Kosovo: Everybody knew what Thaci did
1) The Culture of Impunity, NATO Style (Diana Johnstone)
2) NEWS:
- Marty: Everybody knew what Thaci did
- Kosovo a mafia state – EuroMP
- Moscow insists on Kosovo trafficking probe
- Serbia wants UN inquiry into Kosovo leader's alleged organ trafficking
- KFOR's Final Firefighting Exercise for Kosovo Security Force
- US congratulates Kosovo on independence day
- Kosovo rebels told UN of organ harvests
3) Pacolli for President - with Thaci's support
***
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=== 1 ===
Coverup of the Kosovo Mafia: The Culture of Impunity, NATO Style
On January 25, the Council of Europe overwhelmingly endorsed the Report it had commissioned from Swiss Senator Dick Marty on longstanding but officially ignored indications that Kosovo Albanian separatist fighters extracted and sold vital organs from prisoners around the end of the 1999 NATO bombing war that detached Kosovo from Serbia. Specifically implicated was the Drenica section of the “Kosovo Liberation Army” (KLA) led by post-bombing Kosovo’s first and current President, Hashim Thaci. The Council of Europe, whose main function is to defend human rights, called for a proper judicial investigation, notably by the European Union Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo (EULEX)
(For a thorough analysis of the Marty Report, see “Criminal Kosovo: America’s Gift to Europe”, by Diana Johnstone, CounterPunch newsletter, Vol. 18, no.1, January 1-15, 2011.)
The problem created by the Marty Report is the same as the one that gave rise to it. There is no clear judicial authority willing and able to undertake a criminal investigation of the organ trafficking charges. The charges first surfaced in the 2006 memoir of former Chief ICTY Prosecutor Carla del Ponte, who complained that she was not allowed to pursue investigation of evidence in Albania. It was because of this judicial void that the Council of Europe mandated Senator Marty to make his report, hoping to stimulate some sort of legal procedure. But the problem remains. Most of the alleged crimes took place on the territory of Albania, where the KLA operated bases and prisons, but the Albanian authorities have so far refused to cooperate with investigators. EULEX was sent to Kosovo to try to fill the judicial void left by secession. However, like all the international protectorate structures set up to construct “independent” Kosovo, EULEX is afraid of arousing the wrath of Kosovo Albanians and has great difficulty gaining their cooperation in criminal investigation.
Media coverage of the organ trafficking charges implicating Hashim Thaci has been far too muted to build pressure from public opinion on reluctant Western governments to take the issue to court. Human Rights Watch has called for an independent European prosecutor to pursue the case, but there has been no audible response from the governments concerned. Mr. Marty’s expressed fear that his report will remain a “dead letter” seems quite plausible.
Even as the Marty Report appears fated to join the Goldstone Report on Gaza in the limbo of good intentions, the counterattack was launched. Oddly, the London Review of Books chose to publish a five-page review of the Marty Report by someone with a strong vested interest in discrediting it: none other than Geoffrey Nice, who as assistant prosecutor at the International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague, led the prosecution of Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic. Nice’s only real achievement in the five-year-long trial was to outlive both the presiding judge and the defendant. The monstrous dimensions of the prosecution, aimed at blaming Milosevic for virtually all the woes of the complex civil wars that tore apart Yugoslavia in the 1990s, succeeded in sending Milosevic to his grave before he could present his defense, thus sparing the three judges the task of finding excuses to convict him, as they were hired to do.
The LRB review gave Sir Geoffrey (he was knighted in 2007 for his services) the opportunity to rehash the ICTY prosecution version of NATO’s Kosovo war (the “objective was to forestall a humanitarian catastrophe”) complete with the standard exaggerated figures (“at least 10,000 Kosovo Albanians killed”) and crucial omissions (Hashim Thaci “was chosen to go to Rambouillet in preferance to the Kosovan president, Ibrahim Rugova” – without saying by whom he was chosen, namely the U.S. State Department).
Nice’s main diversionary tactic was to center his attack on an unidentified “witness K144”. He titled his review “Who is K144?” and went on to answer the question by claiming that K144 was both the basis for the Marty Report accusations and non-existent creation of Serbian media propaganda. A hasty reader might overlook the parenthetical element in the following sentence: “Stories in the Serbian press suggest that many of these allegations came from a witness known as K144, although del Ponte never refers to this source in her book (and nor does Marty, directly).” In reality, there is no “witness K144” mentioned in the Marty Report. Nice’s citations from the Serbian press do not correspond to the Marty Report.
The Nice article was immediately echoed and amplified by an article in The Wall Street Journal, which enjoys a larger and more American audience. Under the title “Smearing Hashim Thaci: Are the organ-harvesting allegations part of a media campaign against Kosovo?” (conclusion: yes) British journalist and Member of Parliament Denis MacShane gave a rave review of Nice’s review. “Most troublesome, according to Mr. Nice, is that Mr. Marty’s narrative implicitly depends on an anonymous witness, ‘K144’, who Belgrade says has provided evidence of these atrocities, but who most likely does not exist.”
