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Serbia Asks UN for Investigation into Human Organ Smuggling

   Margaret Besheer | United Nations  February 16, 2011

   Serbia has asked the U.N. Security Council to authorize an independent
   criminal investigation into allegations that some of its citizens were
   killed  for their organs by ethnic Albanian gangs in Kosovo during the
   ethnic conflict in the late 1990s.
   The  allegations  are not new. Former U.N. war crimes prosecutor Carla
   del Ponte wrote about them in her 2008 memoir.
   But  they  have  been  raised  again, following a December report from
   Council of Europe Rapporteur Dick Marty, who said Hashim Thaci, who is
   now Kosovoâs prime minister, headed a faction of the Kosovo Liberation
   Army  in  the  late  1990s  that  ran  an organized crime network that
   allegedly  harvested  human organs from murdered Serb prisoners. Other
   senior Kosovar leaders have also been implicated in the report.
   Addressing  the  Security  Council Wednesday, Serbian Foreign Minister
   Vuk   Jeremic  said  an  independent  criminal  investigation  of  the
   allegations   is   "essential"â   "Such   an   investigation  must  be
   internationally  mandated  as  well as internationally accountable. It
   must  also  be  able  to  provide  an effective witness protection and
   relocation  program  to  guarantee credible testimony by all," Jeremic
   said.
   Kosovoâs   government   and  Mr.  Thaci  have  vigorously  denied  the
   accusations,  saying  they are nothing more than politically motivated
   slander  against  the  countryâs  leaders  and an attempt to undermine
   Kosovoâs three years of independence from Serbia.
   Kosovoâs   acting   Foreign   Minister  Vlora  Citaku  reiterated  her
   governmentâs  firm  rejection  of  the allegations. She noted that the
   accusations  have  been subject to international investigations before
   by  the  International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia and the U.N.
   Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), but she said Pristina would welcome further
   investigation from EULEX, the European Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo.
   "The  government of Kosovo wishes to reaffirm its official stance that
   in  light  of  the  severity  of the allegations it will insist on the
   prompt  launch of a thorough investigation by EULEX prosecutors on the
   ground.   EULEX,  entrusted  by  the U.N. and EU to support the local
   juridical  system,  has  the expertise, the resources, the prosecutors
   and the judges to thoroughly investigate the allegations put forth. We
   will add to it our full cooperation," she said.
   The  U.N.  Secretary-Generalâs envoy to Kosovo, Lamberto Zannier, also
   took  the  position  that  EULEX has the expertise and jurisdiction to
   handle the matter.
   EULEX   has   said  that  their  prosecutors  have  already  opened  a
   preliminary investigation into the allegations and they have called on
   all  relevant  organizations and individuals, including Dick Marty, to
   present what evidence they have regarding the accusations.
   Serbiaâs  foreign minister said an investigation by EULEX would not be
   sufficient  on  its own, because the mission cannot operate outside of
   Kosovo  and  the allegations appear to extend beyond that territory to
   countries in Europe, Asia and Africa.
   Most  U.N.  Security  Council  members  said  they would support EULEX
   looking  into  the  allegations  and  did  not  express the need for a
   separate investigation. Russia, a close ally of Serbia, was one of the
   major  exceptions,  saying  it  supports  the idea of an international
   investigation accountable to the United Nations.

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