Organ trafficking investigator to publish statement

Organ trafficking investigator to publish statement

BELGRADE -- The chief prosecutor of EULEX for alleged human organ trafficking in Kosovo and Albania in 1999 will issue a statement on the findings of the investigation.

The investigation led by American prosecutor John Clint Williamson was triggered by a resolution of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe that came after CoE rapporteur Dick Marty presented his report in late 2010.

Williamson's spokesman for Joao Souza announced that the prosecutor would publish his statement at in the seat of the EU Council of Ministers, and that it would relate to "the findings of the nearly three-year investigation of the Special Investigation Team of EULEX," and then answer questions from journalists.

Souza told the Belgrade-based daily Danas that the report was expanded to cover not only the organ trafficking, as the special team during the investigation learned about other crimes committed in Kosovo.

Albanian language media in Priština reported previously that there was insufficient evidence to bring charges of organ trafficking, and that only about a dozen former members of the so-called Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) would be accused of other crimes.

The Danas newspaper also quoted a source who "dealt with war crimes before the Hague Tribunal" as saying that organ trafficking "undoubtedly" happened in Kosovo but that such crimes are "difficult to prove."

"It is enough to look at the report of Dick Marty, which clearly indicates the existence of those crimes. However, they are difficult to prove, primarily because there are no witnesses. If some are found, they will not speak out of fear, or they will change their statements, which was...