Jeremic meets with Dodik in Banja Luka

Source: Tanjug 25 March 2012
Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic conferred Saturday in Banja Luka with Republika Srpska President Milorad Dodik on relations between Serbia and Republika Srpska and Bosnia and Herzegovina, saying that there was positive change in the region.

Jeremic told reporters after the talks that these changes came about especially after Serbia was granted candidate status for membership in the EU.

Jeremic said that the talk was devoted mainly to European integration.

He said Serbia has good cooperation with the countries in the region, that cooperation is now more stable and harmonious and that joint efforts are needed to keep it that way.

Jeremic said that after positive changes in BiH, there is agreement in the stands of Belgrade and Banja Luka that it is difficult to justify the existence of the Office of the High Representative (OHR).

Artificial maintaining of an institution that is hindering progress not only at home but also in the region, as it supports an external management system is inconsistent with democratic principles, the European conditions and European rules … I think it should be closed, Jeremic said.

As regards Serbia’s candidacy for the chair of the UN General Assembly, Jeremic said that Serbia’s policy is to support the countries of the region when they run for high office and reminded that this was the case when voting in the UN on membership of BiH in the Security Council.

He added, however, that every country makes its decisions independently, in accordance with its interests.

Dodik said that Serbia’s position regarding the Dayton Agreement and the interests of Republika Srpska is right.

He said that BiH should be what it is, a service of policies and interests of the two entities.

Srpska expects Sarajevo to support the activities at the international level in future, especially regarding the candidacy of Minister Jeremic for the UN General Assembly, Dodik said.

It is of utmost importance for Republika Srpska, a supremely important political issue for the region, he said.

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Montenegro on track to NATO membership: NATO commander

Xinhua News Agency March 14, 2012

BELGRADE: Montenegro is on track for NATO membership, the military alliance’s supreme allied commander for Europe Admiral James Stavridis said on Wednesday.

Stavridis made the comment during a visit to Montenegro’s capital Podgorica, reported the Montenegrin news agency MINA.

“Continue to implement reforms and meet commitments and I believe that this will be recognized and rewarded with membership in NATO,” Stavridis said after his meeting with Montenegrin President Filip Vujanovic.

Stavridis commended Montenegro’s contribution to the ISAF peacekeeping mission in Afghanistan, and highlighted cooperation between NATO and Montenegro…

Montenegrin Parliamentary Speaker Ranko Krivokapic also told Stavridis that Montenegro could contribute significantly to NATO’s security priorities.
…

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Kosovo invites German Investors

Economic Initiative for Kosovo 11.03.2012

The high-level conference organized by the Economic Initiative for Kosovo (ECIKS) and partner institutions in Berlin on 7th March 2012 has contributed towards changing the German perceptions about doing business and investing in Kosovo. Over 100 potential investors, representatives of German economic institutions, members of Bundestag, representatives of the German Foreign Ministry, German diplomats and decision-makers have listened to facts and evidence about political and economic realities in Kosovo, provided by Kosovo representatives, public Austrian and German personalities as well as foreign investors who have already invested in Kosovo.

Speakers in the first panel included the Kosovar Vice-Primeminister Ms. Mimoza Kusari-Lila, the chair of the Munich Security Conference Mr. Wolfgang Ischinger, the ex Austrian Vice-Chancellor Mr. Erhard Busek, the Kosovar Minister of Economic Development Mr. Besim Beqaj, the president of ECIKS Mr. Kujtim Dobruna, the representative of the German Ministry of Economy and Technology Mr. Helge Tolksdorf and the director of the German Committee on Eastern European Economic Relations Mr. Rainer Lindner. Generally, the speakers agreed that Kosovo has managed to create a healthy base for economic development which has to be accompanied with continuous economic and political reforms. Despite the global economic crisis, Kosovo’s economy has continued to grow. Besides Turkey and Ukraine, Kosovo will have one of the highest economic growth rates in Europe in 2012. In order to increase its attractiveness for foreign investors, the country needs to continue its reforms and improve the business climate, strengthen the rule of law, invest more in the education and support the private sector, was also said in the panel.

The conference was opened by the Ambassador of the Republic of Kosovo in Berlin Mr. Vilson Mirdita and the Ambassador of Austria Mr. Ralph Scheide. The main presentation in the second panel was held by the CEO of Investment Promotion Agency of Kosovo (IPAK) Mr. Valdrin Lluka, followed by presentations of foreign investors who have already invested in Kosovo. Mr. Dastid Pallaska presented the legal framework for foreign investors in Kosovo while representatives of Pro Credit Bank, Birra Peja/Union and Xella Kosovo talked about their experience with investments in Kosovo and encouraged potential investors to follow them. They all stated that the reality in Kosovo is much better than the existing perceptions.