Denis MacShane is a prize attack dog from the kennel of Tony Blair’s poodle imperialism. He is a member of the Henry Jackson Society, a gathering of warmongers whose model is the “Senator from Boeing”, Henry “Scoop” Jackson, who in the 1970s, with the aid of the Richard Perle, championed aggressive anti-Soviet policies under a supposedly liberal banner. MacShane’s claim to be “on the left” seems to rest almost exclusively on his championing of “the only democracy in the Middle East”, which allows him to make up for the shortage of communist threats with Islamic terrorism. His “European Institute for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism” issued a 2009 report which undertook to define which kinds of criticism of Israel constitute anti-Semitism. These included describing the state of Israel as a racist endeavor and comparing contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis. He is on the board of “Just Journalism” whose aim is to oversee UK media reports on Israel.
Mr. MacShane was Labour Minister for the Balkans and then for Europe, but was suspended from the Labour Party last October 14 pending investigation of expense account padding. He reportedly became the first British MP to be reported to the police by the Parliamentary Commissioner for Standards concerning his claims on taxpayer-funded office expenses. MacShane’s claims over seven years totaled about £125,000, including nearly £20,000 a year for an office located in his garage, eight laptop computers in three years and over a dozen bills for “research and translation” by an elusive “European Policy Institute” which turned out to mean, basically, his brother Edmund Matyjaszek (for his professional life, MacShane dropped his father’s Polish name for his mother’s Irish name surname). He has also been involved in numerous minor scandals involving distortion of facts. None of this seems to have harmed his self-confidence or his career, which includes regular essays for Newsweek. From his writings one can gather that the only Muslims he really trusts are the ones in former Yugoslavia.
Aside from the K144 diversion, the Nice-MacShane attack on the Marty Report zeroes in on two factors that to readers unfamiliar with the case may look like serious weakness. The report, they stress, gives no names of victims and no names of witnesses. The explanation for this is simple. There are indeed lists of potential victims: missing Serbs and ethnic Albanians who are presumed dead after being taken prisoner by the KLA. Without material evidence, it is nearly impossible to ascertain the precise fate of missing persons over ten years ago in a country, Albania, where local authorities have refused to cooperate and have had ample time to dispose of evidence.
As for the names of witnesses, Mr. Marty refuses to disclose them except to serious judicial authorities with a witness protection program. This caution is absolutely necessary given the record of witness intimidation and even murder, notably in the case of Thaci’s rival in the KLA hierarchy, clan leader Ramush Haradinaj. Sir Geoffrey refers to this politely as “accusations of witness tampering”.
Geoffrey Nice concludes his review in the LRB by conceding that the allegations against Thaci need to be dealt with, simply because they make a bad impression. Mr. Nice compares Thaci to the West’s man in Montenegro, Milo Djukanovic, accused by Italian authorities of large-scale cigarette smuggling. “Montenegro, like Kosovo, can readily be trashed as a criminal state; and also like Kosovo, it seeks membership of the EU. Djukanovic has just announced that he will stand down and cease to hold political office. This, some say, is intended to ease Montenegro’s entry into organizations that are prepared to negotiate with the likes of Djukanovic or Thaci when their states are emerging from conflict but want afterwards to deal with someone less compromised. Thaci might well have to follow the same path as Djukanovic if the current rumors continue to circulate.”
Taking into account the habitual understatement employed by Geoffrey Nice concerning the wrongdoings of “our side”, this can be read as acknowledgement that both NATO protégés are crooks to some degree or other, who were useful in wresting their lands away from the Serbs, but now had best step back to make way for more presentable puppets. Being prosecuted for those wrongdoings, whatever they may be, is, however, out of the question.
Human rights campaigners in the self-righteous Western democracies are intransigent when it comes to ending what they call “the culture of impunity” so long as it involves, say, Africa. But their own impunity and that of their clients seems more secure than ever.
Diana Johnstoneis the author of Fools Crusade: Yugoslavia, NATO and Western Delusions. She can be reached at diana.josto@...
=== 2 ===
http://www.b92.net/eng/news/politics-article.php?yyyy=2011&mm=02&dd=12&nav_id=72677
B92 - February 12, 2011
Marty: Everybody knew what Thaci did
LJUBLJANA: The killing of witnesses, the fact that everybody knew what Hashim Thaci was doing and the destruction of evidence is a scandal, Dick Marty told the Slovenian daily Delo.
“Everybody kept quiet. That’s the real scandal, not my report in which I only wrote what many have known for a long time,” the Council of Europe (CoE) rapporteur was quoted as saying.
He added that Thaci’s name had often been mentioned in police reports, diplomatic cables, criminal studies and foreign intelligence agencies’ reports.
“That means that the West knew all along very well what was happening in Kosovo, but no one took any action,” the CoE rapporteur told the Slovenian daily.
Commenting on first UNMIK Chief Bernard Kouchner’s reaction to a reporter’s question about the human organ trafficking, Marty said: “A man who laughs at such a horrific topic says a lot about himself”.
Marty also spoke about his visit to The Hague, adding that he had been utterly surprised by the fact that evidence from the Yellow House had been labeled as irrelevant and then destroyed. He explained that the Hague Tribunal had said it was a normal procedure but according to him, this is not the way evidence is handled anywhere in the world.
