| Reactions to CoE investigator’s report 17 December 2010 | 10:54 | Source: B92, Tanjug BELGRADE, PRIŠTINA -- After the adoption of Dick Marty’s report, Hashim Thaci has denied accusations against him, linking him to human organs trafficking. The map of suspected detention facilities used by the KLA in Albania The CoE Human Rights Committee adopted both the report and a draft resolution linking the Kosovo Albanian leader to trade in organs harvested from kidnapped Serb and other civilians in Kosovo in 1999. Thaci, who is currently Kosovo's PM, has denied all allegations and called them “offensive”. “The goal of these accusations is to destroy the image and international reputation of the state of Kosovo,” he claims. Thaci said Marty’s allegations were “scandalous” and that his report “is a text full of lies and defamation which are recycled propaganda that has been going on for the last 15 years”. He stressed that the accusations were launched “by persons who do not wish well to Kosovo and its citizens”. The Kosovo PM told a press conference in Priština late on Thursday that "Kosovo's institutions were ready to provide documents and arguments that would be requested" and demanded that Marty provided evidence and facts he mentioned in the report. “We owe it to all future generations that will come after us to protect the values we’ve created as people, and that’s Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), from tendencies aiming at belittling historic role it played for freedom and independence of Kosovo,” said Thaci. “All efforts in this direction are also efforts to destroy the state of Kosovo,” Thaci concluded. EULEX Spokeswoman Irina Gudeljević, meanwhile, called upon the CoE investigator to present evidence for the war crimes and human organ trade allegations to the competent authorities. “EULEX is taking very seriously all accusations of war crimes or organized crime,” she stressed. “However, the prosecution needs to base its investigation on evidence. We encourage all those who have relevant evidence that will confirm the allegations from the report to hand them to the appropriate authorities,” the EU mission spokeswoman said. “But what I have to point out is that the mission already has a certain number of cases that are linked to war crimes and organized crime that are being investigated or are in the stage of criminal prosecution,” Gudeljević stressed. When asked about the private Medicus clinic that Marty mentioned in his report as a place where illegal organ transplantations took place, she said that an initial hearing had already begun at the District Court in Priština. In Belgrade, head of the Serbian government's Commission for Missing Persons Veljko Odalović stated on Thursday that the adoption of Marty’s report was a great victory of this European institution. “The CoE Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights adopted by a huge majority Marty's report on illegal trade in human organs in Kosovo and Albania, identified possible perpetrators and gave guidelines for future activities,” he stressed. Odalović told B92 that he had witnessed suffering and disappearance of people in Priština in the chaotic period between 1999 and 2000, when 1,500 persons, not only Serbs but also Albanians, had been kidnapped and killed. He underlined that ethnic cleansing was linked with human organ trafficking, and that now the international community had to offer full support and secure comprehensive international investigation of the case. According to him, nothing can stop this process now from being fully detangled. “Priština has to deal with the fact that the main suspect in Marty's report is current Prime Minister of Kosovo Hashim Thaci, however it is up to Albanians to decide whether they will take a risk and appoint Thaci president regardless of Marty's report,” he concluded. Meanwhile, Dick Marty will visit Moscow on Monday and discuss the report with Russian officials. Deputy Head of the Russian delegation at the PACE Leonid Slutsky told Kommersant daily that the main topic of Marty's talks with Russian officials would be the relations between Russia and Georgia, which PACE had been discussing regularly since the conflict in South Ossetia. He, however, noted that during the visit, members of the Russian delegation would take a stand on Marty's report, in which Thaci was qualified as the leader of a group engaged in organ, drugs and weapons trafficking. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated Wednesday that Russia was deeply troubled by the information of the possible involvement of Kosovo's top officials in the crimes against humanity. |
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