The conference was organized by Economic Initiative for Kosovo (ECIKS) and supported by the Embassy of the Republic of Kosovo in Berlin, the German Committee on Eastern European Economic Relations , the German Association for Southeaster Europe and was financed by the Austrian Government.

PRESS RELEASE
ECONOMIC INITIATIVE FOR KOSOVO (ECIKS)
09.03.2012

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Serbian monasteries in Kosmet among 5 Mediterranean holy sites

Source: Tanjug 12 March 2012
The Serbian monasteries in Kosovo-Metohija were listed among the five most important holy sites of the Mediterranean along with Jerusalem, Mt. Athos, Mecca and Vatican, reads Belgrade-based daily Vecernje Novosti on Friday.

The decision on importance of the Serbian monasteries in Kosovo-Metohija was rendered at an EU meeting in Brussels attended by European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso, the daily said.

Barroso underlined the need for special protection of the Serbian holy places in Kosovo, adding the monasteries should be a source of inter-cultural dialogue, rather than conflict.

Upon completion of an analysis and an accompanying study, an international declaration will be adopted to proscribe the level of protection of the Serbian holy sites in Kosovo-Metohija, the daily said.

“I insisted on the difference between legal protection of sites which have a friendly environment such as Mt. Athos, Vatican and Mecca, unlike those which are in potential danger, such as Jerusalem and Kosovo”, said professor of the Faculty of Law of the University of Belgrade Sima Avramovic, who took part in the Brussels meeting.

Avramovic stated that it is a major success that the Serbian holies in Kosovo-Metohija will have the same treatment as Jerusalem, and thus gain an additional guarantee for the preservation of the Serbian identity in the area.

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Foundation of a new mosque in Kosovo

(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) – The municipality of Kosovo’s capital Preshtina has decided to build a new mosque in Kosovo’s capital for implementing the long standing demand of the country’s Islamic authorities.

This municipality said in its statement that the council of Preshtina has supported the decision of selecting a place for the construction of mosque in this city.

It is decided that this mosque will be constructed on the area of 8100 square meters and currently the building of post office is located at this place. That’s why the building of post office is shifted to another place.

Ala-cola reported that the Islamic authorities of Kosovo have supported the selection of this place for the building of a Mosque. According to a survey in Kosovo, about 96% from the population of two hundred thousand are Muslims and nearly forty thousand Catholic and twenty five thousand orthodox Christians are living. Kosovo had announced its independence from Serbia in year 2010.

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Letter of the presidents of the municipalities of north Kosovo

TO: Members of the European Parliament
Members of the European Commission

On 14 and 15 February, 2012, the Serbians, Bosnians, Roma, Gorani, Croatians and other non-Albanians of Northern Kosovo will vote in a referendum that will decide whether or not they want to live under Albanian-dominated rule. We write to ask you to support the will of these people should they decide to vote to pursue their destiny as an independent entity.

The Serbians and other non-Albanians have resided in Kosovo since the 7th Century. Kosovo itself has over 1000 Serbian Orthodox Churches and Monasteries, with several of them being UNESCO heritage sites, hundreds of which have recently been destroyed.

Recalling the end of the conflict in 1999, Albanians have dominated most of Kosovo, with the exception of Serbian majority areas; located south and north of the River Iber/Ibar, which are entirely populated by Serbians. Most of the non-Albanians still remaining in Kosovo’s Albanian-controlled municipalities endure constant persecution, without mentioning their basic human rights or freedom of movement.

Thousands of non-Albanians have been killed or have gone missing – many having had their organs harvested to generate funds for the KLA to purchase weapons. The international mediators appointed to help resolve the conflict have failed in their mission. This has resulted in the exodus of over 250,000 non-Albanians from the parts of Kosovo controlled by the Albanians.

This has been reported in every single independent observation by international human rights monitoring report by the EU, Council of Europe, the OSCE, the United Nations and by international NGOs.

It is even more important to point out that Northern Kosovo has never been under the control of the Albanians. It is the place where non-Albanians sought refuge, and have remained there ever since.

