CoE's Marty visits Moscow

21 December 2010 | 10:32 | Source: Tanjug

MOSCOW -- Council of Europe (CoE) Special Rapporteur Dick Marty said ON Monday in Moscow on Monday that he does not fear for his life. Dick Marty (Tanjug, file) Asked by reporters whether he feared assault by Kosovo Albanians after he designated outgoing Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaci as the leader of a criminal gang involved in organ, weapons and drug trafficking since 1999, Marty answered that he did not. Speaking for Swiss weekly NZZ am Sonntag on Monday, the rapporteur also revealed that he had been assigned police protection, but that he was leading a normal life at his home in Switzerland. Marty, who discussed with Russian officials mainly the relations between Russia and Georgia, also spoke of his report, which was described as a bombshell by Russian news agency RIA Novosti. Marty ends his visit to Russia Tuesday, and his report on Kosovo will be on the agenda of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly in January. In the interview for the weekly published earlier on Monday, the Swiss senator said that Kosovo cannot build its future without confronting its past, and that his report is not against Kosovo, but for it, especially for those of its people who want to live in a well organized society. He was surprised by the amount of publicity surrounding his report. Former chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia Carla Del Ponte and a number of journalists had talked about the crimes mentioned in the report, but perhaps the report itself contains more details, Marty explained. "It was impossible to ignore the name of Kosovo's Prime Minister Hashim Thaci, since it can be found in many police reports," Marty noted. He stated that his intention was not to influence the Kosovo elections, but added he was not surprised by the irregularities of the process because Thaci was so powerful there. The report does not directly involve Thaci in all the crimes, but nothing happens without the knowledge of the boss in an organized group of criminals, Marty pointed out.