PACE to debate Kosovo organ trade report

24 January 2011 | 09:16 | Source: B92, Beta

BELGRADE -- The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe will today start a debate on the Kosovo organ trafficking resolution submitted by Dick Marty. (FoNet, file) The Swiss senator was appointed the CoE special rapporteur in the case, and in late 2010 presented his findings in a document that was used as a basis for the draft resolution. The draft, which is one of a total of four resolutions dealing with issues related to the former Yugoslavia, will be on the agenda in Tuesday. A day later, PACE will be addressed by Serbian President Boris Tadić. The assembly is also scheduled to hear speeches of Turkish and Romanian presidents, and Albanian PM Sali Berisha. The draft resolution, drawn up based on the Marty report, states that according to a large number of indicators, some prisoners had their organs taken away in a clinic in Albania, near the town of Fushe Kruje. According to the document, this happened after the end of armed conflict in Kosovo in 1999 and before international forces could take control of the area. The victims were Serbs and other civilians kidnapped in Kosovo. The text further says that crimes committed by the Serb forces created a situation where only one side was viewed as criminal, while the other was seen as unconditionally innocent, but that the reality was less clear and more complex. While Serbia cooperated, it proved complicated to conduct exhumations on the territory of Kosovo, and impossible to the same in Albania, according to this. The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe pleads with the international community and Belgrade, Priština and Tirana authorities to take concrete steps towards resolving the issue of organ trafficking and other crimes committed during and after the Kosovo conflict, Beta news agency quotes the draft. Meanwhile, the head of Serbia's delegation at PACE, Dragoljub Mićunović, said he expected the resolution to be adopted without major changes that would include amendments to bring into question the tone or intent of the report. That, according to Mićunović, is to conduct a very serious, primarily international investigation and solve the case. "This is not so simple, but other than to the criminals who did this, the tail also leads to those who ordered it. Therefore, this is a fairly complex job," said he.