Quite frankly, the current Albanian-dominated government in Kosovo has not demonstrated political maturity or a will to accommodate the non-Albanians of the Province. None of the laws that the international community has insitsted be adopted by the Albanians, which would protect the non-Albanian community, have have been implemented. None of the laws that have been adopted by the Albanians in Kosovo have been promulgated by the Special Representative of the Secretary General of the United Nations, in violation of the laws recognized by the International Court of Justice.

The North of Kosovo has not/will not allow these new illegitimate Albanian laws to be implemented and we will continue to use our legitimate structures established in accordance to international law and most of all the Republic of Serbia and her constituents to this day.

In the spirit of fairness and democracy, and with vision to reduce tensions, thus encouraging long term stability in the region, we urge you to recognize the peoples will from the results of the referendum, which will clearly reaffirm that we will not allow our community to be subdued or obedient to the minority Albanian-Muslim-dominated government led by documented criminals.

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US Kosovo policy – bad for Israel

By SRDJA TRIFKOVIC 02/13/2012 22:03, Jerusalem Post
Israel’s position on Kosovo is a matter of vital national interest on which no government should ever compromise.

February 17 marks the fourth anniversary of Kosovo’s unilateral declaration of independence from Serbia. The UDI has been recognized since by the United States and its key NATO partners, as well as 80-odd other countries. The majority of the world’s sovereign states have refused to do so, however, including two permanent Security Council powers (Russia and China), two budding giants (Brasil and India), five European Union members (including Spain) – and Israel.

Successive Israeli governments have come under pressure from Washington to change their mind, but on this issue the raison d’etat has wisely prevailed across the political spectrum. The similarities between Kosovo and Judea-Samaria are not obvious to the uninitiated, and Israeli diplomats prefer not to spell them out and risk needless tiffs with the Americans. On closer scrutiny those similarities turn out to be significant.

In both cases there’s a small piece of disputed real estate – rich in history, poor in everything else, and badly mismanaged by the local Muslim majority chronically hostile to its non-Muslim neighbors. In both cases that majority craves internationally-recognized statehood, and in both cases the demand is based on a bogus claim of distinct nationhood (“Kosovar” or “Palestinian”) that conceals the broader expansionist agenda – greater- Albanian and Palestinian Arab-Islamic, respectively.

The act of recognition by the major Western powers has opened, in Kosovo’s case, a Pandora’s Box of legal, geopolitical, moral and security issues. It has cemented an already flourishing black hole of lawlessness and endemic corruption and enhanced a potential base for jihad-terrorism deep inside Europe. A repeat scenario between the Jordan and the Green Line would be the last thing Israel needs as it contemplates strategies for containing Iran’s nuclear ambitions, responding to the tectonic change in Egypt and to the crisis in Syria.

The US support for the Kosovo Albanians has adversely affected Israel’s interests in a number of significant ways. It sets the precedent that a solution to an intractable political and territorial quarrel can and should be imposed by force by outside countries, even if one of the parties – in this case Serbia – rejects the proposed solution as contrary to its vital national interests.

The question of how Israel should come to an accommodation with Arab aspirations remains open, but no sane Israeli would suggest that a solution imposed by outsiders, either under the UN or EUNATO aegis, would likely be in Israel’s interest. Washington’s claim that outside powers can award some part of a state’s sovereign territory to a violent ethnic or religious minority with a local plurality – as NATO powers did in Kosovo in 1999 – would put in question not only the future of Judea and Samaria but even southern Galilee and parts of the Negev, where non-Jews have, or may eventually acquire, significant local majorities.

Israel’s Muslim population is now above 20 percent, roughly the same as Serbia’s if Kosovo is included. If Albanian Muslims can demand separation of their majority-inhabited areas from Serbia today, citing alleged past mistreatment, it is an even bet that Israel’s Arabs will invoke that same precedent tomorrow. (Needless to say, Washington’s claims that Kosovo is a one-off issue, a special case, completely sui generis, etc. are not taken seriously by any would-be irredentist or separatist movement.) The readiness of the US administration to circumvent the Security Council, knowing it would block Kosovo’s UDI on international legal grounds, seeks to devalue Russia’s and China’s veto power as such. In light of how many times anti-Israel UNSC Resolutions have been thwarted by a US veto, diminishing the power of the veto per se may prove detrimental to Israel in the future.

More significantly, as has been pointed out by many American policymakers, an overt motivation of US policy on Kosovo is to curry favor in the Islamic world. Such a notion betrays a remarkable naivete that is a form of appeasement. One only need look at American efforts to help create a Palestinian state, to bring “democracy” to Iraq or Afghanistan, or to provide aid to the mujihadin against the Soviet Union in the 1980s to see the value of jihadist gratitude. A complete victory in Kosovo would merely stimulate the demand for further concessions elsewhere, with Israel always the ultimate prize.

