Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Daily: UNMIK delivers "yellow house" evidence to Serbia

Source: Politika
BELGRADE -- Organs harvested from abducted Serbs in the “yellow house“ were sold in Turkey, writes daily Politika, quoting UNMIK’s report to the Serbian prosecution.

The report submitted to the Serbian War Crimes Prosecution, alongside copious evidence in the “yellow house“ case, also contains the names of six suspects as well as the names of the victims, writes the daily.

The report, classified as “strictly confidential“, also includes important information that could prove invaluable in the organ harvesting investigation.

Hudreds of Kosovo Serbs are believed to have been kidnapped by the province's Albanians in 1999, and taken to northern Albania, where their vital organs were removed before they were killed.

By all appearances, the daily said, the report could act as the basis for the EULEX mission’s judicial organs to launch legal proceedings over the matter.

Head of the EULEX Justice Component Alberto Perduca has yet to state whether the mission will be launching an investigation into the alleged crimes.

“War crimes come under the jurisdiction of EULEX and the Office of the Special Prosecutor. Whenever there are grounds for launching an investigation, EULEX prosecutors will do so,“ Perduca told Radio Free Europe, adding that all case-files were in the hands of prosecutors and that every investigation was confidential.

An UNMIK official said that the Serbian Prosecution had been informed that any inquiry into human organ harvesting in Albania would be under EULEX’s remit.

Asked whether the issue had been a theme of discussion at a recent meeting of EULEX and Serbian prosecutors, Perduca said that prosecutors had addressed this issue pertaining to the gravest crimes seriously and that it was “under their jurisdiction.“

The Council of Europe (CoE) has named Dick Marty as its special envoy in the case.

Marty, a member of the CoE’s Parliamentary Assembly and Human Rights Commission, is expected to visit the region soon.

No comments: