Doc. 12462
7 January 2011
Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights
Rapporteur: Mr Dick MARTY, Switzerland, Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe
Summary
According to the information gathered, numerous concrete and convergent indications confirm that some Serbians and some Albanian Kosovars were held prisoner in secret places of detention under KLA control in northern Albania and were subjected to inhuman and degrading treatment, before ultimately disappearing. Numerous indications seem to confirm that, during the period immediately after the end of the armed conflict, before international forces had been able to take control of the region and re-establish law and order, organs were removed from some prisoners at a clinic on Albanian territory, near Fushë-Krujë, to be taken abroad for transplantation. Although some concrete evidence of such trafficking already existed at the beginning of the decade, the international authorities in charge of the region did not consider it necessary to conduct a detailed examination of these circumstances, or did so incompletely and superficially.
The international organisations in place in Kosovo favoured a pragmatic political approach, taking the view that they needed to promote short-term stability at any price, thereby sacrificing some important principles of justice. Insufficient investigation has been carried out into the connection of KLA members with war crimes committed against Serbians and Albanian Kosovars. The team of international prosecutors and investigators within EULEX which is responsible for investigating allegations of inhuman treatment, including those relating to possible organ trafficking, has made progress, particularly in respect of proving the existence of secret KLA places of detention in northern Albania where inhuman treatment and even murders are said to have been committed.
We must fight uncompromisingly against impunity for the perpetrators of serious human rights violations. The fact that these were committed in the context of a violent conflict could never justify a decision to refrain from prosecuting anyone who has committed such acts. There cannot and must not be one justice for the winners and another for the losers.
The member states of the European Union and the other contributing states should set EULEX a clear objective and give it the necessary political support to combat organised crime uncompromisingly, to ensure that justice is done, without any considerations of political expediency; Albania and the Kosovo administration should co-operate unreservedly with ongoing and future investigations.