Last but not least, proponents of Kosovo independence scoff at the Serbs’ claim that Kosovo, with its many ancient monasteries and the site of the famous battle, represents not just any part of their country but its very heart and soul – “Serbia’s Jerusalem.” Such attitude betrays a cynical contempt for the essence of any true nation’s identity, which necessarily rests on its historical, moral and spiritual roots.

Without such foundation a people ceases to be a people and becomes but a random mob.

If Serbia can be haughtily deprived of her Jerusalem today, and her historical and spiritual claims are dismissed out of hand, who is to say “al- Quds” will not be demanded of Israel tomorrow as the capital of an independent “Palestine”? Let it be added that proponents of Kosovo’s independence overlook or flatly deny the fact that Kosovo’s top Albanian leaders were members of the Kosovo Liberation Army, an organization once regarded as a terrorist group.

Today’s Pristina is more reminiscent of Gaza or Ramallah – with Saudi-financed mosques, chaotically built concrete houses, and roadside rubbish heaps included – than of any European city of comparable size.

The Netanyahu government should continue to stand up to its closest friend and ally, the United States, on an issue many Israelis may consider peripheral.

Israel’s position on Kosovo is a matter of vital national interest on which no government should ever compromise. Ideas matter. So do principles.

The writer is the Co-Founder and Executive Director, The Lord Byron Foundation for Balkan Studies and the Foreign Affairs Editor of Chronicles: A Magazine of American Culture.

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FYROM: The New Kosovo?

By Srdja Trifkovic

An Orthodox church was set ablaze in the southwestern part of the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) on January 30. The incident reflects raising tensions between local Christian Slavs and Albanians, more than a decade after an Albanian rebellion brought FYROM to the verge of an ethnic war. It also evokes memories of the early stages of the conflict in Kosovo, in the late 1980s.

 
The church of St. Nicholas, in the majority Albanian-Muslim village of Labuniste, was two centuries old and housed valuable icons. The arson at Labuniste followed the burning of a Macedonian flag and the raising of Albanian and Islamic banners in the neighboring town of Struga, allegedly in reaction to an incident of “mocking Islam” at a local carnival last month. The town, on the shores of Lake Ohrid, lies at the southern edge of the line of ethnic separation between the two communities. The exact figures are disputed, but Macedonian Slavs account for about two-thirds (1.3 million) and Albanians for 30 percent (600,000) of the republic’s two million people. The latter, 98 percent Muslim, have had a remarkable rate of growth since 1961, when they accounted for only 13 percent of the total. Albanian birthrate has been more than twice that of Slavs for decades.

 
Following the signing of the NATO-brokered Ohrid Agreement that ended the 2001 Albanian rebellion by the “NLA” (a KLA subsidiary), FYROM has become bi-national and bilingual and the Albanians its second constituent nation. They are guaranteed proportional share of government power and an ethnically-based police force. This has turned FYROM into the weakest state in the Balkans and its de facto ethnic partition has become formalized and internationally guaranteed.

 
Having secured their dominance along the borders of Albania and Kosovo, the current main thrust of the Albanian ethno-religious encroachment has the country’s capital city as its primary objective. It is a little-known fact that today’s Skopje is effectively as divided as Nicosia or Jerusalem. Once a city quarter becomes majority-Albanian, it is quickly emptied of its Slavic, non-Muslim population. The time-tested technique is to construct a mosque in a mixed area, to broadcast prayer calls at full blast five times a day, and to create the visible and audible impression of dominance that intimidates non-Muslims (the locals call it “sonic cleansing”).

 
During the 2001 Albanian rebellion the NLA was largely financed by the smuggling of narcotics from Turkey and Afghanistan. In addition to drug money, as The Washington Times reported on June 22, 2001, “the NLA also has another prominent venture capitalist: Osama bin Laden.” French terrorism expert Claude Moniquet told The Christian Science Monitor in 2006 that up to a hundred fundamentalists, “dangerous and linked to terrorist organizations,” were ready in sleeper-cells in Macedonia. New recruits are offered stipends to study Islam in Saudi Arabia, and they are given salaries and free housing to spread the Wahhabi word on their return to FYROM.

