDINI). A facsimile version of the indictment can be found on lajmeshqip.com (Albanian).
- ↑ a b c d e f Update on Medicus case ( Memento from May 15, 2013 on WebCite ) EULEX Kosovo, press release, December 12, 2010.
- ↑ 15,000 euros for kidneys - accused shocked with organ trafficking in Kosovo ( memento from May 17, 2013 on WebCite ) heute.at , April 6, 2013.
- ↑ a b c d e f g h i Paul Lewis: The doctor at the heart of Kosovo's organ scandal ( Memento from May 10, 2013 on WebCite ) (English). The Guardian, December 17, 2010.
- ↑ Successful donation campaign by German urologists in Kosovo ( Memento from May 8, 2013 on WebCite ) June 14, 2005, German Society for Urology e. V., press release, Bettina-Cathrin Wahlers - DGU press office (Internet version at idw-online.de - Science Information Service). See Fig. ( Memento from May 8, 2013 on WebCite ), Internet version on idw-online.de (Science Information Service).
- ↑ Ekskluzive, Dosja Medicus: Dr. Përbindëshat ( Memento of May 8, 2013 on WebCite ) lajmeshqip.com, October 7, 2011. With an online version of the 48-page indictment.
- ^ A b c Suspected organ trafficking: Turkish doctor released after arrest ( Memento from May 7, 2013 on WebCite ) Original , RIA Novosti, January 12, 2011, May 7, 2013.
- ↑ a b c d e f g h Turkish doctor at large despite organ trafficking allegation ( Memento from May 7, 2013 on WebCite ) Deutsches Ärzteblatt, January 12, 2011.
- ↑ a b The Organ Traders - An investigation into illegal human organ trading in Kosovo, Turkey and Israel, and the challenges facing law enforcers ( Memento from January 5, 2015 on WebCite ). Al Jazeera, December 20, 2012.
- ↑ Holanđani znaju gde je "doctor Smrt", ali ga ne hapse ( Memento from January 5, 2015 on WebCite ) (Serbian). Blic Online, September 2, 2014.
- ↑ Israeli organ trafficking ring-leader arrested ( Memento from May 12, 2013 on WebCite ) (English). PressTV.com, May 25, 2012.
- ↑ Florent Spahija: Izraeli Arreston Ndërmjetësuesin e Transplantimit të Veshkave ( Memento from May 12, 2013 on WebCite ) (Albanian). Gazeta Jeta në Kosovë, May 24, 2012.
- ↑ a b c d Rasti Medicus: Shaip Muja rrëfehet sot në gjykatë ( Memento from May 13, 2013 on WebCite ) (Albanian). LajmeShqip.com, February 12, 2012.
- ^ Research in the area of the organ mafia . (mp4 file, approx. 2:30 minutes; 27.2 MB), Der Spiegel, 31/2012. URL for smartphone users: http://www.spiegel.de/app312012organhandel
- ^ A b c Dick Marty: Inhuman treatment of people and illicit trafficking in human organs in Kosovo . ( Memento from May 2, 2013 on WebCite ) Council of Europe: Parliamentary Assembly, Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights, Doc. 12462, January 7, 2011, p. 25.
- ↑ a b Michał Kokot: The EU is gambling away its good reputation in Kosovo ( Memento from January 5, 2015 on WebCite ) Zeit Online, November 21, 2014.
- ↑ Corruption Perceptions Index 2013 - CPI 2013: Tabular ranking ( memento from January 5, 2015 on WebCite ) Transparency International, December 3, 2013.
- ↑ Corruption Perceptions Index 2014 - CPI 2014: Tabular ranking ( memento from January 5, 2015 on WebCite ) Transparency International, December 3, 2014.
- ^ Anne Raith: Suspicion of corruption - EULEX mission in Kosovo continues to lose prestige . ( Memento from January 5, 2015 on WebCite ) Deutschlandfunk, November 11, 2014.
- ↑ a b c d e f g h Adelheid Wölfl: Kosovo: Eulex public prosecutor targets EU mission - allegations of corruption reveal a weakness in Eulex: officials can hardly be brought to justice . ( Memento from December 29, 2014 on WebCite ) derStandard.at, November 10, 2014.
- ↑ The long shadow of Klecka ( Memento of 30 December 2014 Webcite German) shaft 25 November 2012 found.
- ^ Westphalian Peace Prize 2002 for Carla Del Ponte . ( Memento from January 19, 2013 on WebCite ) Economic Society for Westphalia and Lippe (WWL), December 28, 2001.
- ↑ a b Jutta Steinhoff: Chief Prosecutor Del Ponte is honored for her courage . ( Memento from January 19, 2013 on WebCite ) Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, December 28, 2001, dpa.
- ↑ a b c Cathrin Schütz: Thoughts on the legacy of the Milošević process. In: Germinal Civikov: The Milošević Process - Report of an Observer , Promedia, Vienna 2006, ISBN 3-85371-264-9 , pp. 205-210.
- ^ Diana Johnstone : Humanitarian War: Making the Crime Fit the Punishment. In: Tariq Ali: Masters of the Universe? - Nato's Balkan Crusade , Verso, 2000, ISBN 1-85984-752-8 , pp. 147–170, here p. 165.
- ↑ Germinal Civikov: The Milosevic trial - Report of an observer. Promedia, Vienna 2006, ISBN 3-85371-264-9 , pp. 194-201.