Speaking about EULEX, the CoE rapporteur said that there were several highly professional people there but that conditions they worked in were horrible and unacceptable.
“There is no secrecy. All translators are local, there are many local staff. That is why even the most confidential information has been systematically leaking,” he said, adding that if he were a lawyer of a witness in Kosovo he would never advise them to testify before EULEX, “primarily because they cannot protect the witnesses”.
....
“The only solution is a special investigative unit outside Kosovo, with special authority and with a very serious witness protection program. Europe is never going to accept that. Because it knows that my witnesses would really talk and reveal that a large part of the European politicians knew all along what was going on in Kosovo. Do you really think that Brussels wants to hear something like this?” the CoE rapporteur concluded.
B92 - February 12, 2011
Marty: Everybody knew what Thaci did
LJUBLJANA: The killing of witnesses, the fact that everybody knew what Hashim Thaci was doing and the destruction of evidence is a scandal, Dick Marty told the Slovenian daily Delo.
“Everybody kept quiet. That’s the real scandal, not my report in which I only wrote what many have known for a long time,” the Council of Europe (CoE) rapporteur was quoted as saying.
He added that Thaci’s name had often been mentioned in police reports, diplomatic cables, criminal studies and foreign intelligence agencies’ reports.
“That means that the West knew all along very well what was happening in Kosovo, but no one took any action,” the CoE rapporteur told the Slovenian daily.
Commenting on first UNMIK Chief Bernard Kouchner’s reaction to a reporter’s question about the human organ trafficking, Marty said: “A man who laughs at such a horrific topic says a lot about himself”.
Marty also spoke about his visit to The Hague, adding that he had been utterly surprised by the fact that evidence from the Yellow House had been labeled as irrelevant and then destroyed. He explained that the Hague Tribunal had said it was a normal procedure but according to him, this is not the way evidence is handled anywhere in the world.
Speaking about EULEX, the CoE rapporteur said that there were several highly professional people there but that conditions they worked in were horrible and unacceptable.
“There is no secrecy. All translators are local, there are many local staff. That is why even the most confidential information has been systematically leaking,” he said, adding that if he were a lawyer of a witness in Kosovo he would never advise them to testify before EULEX, “primarily because they cannot protect the witnesses”.
....
“The only solution is a special investigative unit outside Kosovo, with special authority and with a very serious witness protection program. Europe is never going to accept that. Because it knows that my witnesses would really talk and reveal that a large part of the European politicians knew all along what was going on in Kosovo. Do you really think that Brussels wants to hear something like this?” the CoE rapporteur concluded.
---
http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/02/14/44351856.html
Voice of Russia - February 14, 2011
Kosovo a mafia state – EuroMP
Euro-Parliament member and head of the United Nations counternarcotics agency Pino Arlacchi describes Kosovo as a mafia state built around transnational organized crime and the import of Afghan-produced heroin.
Speaking in Moscow Monday, he criticized the international officials in Kosovo and the nations that extended recognition to it for turning a blind eye to the problem.
Voice of Russia - February 14, 2011
Kosovo a mafia state – EuroMP
Euro-Parliament member and head of the United Nations counternarcotics agency Pino Arlacchi describes Kosovo as a mafia state built around transnational organized crime and the import of Afghan-produced heroin.
Speaking in Moscow Monday, he criticized the international officials in Kosovo and the nations that extended recognition to it for turning a blind eye to the problem.
---
http://english.ruvr.ru/2011/02/17/44782073.html
Voice of Russia - February 17, 2011
Moscow insists on Kosovo trafficking probe
Russia has called for a thorough investigation into suspected human organ trafficking in Kosovo.
Speaking on Thursday, the Kremlin’s Ambassador to the United Nations Vitaly Churkin said international mechanisms needed to be called upon to carry out the probe.
His call followed Wednesday’s presentation of a report by prominent Swiss human rights activist Dick Marty at the UN Security Council, in which he proved that Kosovo militants had extracted organs from Serb prisoners and sold them to “black market” dealers.
Voice of Russia - February 17, 2011
Moscow insists on Kosovo trafficking probe
Russia has called for a thorough investigation into suspected human organ trafficking in Kosovo.
Speaking on Thursday, the Kremlin’s Ambassador to the United Nations Vitaly Churkin said international mechanisms needed to be called upon to carry out the probe.
His call followed Wednesday’s presentation of a report by prominent Swiss human rights activist Dick Marty at the UN Security Council, in which he proved that Kosovo militants had extracted organs from Serb prisoners and sold them to “black market” dealers.
---
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,14846344,00.html
Deutsche Welle - February 17, 2011
Serbia wants UN inquiry into Kosovo leader's alleged organ trafficking
Deutsche Welle - February 17, 2011
Serbia wants UN inquiry into Kosovo leader's alleged organ trafficking
Author: Holly Fox (AFP, Reuters)
Serbia says the United Nations should look into allegations that Kosovo's prime minister was part of an organ trafficking network during the Kosovo War in the late 1990s.
Speaking at the United Nations on Wednesday, Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic called on the international body to look into allegations that the Kosovo's Prime Minister Hashim Thaci was behind the trafficking in organs from ethnic Serbs in 1999 and 2000. A report by Dick Marty of the Council of Europe human rights watchdog made the original accusation that senior commanders of the former ethnic Albanian Kosovo Liberation Army, including Thaci, were the masterminds of and organ trafficking network.
