Williamson's spokesperson:Yellow house probe still under way
BRUSSELS - The EULEX Special Investigative Task Force in charge of the probe into the allegations contained in the report by Council of Europe Special Rapporteur Dick Marty has not yet completed the investigation, Joao Sousa, spokesperson of Special Investigator John Clint Williamson, told Tanjug.
The investigation is under way and we are determined to carry it out to the end, Sousa said, adding that it is still early to make forecasts when it will be finished.
The spokesperson refused to comment on the allegations by Pristina daily Ekspres that the investigation is over and that it will be followed by indictments which will include some of the closest associates of Kosovo Prime Minister Hasim Taci.
We do not comment on unfounded rumors and speculations, Sousa underlined, noting that it was assessed in the early stage of the probe that it will be a lengthy and complex one, and that it could last from three to four years.
The EULEX Special Investigative Task Force embarked on the investigation into the human organ trafficking in Kosovo-Metohija in September 2011 focusing on the allegations contained in the report by Council of Europe Special Rapporteur Dick Marty about systematic crimes against civilians committed during the armed conflict in Kosovo-Metohija in 1999 and 2000.
In the report, Marty accused a few former commanders of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), a paramilitary formation established by ethnic Albanians, including current Prime Minister of Kosovo Hasim Taci of kidnapping and murder of several hundreds civilians - Serbs, Roma and disloyal Albanians.
Marty said that the civilians were taken to Albania, where their organs were harvested in improvised hospitals and then sold in the black market.
Afterwards, EULEX formed a Special Investigative Task Force led by Williamson to investigate these allegations.
Over 600 civilians, the majority of whom were Serbs, were kidnapped after the attack of the NATO forces on Serbia and the retreat of the Serbian armed forces from Kosovo-Metohija mid-June 1999, and 529 are still registered as missing.
After she stepped down from the office of prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, Carla del Ponte published the book “The Hunt: Me and the War Criminals” in which she disclosed for the first time that around 300 Serbs, Roma people and a number of disloyal Albanians were kidnapped and transported to Albania where their organs were harvested in an improvised hospital called “Yellow house” in the village of Burel and then shipped out to clinics across Europe.
Families of missing persons expect a lot from EULEX probe
The Association of the Families of the Kidnapped and Murdered in Kosovo-Metohija stated on Wednesday that it has great expectations from the investigation into the human organ trafficking in Kosovo-Metohija led by Special Investigator John Clint Williamson.
The Association said that the probe conducted by the EULEX Special Investigative Task Force has to provide answers to what really happened with their kidnapped and missing relatives so that they could finally learn the truth about the fate of their beloved ones.
“We want to believe that the investigation has been conducted in a professional, responsible and unbiased manner. If this is the case, then it has to give answers to the question what really happened to our kidnapped and missing relatives,” the Association stated.
Noting that the uncertainty and anguish have lasted for too long, entire 15 years, the Association underlined that the list of the missing persons still contains 529 people, mainly Serb civilians, including a great number of children.
This fact underlines the importance of the investigation into the Yellow house in northern Albania, where kidnapped Serbs and other non-Albanians were taken and their organs were harvested for illegal sale.
The families of the kidnapped and missing believe that the indictment, which is expected to be issued in the first half of the year, has to include former commanders of the so-called Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), the Association said.
Photo & Source Tanjug, BOKI (illustration)
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