 
In March 1999, on the eve of the war in Kosovo, I wrote in The Times of London that NATO support of ethnic Albanian separatists in Kosovo would unleash a chain reaction whose first victim would be Macedonia, because “once KLA veterans acting as policemen start to patrol Kosovo, the rising expectations of Macedonia’s Albanians will be impossible to contain.” “Nonsense,” a U.S. State Department official snapped at a conference in Washington a few days later. “The problem in Kosovo is Milosevic. In Macedonia the Albanians don’t need to make trouble because their rights are respected.” The issue was that of “human rights,” he said, not nationalism: the notion of Greater Albania was a Serb paranoid invention.

 
Thirteen years later we know the score. The KLA has morphed into the “Kosovo Protection Corps” (KPC) and a human organ-trading terrorist, Hashim Thaci, is the province’s “Prime Minister.” A “Greater Albania” is taking shape, with the U.S. government still in denial about this reality. In western FYROM, in the Greek Epirus, and in the Malesija region of Montenegro, no institutional arrangements short of ethnic partition will assuage Albanian separatism.

 
The Albanians enjoy the backing of a powerful regional player, Turkey. They are a key link in the steadily developing Islamist “Green Corridor” in the Balkans, and are heartily supported by the Islamist government in Ankara in all their endeavors. The project’s goal of creating a contiguous chain of Muslim-dominated polities from Istanbul in the southeast to northwestern Bosnia needs to bridge a 90-mile gap in Macedonia between the Muslim Pomaks of southern Bulgaria and their Albanian coreligionists in FYROM. On current demographic and political form it will be bridged by the middle of this century.

 
There is nothing particularly unusual about Albanian ambitions and methods: Pre-modern nations and tribes have been at it since time immemorial. The Albanians differ only in that they have perfected the art of using foreigners – sultans, kaisers, duces, fuehrers, comrades, and over the past two decades the U.S. government and NATO bombs and troops – to get the job done for them. The only reason that ethnic Albanians still tolerate NATO’s presence in Kosovo – now that it is no longer needed to defeat the Serbs – is that it has not seriously attempted to protect them either.
Both demographically and politically, the Republic of Macedonia has a precarious present and an uncertain future. With the gradual decline of the American empire, however, sooner or later the Albanians will have to face their long-abused neighbors without foreign cover. That will present them with an unexpected problem, and its eventual resolution – however just – may be messy and unpleasant in the distinctly Balkan way.

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Organised crime problem dogs EU record on Kosovo

EU Observer Jan. 25, 2012 By Andrew Rettman

BRUSSELS – Four years after the EU’s biggest-ever police mission came to Kosovo it has not indicted any top suspects on organised crime, posing questions about its work and the integrity of Kosovo’s leaders.

Eulex itself is proud of its record. Its training of Kosovo police and customs is a success story. When the EU completes its Eulex review in the next few weeks, it is expected to reduce personnel to let local officers take over many day-to-day functions.

Eulex’ spokesman in Pristina, Nicholas Hawton, told EUobserver it also has “clear results” in chasing criminals in its war-scarred and politically complex theatre of operations.

He added it has 350 ongoing criminal investigations and that its judges have handed down 220 verdicts – 15 on organised crime and 20 on war crimes. One of the investigations concerns accusations that Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaci used to run an organ trafficking gang. On the shocking case of Enver Zymberi – a Kosovar Albanian policeman murdered by a Serb sniper last year – its investigation has led Interpol to issue six arrest warrants.

A draft European Parliament report endorsed by the foreign affairs committee on Tuesday (24 January) urged it to “increase its efforts” in the Kosovar Serb enclave in north Kosovo and to “step up” its work on organised crime.

But it blamed EU member states for shortfalls: it noted EU countries are reluctant to send their best judges to Kosovo and it asked France, Italy and Romania to “reconsider” pulling home its so-called Formed Police Units – specialists in riot control.

The author of the report – Austrian Green MEP Ulrike Lunacek – was a bit sharper in remarks to this website.

“They should have been quicker. It would have helped the way they are seen in the country to already have indictments on high level corruption cases,” she said.

But another EU deputy – Italian Socialist Pino Arlacchi, who in his time helped create Italy’s Direzione Investigativa Antimafia (DIA) – was scathing.

He noted that Eulex’ €150-million-a-year budget is comparable to the DIA’s, which has scalped several mafia bosses in a country of 60 million people and one of the worst organised crime problems in the world.

He called Eulex “amateurish” and highlighted that its first supergrass – Agim Zogay – was found hung in Germany last year.