Jeremic described Marty's report as "deeply disturbing" and said that the European Union mission EULEX currently looking into the issue was not enough because the allegations involved locations outside of Europe such as Asia and Africa.
"The solution lies in establishing an ad hoc investigating mechanism created by - and accountable to - the Security Council," he said.
US envoy Rosemary DiCarlo said the EULEX investigation was sufficient. "We do not believe that an ad hoc UN mechanism is necessary or appropriate," she said. Britain and Germany also denied the need for UN involvement, while Jeremic received support from long-time ally Russia.
Serbia says the United Nations should look into allegations that Kosovo's prime minister was part of an organ trafficking network during the Kosovo War in the late 1990s.
Speaking at the United Nations on Wednesday, Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic called on the international body to look into allegations that the Kosovo's Prime Minister Hashim Thaci was behind the trafficking in organs from ethnic Serbs in 1999 and 2000. A report by Dick Marty of the Council of Europe human rights watchdog made the original accusation that senior commanders of the former ethnic Albanian Kosovo Liberation Army, including Thaci, were the masterminds of and organ trafficking network.
Jeremic described Marty's report as "deeply disturbing" and said that the European Union mission EULEX currently looking into the issue was not enough because the allegations involved locations outside of Europe such as Asia and Africa.
"The solution lies in establishing an ad hoc investigating mechanism created by - and accountable to - the Security Council," he said.
US envoy Rosemary DiCarlo said the EULEX investigation was sufficient. "We do not believe that an ad hoc UN mechanism is necessary or appropriate," she said. Britain and Germany also denied the need for UN involvement, while Jeremic received support from long-time ally Russia.
Three years of independence
Thursday marks the third anniversary of Kosovo's unilateral declaration of independence from Serbia. Despite Belgrade's fierce opposition, it has been recognized by 75 countries, including the US and all but five EU members. Russia continues to oppose its independence.
Thaci was elected in December in Kosovo's first elections since declaring independence and has rejected the accusations against him.
A NATO bombing campaign drove Serb forces out of Kosovo in 1999....The UN passed administration duties on to EULEX in December 2008....
Thursday marks the third anniversary of Kosovo's unilateral declaration of independence from Serbia. Despite Belgrade's fierce opposition, it has been recognized by 75 countries, including the US and all but five EU members. Russia continues to oppose its independence.
Thaci was elected in December in Kosovo's first elections since declaring independence and has rejected the accusations against him.
A NATO bombing campaign drove Serb forces out of Kosovo in 1999....The UN passed administration duties on to EULEX in December 2008....
---
http://www.aco.nato.int/page424203219.aspx
North Atlantic Treaty Organization
Allied Command Operations
February 17, 2011
KFOR's Final Firefighting Exercise for Kosovo Security Force
On Wednesday the 16th of February 2011, General Enrico Spagnoli, Commanding General for the formation of the Kosovo Security Force (KSF) attended the KSF final fire fighting exercise at KFOR HQ fire fighting station.
General Enrico Spagnoli from KFOR welcomed Brigadier General Imri Ilazi and Colonel Skender Hoxha from KSF.
This fire fighting basic training course started on 31st of January 2011 with 13 candidates from the Civilian Protection Regiment of KSF. During the graduation ceremony the fire fighting certificates were presented to all the successful KSF candidates.
North Atlantic Treaty Organization
Allied Command Operations
February 17, 2011
KFOR's Final Firefighting Exercise for Kosovo Security Force
On Wednesday the 16th of February 2011, General Enrico Spagnoli, Commanding General for the formation of the Kosovo Security Force (KSF) attended the KSF final fire fighting exercise at KFOR HQ fire fighting station.
General Enrico Spagnoli from KFOR welcomed Brigadier General Imri Ilazi and Colonel Skender Hoxha from KSF.
This fire fighting basic training course started on 31st of January 2011 with 13 candidates from the Civilian Protection Regiment of KSF. During the graduation ceremony the fire fighting certificates were presented to all the successful KSF candidates.
---
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5i-Jgu3PRX8XIHQYDXZJU2p-vmJzQ?docId=CNG.68e525354daffd868eac000986513f10.191
Agence France-Press - February 17, 2011
US congratulates Kosovo on independence day
WASHINGTON: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton congratulated Kosovo Thursday on the third anniversary of its declaration of independence, saying the United States was committed to its future.
The United States "is committed to your future and we are honored to be your friends and your partners," Clinton said in the statement.
"You are charting a new future for your country and for the region."
She added that the anniversary "is a fitting occasion for Kosovo's elected leaders to reinforce their commitment to good governance and transparency -- both essential to fulfill Euro-Atlantic integration."
Clinton said that she had been "impressed with the promise of such a young country" during her visit to Kosovo in October, where she was met by cheering crowds waving US flags and carrying banners thanking Washington.
Clinton's husband, former US president Bill Clinton (1993-2001) ordered US forces to take part in the NATO bombing campaign that drove Serb troops out of Kosovo in 1999 and paved the way for the UN administration of the territory and finally the declaration of independence.