- ^ Ian Traynor: Del Ponte tells of admiration for Milosevic . ( Memento from January 19, 2013 on WebCite ) (English). The Guardian, July 29, 2006.
- ↑ a b Carla Del Ponte “I was fascinated by Milosevic” . ( Memento from January 19, 2013 on WebCite ) Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, July 27, 2006.
- ↑ "How Milosevic heard certain witnesses was fascinating" UN chief prosecutor Carla Del Ponte on the former Belgrade dictator and the obstacles before her work can be successfully completed . ( Memento from January 19, 2013 on WebCite ) Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, July 28, 2006, p. 4.
- ↑ Cathrin Schütz: The false tribunal - The "Milosevic case" in the Hague - Imperialism versus international law . young world, November 7, 2003
- ↑ Amina Alijagić, Some Aspects of the Genocide and the (Non) Achievement of Transitional Justice , International Journal of Rule of Law, Transitional Justice and Human Rights, 1, 2010 , 28-41, here p. 31, available online on Google Books .
- ^ Judgment of the ICJ of February 26, 2007 ( memento of January 19, 2013 on WebCite ) (English and French, PDF; 1.9 MB). Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (Bosnia and Herzegovina v. Serbia and Montenegro), Judgment, ICJ Reports 2007, p. 43ff., ISBN 978-92-1-071029-9 .
- ↑ Summary of the IGH judgment of February 26, 2007 ( Memento of January 19, 2013 on WebCite ) (English; PDF; 685 kB). Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (Bosnia and Herzegovina v. Serbia and Montenegro), Summary of the Judgment of 26 February 2007.
- ↑ Dick Marty: Inhuman treatment of people and illicit trafficking in human organs in Kosovo . ( Memento from May 2, 2013 on WebCite ) Council of Europe: Parliamentary Assembly, Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights, Doc. 12462, January 7, 2011, pp. 14 f., Footnote 29.
- ↑ Hubert Spiegel: Report on Kosovo - Dance in the Balkans . ( Memento from May 29, 2013 on WebCite ) Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, May 10, 2013.
- ↑ a b c CrossTalk: Kosovo's Bloody Organs . YouTube, uploaded on December 22, 2010 by YouTube user RussiaToday. Retrieved on May 18, 2013.
- ↑ a b Bojana Barlovac: French FM Calls Reporter 'Sick' for Organ Trafficking Question . ( Memento from May 4, 2013 on WebCite ). BalkanInsight, March 3, 2010.
- ↑ Bernard Kouchner Dement les accusations de Carla del Ponte . ( Memento from May 4, 2013 on WebCite ) (French, video partly with English subtitles). Voltairenet.org, March 5, 2010.
- ^ Bernard Kouchner - The Yellow House, Bernar Kušner - Žuta Kuća (French and Serbian, with Serbian subtitles), YouTube user atropins, uploaded March 2, 2010, accessed May 4, 2013.
- ↑ Kušner novinara nazvao ludakom (French and Serbian), YouTube , YouTube user b92rtv , uploaded on March 2, 2010, accessed on May 5, 2013.
- ^ Tybalt Félix: Trafic d'organes au Kosovo: Bernard Kouchner n'y croit pas . ( Memento of May 4, 2013 on WebCite ) (French) RTS Info, April 8, 2011.
- ↑ Bernard Kouchner sees no evidence of organ trafficking - Former UN administrator for Kosovo criticizes Del Ponte and Marty ( Memento from May 3, 2013 on WebCite ) Neue Zürcher Zeitung Online, April 5, 2011.
- ↑ Thomas Zaugg: What happened in Burrel? (No longer available online.) In: Das Magazin. February 13, 2010, archived from the original on November 23, 2010 ; Retrieved October 9, 2010 .
- ↑ Renate Flottau: The house at the end of the world . In: Der Spiegel . No. 39 , 2008 ( online ).
- ↑ 17/6036 - High-ranking Kosovar politicians and officials involved in illegal activities ( Memento from May 8, 2013 on WebCite ) (PDF), German Bundestag, 17th electoral period, Federal Government's response to the minor question from MPs Sevim Dağdelen, Dr. Diether Dehm, Heike Hänsel, other MPs and the Die LINKE parliamentary group, printed matter 17/5848, May 30, 2011. Alternative internet source : 17/6036 - High-ranking Kosovar politicians and officials involved in illegal activities (PDF, German ( Memento from May 8th 2013 on WebCite ), Serbian ( memento of the original from September 24, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this note. (PDF; 545 kB ), English ( Memento of the original from September 24, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this note .; PDF; 230 kB), German Version archived from the Internet version ( Memento of the original from May 8, 2013 on WebCite ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 105 kB) on sevimdagdelen.de ( Memento of the original from January 3, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on May 8, 2013.
- ↑ Bloody business: On the trail of organ trafficking in Kosovo - Sevim Dağdelen in the ZDFzoom program on July 13, 2011 ( memento from May 8, 2013 on WebCite ) sevimdagdelen.de
- Jump up ↑ Ending German friendship with war criminals in Kosovo ( Memento from May 8, 2013 on WebCite ) Press release by Sevim Dagdelen, July 14, 2011.
- ^ A b c Cruel Harvest: Exposed organ trafficking cashed in on poor & prisoners . YouTube, uploaded on November 14, 2010 by YouTube user RussiaToday. Retrieved on May 12, 2013.