For his part, Eulex’ Hawthorn said Zogay “tragically took his own life” in something which “no witness protection programme in the world [could] prevent.”

Arlacchi noted: “Witness protection is the cornerstone of every organised crime operation … the fact they were not able to give him a basic level of protection – and it doesn’t matter whether it was suicide or homicide, this person was badly assisted – what more do you want [as proof of Eulex' failure]?”

With big fish like Fatmir Limaj, a former transport minister accused of corruption but not yet tried, threatening to bring down Thaci – a US darling – if he goes to jail, Arlacchi also accused Eulex of sheltering suspects for political reasons.

He said he has seen classified papers held by Eulex containing “clear intelligence” about crimes by “top leaders.” He added: “They don’t want to alter the political landscape … Everyone who knows Kosovo shares this opinion, but I am one of the few who is willing to say that this is the truth.”

The more circumspect Austrian MEP Lunacek added: “There is an interest by some in the international community to keep Thaci because he is the one they know. He is the one who gives a certain stability.”

The International Steering Group – a body of 25 Kosovo-recognising countries – also on Tuesday in Vienna said the “young state” has made such progress that it plans to end political supervision of Thaci’s government by the end of 2012.

“[This] means that Kosovo has been completely successful … that Kosovo will function like any other independent state, with a clear European perspective,” Thaci said.

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Kosovo’s “kidney” cartel

Link: http://english.ruvr.ru/2012/01/17/64033407.html

 
The case of the Medicus clinic can add a dark spot on the reputation of the leadership of Kosovo, a country not recognized by Russia. In that clinic a group of doctors managed by a highly ranking Ministry of Health official conducted illegal organ transplantation surgeries. There are a number of Russian citizens among the victims.

In 2008 the «black transplantology surgeons» allured Serbians, Turks, Belorussians and Russian citizens as well as people of other nationalities by promising them to pay up to 15 thousand euro per kidney. As a result over 30 such «donors» were cheated: they either received a lot less or nothing at all. Meanwhile the entrepreneurial doctors received about 100 thousand euro profit on each successful surgery.

Here is one example described by the Serbian press. A student from Belorussia named A.K. in his Internet search for ways to make money ran into a web site specializing in transplant organ supply. He sent a letter by e-mail and shortly received an offer of 10 thousand euro for his kidney.

In Kosovo his kidney was transplanted to an American, but he received only 8 thousand euro. Then he was offered to start a «marketing network». The Belorussian was told that the rest of the money he would receive when back at home he finds more potential organ donors. A.K. was to «additionally» receive 500 dollars from each surgery. In the end the student did not find any willing donors, nor did he himself fully recover from the surgery.

The Medicus case process started in October 2011 under the auspices of the EU Mission in Kosovo (EULEX). The severeness of the potential punishment for the process participants is demostrated by the fact that the Turkish Prosecutor has requested a 171 year sentense for Turkey’s citizen – surgeon Yusuf Sonmez. It is believed that this person nicknamed «Doctor Frankenstein» conducted 11 illegal organ removal surgeries.

The “Medicus Case” can potentially be directly traced to the events of the end of 1990s. In her book “The Hunt: Me and the war criminals” Carla Del Ponte, chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia tells about 300 non-Albanians kidnapped in Kosovo in 1999. The victims were transferred to a special “yellow house” in Northern Albania where their kidneys and other vital organs were surgically removed.

Carla Del Ponte states that all this activity was known to the leaders of the terrorist organization the «Kosovo Liberation Army», one of those leaders is the current prime minister of Kosovo Hashim Thaci.

Thaci’s name as well as the Medicus clinic are both mentioned in the famous report on organ-trafficking prepared for PACE by Swiss diplomat Dick Marti. The Russian diplomatic community tends to believe that «most likely the same network was active in Kosovo. And if we trust the information provided by Del Ponte and Marti it was with the consent of Kosovo’s top officials».

Nevertheless, the key issue remains whether the EU Mission is capable of conducting an objective investigation of the cases of «black transplantology» in Kosovo. One can assume that the Medicus case would become a showcase process that in no way would affect the «honour» of Kosovo’s top officials.

«Many proofs have already been hidden, many witnesses have died of natural causes or were killed. Some people who have something to say are afraid to testify. It would be difficult to conduct a fair and objective process. First of all the issue of the protection of witnesses has to be a priority. Here we are talking about a case against a mafia cartel that is running Kosovo and that has Washington’s support», Serbian politician Branco Radun talked about the potential obtacles in the investigation process.

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