During the visit Hillary Clinton stopped at a bronze statue of her husband in downtown Pristina.
Kosovo unilaterally declared independence from Serbia in 2008....
Agence France-Press - February 17, 2011
US congratulates Kosovo on independence day
WASHINGTON: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton congratulated Kosovo Thursday on the third anniversary of its declaration of independence, saying the United States was committed to its future.
The United States "is committed to your future and we are honored to be your friends and your partners," Clinton said in the statement.
"You are charting a new future for your country and for the region."
She added that the anniversary "is a fitting occasion for Kosovo's elected leaders to reinforce their commitment to good governance and transparency -- both essential to fulfill Euro-Atlantic integration."
Clinton said that she had been "impressed with the promise of such a young country" during her visit to Kosovo in October, where she was met by cheering crowds waving US flags and carrying banners thanking Washington.
Clinton's husband, former US president Bill Clinton (1993-2001) ordered US forces to take part in the NATO bombing campaign that drove Serb troops out of Kosovo in 1999 and paved the way for the UN administration of the territory and finally the declaration of independence.
During the visit Hillary Clinton stopped at a bronze statue of her husband in downtown Pristina.
Kosovo unilaterally declared independence from Serbia in 2008....
---
http://ap.stripes.com/dynamic/stories/E/EU_KOSOVO_ORGAN_HARVESTS?SITE=DCSAS&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
Associated Press - February 18, 2011
Kosovo rebels told UN of organ harvests
Associated Press - February 18, 2011
Kosovo rebels told UN of organ harvests
By NEBI QENA
PRISTINA, Kosovo: Ethnic Albanian rebels in Kosovo gave detailed testimony in 2003 on an alleged program to kill Serb captives, sell their organs, and bury hundreds of victims to hide evidence of civilian killings, according to a U.N. document obtained by The Associated Press.
The 30-page compilation of statements by at least eight people to U.N. investigators could provide momentum to claims that the world body failed to pay proper attention to war crimes by ethnic Albanian Kosovars in their 1990s war for independence.
U.N. authorities briefly investigated organ harvesting claims in 2004 but never launched a full-fledged probe, prompting Serb accusations of double standards in pursuing war crimes.
The document outlines an alleged scheme to take captives of the Kosovo Liberation Army rebels to Albania in the aftermath of the war so their kidneys, livers and other organs could be removed at a home that had been set up as a medical clinic.
U.N. officials were told the home was equipped with specialized equipment and medical personnel to carry out operations.
In a letter dated Dec. 12, 2003, Paul Coffey, the top justice official in Kosovo at the time, wrote to Jonathan Sutch, the official in charge of Yugoslav tribunal investigations in Kosovo, that the alleged crimes were reported to the U.N. in Kosovo by "multiple sources of unknown reliability."
Coffey said the information was "based on interviews with at least eight sources, the credibility of whom is untested, all ethnic Albanians from Kosovo or Montenegro who served in the Kosovo Liberation Army."
Details of the interviews were given more than seven years ago to the U.N.'s Netherlands-based tribunal that was then responsible for prosecuting war crimes in the former Yugoslavia; no one has been brought to trial.
The interviews were made available to the AP by an international official who asked not to be named because of the sensitivity of the case.
They appear to back allegations made by Council of Europe investigator Dick Marty, who said in a recent report on the case that Western governments ignored the accusations for fear of destabilizing Kosovo.
Marty's report in December named Kosovo's Prime Minister Hashim Thaci, the former head of the KLA, as the boss behind a network dealing in kidneys and other human organs as well as organized crime. Thaci has denied wrongdoing and has supported an international inquiry.
According to the documents, the sources told U.N. officials in 2003 that senior KLA officers and officials from the Albanian government were involved in the alleged crimes, which purportedly went on as late as the summer of 2000, almost a year after Kosovo came under U.N. and NATO control.
One source is quoted as telling investigators that the first two surgeries to harvest organs were done "to breach the market," and that traffickers later were able to make up to $45,000 per body.
"The largest shipment was when they did 5 Serbs together....He said they took a fortune that time," the source said according to the document. "Other shipments were usually from two or three Serbs."
The source told investigators that workers at the Rinas airport outside the Albanian capital of Tirana and at the airport in Istanbul, Turkey, where the organs were allegedly taken for sale, were bribed "to close their eyes."
The flight between the two cities takes about 1 hour 45 minutes; sources told the U.N. the house where the organs were allegedly harvested was a two-hour drive from the airport.
If packed in ice after removal, organs are viable for several hours after extraction - hearts and lungs for four-six hours, livers for 18-24 hours, kidneys for 24-48 hours.
Two sources claimed they took part in delivering body parts to Tirana's international airport, but "none of the sources witnessed the medical operations," U.N. officials noted in the document.
The organ trafficking claims, first made public in a 2008 book by former U.N. war crimes prosecutor Carla del Ponte, are resurfacing as Kosovo marks three years since declaring its sovereignty, with strong backing from the U.S. and most countries in the European Union.
