Tuesday, May 06, 2008

Kosovo: Calls for investigation into claims ethnic Albanians abducted and killed Serbs to sell their organs

Human Rights Watch has called for an investigation into claims that ethnic Albanians in Kosovo abducted and killed Serbs and may have sold their organs. The claims, relating to 1999, had been set out in a book by former UN war crimes prosecutor Carla Del Ponte, BBC reported.

Human Rights Watch said it had new evidence to back up the allegations. But Albanian PM Sali Berisha said the claims were like "an Agatha Christie novel" and had been investigated by national and international prosecutors. Kosovo's assembly is due to convene in the coming weeks to discuss whether to sue Ms Del Ponte for allegedly tarnishing the image of Kosovo.

'Clear investigation'

Ms Del Ponte said in her book that she had learned that organs were being sold from "credible journalists".

She said the sources had told her that between 100 and 300 mostly Serb civilians were taken from Kosovo into Albania where "doctors extracted the captives' internal organs". At the time UN and Nato forces were deploying to Kosovo as the war between Serbian forces and separatists was ending. Human Rights Watch said it had reviewed investigations done at the time and that it believed there were "serious and credible allegations" over the issue.

Human Rights Watch senior researcher Fred Abrahams called on Kosovo and Albania to "show their commitment to justice and the rule of law by conducting proper investigations". But Mr Barisha said: "There has been a clear investigation by both national and international prosecutors and they have found no evidence." He added: "Carla Del Ponte never presented an official request to my government on the matter."

Republished with permission FOCUS News Agency
Mike Hitchen, Mike Hitchen Consulting Publisher of
i On Global Trends and Sydney Irresistible
Lane Cove , NSW 2006