17 December 2010
Source: B92, Pristina
After the adoption of the Report submitted by Dick Marty in which Hashim Thaci is accused for trafficking in human organs, Thaci negates the accusations, while Belgrade calls the final epilogue to be given to this case.
CoE Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights adopted the report and draft resolution linking prime minister of Kosovo with trafficking in human organs of kidnapped civilians in Kosovo in 1999.
Prime Minister of Kosovo Hashim Thaci rejected the accusations from the report and assessed them as insulting. He stated that “The goal of these accusations is to distort the image and discredit the international reputation of Kosovo”.
Hashim Thaci called the accusations made by the CoE Rapporteur Dick Marty “scandalous” and assessed the report as “overfull of lies and defamation which represent a form of the recycled propaganda from the last 15 years”.
Thaci stated that the accusations have been launched by “the persons who do not wish any good to Kosovo and its citizens”.
At the press conference in Pristina the prime minister of Kosovo said that Kosovan institutions are ready to provide any documentation and argumentation which could be required, asking for Marty to offer evidence and facts he uses in his report.
He declared: “We owe it to our future generations to come after us in order to protect the value that we have created as a people – the Kosovo Liberation Army – from the tendencies which have a goal to depreciate the historical role it played for the freedom and independence of Kosovo”.
Thaci said that “all efforts in this direction in the same time represent efforts for the destruction of the state of Kosovo”.
EULEX: It is necessary to provide evidence
In the same time, EULEX spokesperson Irina Gudeljevic called Council of Europe rapporteur to provide the authorities in charge with evidence, for the allegations from the report relating to war crimes and trafficking in human organs.
“EULEX takes very seriously all accusations regarding war crimes or organized crime” – said Gudeljevic.
Gudeljevic also added: “However, the prosecution has to base the investigation on evidence. We encourage those who have relevant evidence which can substantiate the allegations of the report to submit them to the relevant authorities”.
“Nonetheless, I have to underline that EULEX already has a certain number of cases which are connected to war crimes and organized crime, and which are currently in the status of investigation or criminal prosecution”, said Gudeljevic.
Answering the question related to the case of the private medical clinic “Medicus” that appears in Marty’s report as a place where illegal transplantation of human organs has been executed, Gudeljevic said that the introductory discussion has been initiated in front of the District court in Pristina.
According to her, should the indictment be confirmed the trial will also be initiated.
Opposing views from Belgrade and Tirana
Dick Marty’s report has been followed by the reaction of Tirana – Jozefina Topali, the President of the Parliament, stated that the report was directed against Albania, its partners around the world and against the peace in the region.
The president of the Serbian government’s Commission on Missing Persons, Veljko Odalovic, said in the TV B92 News that the adoption of Dick Marty’s report by CoE represents a victory of this European institution.
“The international community should now take steps in order to provide full support for the opening of a comprehensive investigation – it could be undertaken by the Albanian authorities or it could be an international investigation”.
“In either way, it is not possible to just end this situation and the most important thing is that it is receives a final epilogue” – said Odalovic.
Del Ponte supports the investigation
Former Chief Prosecutor of the UN Hague Tribunal welcomed the CoE Report and called the international community to offer support to EULEX in a detailed investigation.