Since then, Kosovo has met strong resistance from Serbia, which claims the territory as its spiritual homeland and seeks to undermine statehood. The alleged trade in kidneys of killed captives has given Serbia ammunition in its fight to counter Kosovo and its Western backers.
Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic on Wednesday called on the U.N. Security Council to authorize an international investigation into the allegations and to deal with claims that some countries "would love to sweep this thing under the carpet."
The head of the U.N. mission in Kosovo, Lamberto Zannier, told the AP that the 2,000-strong EU mission - known as EULEX - now in charge of dealing with war crimes in Kosovo was given every war crimes file that the Yugoslavia tribunal and the U.N. possessed, including witness statements.
Both the U.N. and the EU have prosecuted war crimes committed in Kosovo by both Serbs and ethnic Albanians, but the interviews are the first recorded reference on alleged organ trading to emerge.
"I can confirm that we gave the material we had to EULEX....This was early in 2009" Zannier said by phone from New York, where he was reporting to the U.N. Security Council.
EULEX says it has launched a preliminary investigation into Marty's allegations, but would not immediately comment on the 2003 report. It was not immediately clear if it was following up on any of the information given by the eight sources to the U.N.
So far, both the U.N. and EULEX have maintained that their investigations into the alleged organ harvesting have failed to yield any evidence.
The statements taken by the U.N. give specific details of locations in Albania where the KLA allegedly kept detainees and buried victims, some of them also ethnic Albanians accused of collaborating with Serbs.
The sources, described as "low to midlevel ranking KLA members," said the Serbs were driven by trucks and vans to Albania where they were held in detention centers and some went through medical checks.
The trail was partly followed up in February 2004, when a team of U.N. and tribunal investigators visited a house in the village of Rripe where the sources said the organ harvesting took place.
The investigators, accompanied by a local Albanian prosecutor, recovered syringes; empty containers of Tranxene, a muscle relaxant; chloraphenical, an antibiotic; and a piece of gauze similar to material used for surgical scrubs.
Chemical agents sprayed on the floors and walls of the house revealed two sizable splatters of blood - one in the kitchen, another in a storage room. But forensics tests were never conducted on the stains, and U.N. officials at the time said they could not explain why not.
According to the sources in the U.N. document, most of the alleged Serb victims ranged in age from 25 to 50.
One source said he was instructed by KLA superiors not to beat the prisoners. He became suspicious when they were to deliver "a briefcase or a file with papers that would be given to the doctor when the captives were delivered" to the house in northern Albania.
"I thought about how this was the only house where I brought people, but never picked anyone up," one source testified. "It was around this time that I heard other guys talking about organs, kidneys, and trips from the house to the airport."
---
PRISTINA, Kosovo: Ethnic Albanian rebels in Kosovo gave detailed testimony in 2003 on an alleged program to kill Serb captives, sell their organs, and bury hundreds of victims to hide evidence of civilian killings, according to a U.N. document obtained by The Associated Press.
The 30-page compilation of statements by at least eight people to U.N. investigators could provide momentum to claims that the world body failed to pay proper attention to war crimes by ethnic Albanian Kosovars in their 1990s war for independence.
U.N. authorities briefly investigated organ harvesting claims in 2004 but never launched a full-fledged probe, prompting Serb accusations of double standards in pursuing war crimes.
The document outlines an alleged scheme to take captives of the Kosovo Liberation Army rebels to Albania in the aftermath of the war so their kidneys, livers and other organs could be removed at a home that had been set up as a medical clinic.
U.N. officials were told the home was equipped with specialized equipment and medical personnel to carry out operations.
In a letter dated Dec. 12, 2003, Paul Coffey, the top justice official in Kosovo at the time, wrote to Jonathan Sutch, the official in charge of Yugoslav tribunal investigations in Kosovo, that the alleged crimes were reported to the U.N. in Kosovo by "multiple sources of unknown reliability."
Coffey said the information was "based on interviews with at least eight sources, the credibility of whom is untested, all ethnic Albanians from Kosovo or Montenegro who served in the Kosovo Liberation Army."
Details of the interviews were given more than seven years ago to the U.N.'s Netherlands-based tribunal that was then responsible for prosecuting war crimes in the former Yugoslavia; no one has been brought to trial.
The interviews were made available to the AP by an international official who asked not to be named because of the sensitivity of the case.
They appear to back allegations made by Council of Europe investigator Dick Marty, who said in a recent report on the case that Western governments ignored the accusations for fear of destabilizing Kosovo.
Marty's report in December named Kosovo's Prime Minister Hashim Thaci, the former head of the KLA, as the boss behind a network dealing in kidneys and other human organs as well as organized crime. Thaci has denied wrongdoing and has supported an international inquiry.
According to the documents, the sources told U.N. officials in 2003 that senior KLA officers and officials from the Albanian government were involved in the alleged crimes, which purportedly went on as late as the summer of 2000, almost a year after Kosovo came under U.N. and NATO control.
One source is quoted as telling investigators that the first two surgeries to harvest organs were done "to breach the market," and that traffickers later were able to make up to $45,000 per body.
"The largest shipment was when they did 5 Serbs together....He said they took a fortune that time," the source said according to the document. "Other shipments were usually from two or three Serbs."
The source told investigators that workers at the Rinas airport outside the Albanian capital of Tirana and at the airport in Istanbul, Turkey, where the organs were allegedly taken for sale, were bribed "to close their eyes."
The flight between the two cities takes about 1 hour 45 minutes; sources told the U.N. the house where the organs were allegedly harvested was a two-hour drive from the airport.
If packed in ice after removal, organs are viable for several hours after extraction - hearts and lungs for four-six hours, livers for 18-24 hours, kidneys for 24-48 hours.
Two sources claimed they took part in delivering body parts to Tirana's international airport, but "none of the sources witnessed the medical operations," U.N. officials noted in the document.
The organ trafficking claims, first made public in a 2008 book by former U.N. war crimes prosecutor Carla del Ponte, are resurfacing as Kosovo marks three years since declaring its sovereignty, with strong backing from the U.S. and most countries in the European Union.
Since then, Kosovo has met strong resistance from Serbia, which claims the territory as its spiritual homeland and seeks to undermine statehood. The alleged trade in kidneys of killed captives has given Serbia ammunition in its fight to counter Kosovo and its Western backers.
Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic on Wednesday called on the U.N. Security Council to authorize an international investigation into the allegations and to deal with claims that some countries "would love to sweep this thing under the carpet."
The head of the U.N. mission in Kosovo, Lamberto Zannier, told the AP that the 2,000-strong EU mission - known as EULEX - now in charge of dealing with war crimes in Kosovo was given every war crimes file that the Yugoslavia tribunal and the U.N. possessed, including witness statements.
Both the U.N. and the EU have prosecuted war crimes committed in Kosovo by both Serbs and ethnic Albanians, but the interviews are the first recorded reference on alleged organ trading to emerge.
"I can confirm that we gave the material we had to EULEX....This was early in 2009" Zannier said by phone from New York, where he was reporting to the U.N. Security Council.
EULEX says it has launched a preliminary investigation into Marty's allegations, but would not immediately comment on the 2003 report. It was not immediately clear if it was following up on any of the information given by the eight sources to the U.N.
So far, both the U.N. and EULEX have maintained that their investigations into the alleged organ harvesting have failed to yield any evidence.
The statements taken by the U.N. give specific details of locations in Albania where the KLA allegedly kept detainees and buried victims, some of them also ethnic Albanians accused of collaborating with Serbs.
The sources, described as "low to midlevel ranking KLA members," said the Serbs were driven by trucks and vans to Albania where they were held in detention centers and some went through medical checks.
The trail was partly followed up in February 2004, when a team of U.N. and tribunal investigators visited a house in the village of Rripe where the sources said the organ harvesting took place.
The investigators, accompanied by a local Albanian prosecutor, recovered syringes; empty containers of Tranxene, a muscle relaxant; chloraphenical, an antibiotic; and a piece of gauze similar to material used for surgical scrubs.
Chemical agents sprayed on the floors and walls of the house revealed two sizable splatters of blood - one in the kitchen, another in a storage room. But forensics tests were never conducted on the stains, and U.N. officials at the time said they could not explain why not.
According to the sources in the U.N. document, most of the alleged Serb victims ranged in age from 25 to 50.
One source said he was instructed by KLA superiors not to beat the prisoners. He became suspicious when they were to deliver "a briefcase or a file with papers that would be given to the doctor when the captives were delivered" to the house in northern Albania.
"I thought about how this was the only house where I brought people, but never picked anyone up," one source testified. "It was around this time that I heard other guys talking about organs, kidneys, and trips from the house to the airport."
---
Associated Press Medical Writer Maria Cheng contributed from London.
=== 3 ===
http://www.b92.net/eng/news/politics-article.php?yyyy=2011&mm=02&dd=15&nav_id=72731
B92 - February 15, 2011
Thaci to make Pacolli president
PRIŠTINA: Hashim Thaci's Democratic Party of Kosovo has decided to offer the post of president of Kosovo to Behgjet Pacolli.
Pacolli is the leader of the New Kosovo Alliance.
This should allow a new government to be formed in Priština, in the wake of the December elections.
According to this proposal, Thaci will be prime minister once again, while his party will also name the president of the assembly in Priština.
The two Kosovo Albanian parties will in the coming days consider how to distribute portfolios, according to announcements.
....
The assembly is expected to meet for its first session on February 24.
B92 - February 15, 2011
Thaci to make Pacolli president
PRIŠTINA: Hashim Thaci's Democratic Party of Kosovo has decided to offer the post of president of Kosovo to Behgjet Pacolli.
Pacolli is the leader of the New Kosovo Alliance.
This should allow a new government to be formed in Priština, in the wake of the December elections.
According to this proposal, Thaci will be prime minister once again, while his party will also name the president of the assembly in Priština.
The two Kosovo Albanian parties will in the coming days consider how to distribute portfolios, according to announcements.
....
The assembly is expected to meet for its first session on February 24.
---
http://www.b92.net/eng/news/politics-article.php?yyyy=2011&mm=02&dd=16&nav_id=72757
Beta News Agency - February 16, 2011
Russian media on Pacolli
MOSCOW: Moscow media are reporting that Kosovo presidential candidate Behgjet Pacolli is known in Russia for a Kremlin reconstruction scandal.
Moscow-based daily Kommersant writes that Pacolli was at the center of corruption affairs close to former Russian President Boris Yeltsin.
The media write that the New Kosovo Alliance (AKR) leader was in Russia in the early 1990s when his Switzerland-based company Mabetex Group was carrying out projects in Yakutia.
He allegedly met Yakutsk Mayor Pavel Borodin who became head of the Presidential Property Management Department in 1993.
Pacolli’s firm was soon hired to reconstruct the Kremlin, Shuyskaya Chupa presidential residence, government headquarters, headquarters of the State Duma and the Federation Council and many more projects, the media write.
Moscow-based daily Moscow Komsomolets reports that “scandalous Behgjet Pacolli, a Kremlin restorer, will head Kosovo”, while RBC TV states that Pacolli was hired to do a reconstruction of the Russian state buildings thanks to his friendship with Borodin.
Kommersant writes that Pacolli became a central figure of the corruption scandal close to Yeltsin and that several officials were suspected of accepting bribes in exchange for the Kremlin reconstruction job.
Mabetex offices in Lugano were searched in January of 1999 at Russia’s request and Pacolli was questioned by then Swiss State Prosecutor Carla Del Ponte.
According to the daily, the Swiss authorities charged him with money laundering and giving bribes worth USD 4mn in June 2000. The proceedings in Russia were in dismissed in December 2000 and Switzerland closed the case in March 2002.
Kommersant also writes that a personal conflict in the meantime grew between Pacolli and then Russian State Prosecutor Yuri Skuratov, who launched the investigation against Mabetex and was subsequently relieved of his duties.
The daily added that if Pacolli became the president of Kosovo, he would enter "high politics" and therefore achieve his goal. The report says that he has been actively lobbying for Kosovo’s independence since 2005 and that it would be "much easier for him to continue lobbying if he became president".
Voice of Russia Radio has assessed that Pacolli is “simply an angel” compared to Kosovo Albanian Prime Minister Hashim Thaci.
“Such a president can talk to Brussels, to Washington, to Belgrade and even to unobliging Moscow if he is lucky,” the radio reported.
Russian Academy of Science Center for Study of Current Balkan Crisis’ Anna Filimonova told the radio, however, that Pacolli had also lobbied for the Nabucco gas pipeline and Iran-Turkey-Greece-Albania-Kosovo pipeline.
According to her, this is fundamentally contrary to the Russian interests in the Balkans, especially regarding the construction of the rival South Stream gas pipeline.
Beta News Agency - February 16, 2011
Russian media on Pacolli
MOSCOW: Moscow media are reporting that Kosovo presidential candidate Behgjet Pacolli is known in Russia for a Kremlin reconstruction scandal.
Moscow-based daily Kommersant writes that Pacolli was at the center of corruption affairs close to former Russian President Boris Yeltsin.
The media write that the New Kosovo Alliance (AKR) leader was in Russia in the early 1990s when his Switzerland-based company Mabetex Group was carrying out projects in Yakutia.
He allegedly met Yakutsk Mayor Pavel Borodin who became head of the Presidential Property Management Department in 1993.
Pacolli’s firm was soon hired to reconstruct the Kremlin, Shuyskaya Chupa presidential residence, government headquarters, headquarters of the State Duma and the Federation Council and many more projects, the media write.
Moscow-based daily Moscow Komsomolets reports that “scandalous Behgjet Pacolli, a Kremlin restorer, will head Kosovo”, while RBC TV states that Pacolli was hired to do a reconstruction of the Russian state buildings thanks to his friendship with Borodin.
Kommersant writes that Pacolli became a central figure of the corruption scandal close to Yeltsin and that several officials were suspected of accepting bribes in exchange for the Kremlin reconstruction job.
Mabetex offices in Lugano were searched in January of 1999 at Russia’s request and Pacolli was questioned by then Swiss State Prosecutor Carla Del Ponte.
According to the daily, the Swiss authorities charged him with money laundering and giving bribes worth USD 4mn in June 2000. The proceedings in Russia were in dismissed in December 2000 and Switzerland closed the case in March 2002.
Kommersant also writes that a personal conflict in the meantime grew between Pacolli and then Russian State Prosecutor Yuri Skuratov, who launched the investigation against Mabetex and was subsequently relieved of his duties.
The daily added that if Pacolli became the president of Kosovo, he would enter "high politics" and therefore achieve his goal. The report says that he has been actively lobbying for Kosovo’s independence since 2005 and that it would be "much easier for him to continue lobbying if he became president".
Voice of Russia Radio has assessed that Pacolli is “simply an angel” compared to Kosovo Albanian Prime Minister Hashim Thaci.
“Such a president can talk to Brussels, to Washington, to Belgrade and even to unobliging Moscow if he is lucky,” the radio reported.
Russian Academy of Science Center for Study of Current Balkan Crisis’ Anna Filimonova told the radio, however, that Pacolli had also lobbied for the Nabucco gas pipeline and Iran-Turkey-Greece-Albania-Kosovo pipeline.
According to her, this is fundamentally contrary to the Russian interests in the Balkans, especially regarding the construction of the rival South Stream gas pipeline.