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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

Allegations of human organ trafficking in Kosovo must be investigated

Belgrade, 3 June 2009

President of the Serbian government’s Committee for Missing Persons and Head of Belgrade’s delegation in the working group for missing persons in Kosovo Veljko Odalovic said today that allegations of trafficking in the organs of Serbs and other non-Albanians during 1999 must be fully investigated.

Author: Fonet

Odalovic said after a meeting with the working group for persons reported missing during the period from January 1998 to the end of 2000, that the allegations made by former ICTY Chief Prosecutor Carla Del Ponte in her book The Hunt must be investigated.

At the meeting of the working group which was attended by Head of the Pristina Delegation Pajazit Nusi and representatives of the international community, Odalovic said that Rapporteur to the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly on human organs trafficking Dick Marty should arrive as soon as possible to begin an investigation.

Odalovic said that since the working group started to function the number of missing persons in Kosovo was reduced from the earlier 3,300 to the present 1,904.

This is progress but we are not satisfied. We will continue to work while there is a chance of tracing or identifying somebody and informing their family, said Odalovic.

He said that the Belgrade Delegation has demanded that the Pristina Delegation check locations in Urosevac, Gnjilane and Prizren, where the remains of other missing Kosovo Serbs could be found, and it is expected that the fate of a certain number of missing persons will become known soon.

It has been confirmed that human remains were found buried in Belacevac, said Odalovic, adding that as soon as demining is performed in the village of Kosare, near the Albanian border, exhumation will also be done.

Head of the Pristina Delegation Pajazit Nusi said that expert services from Kosovo temporary institutions have performed 21 exhumations and found human remains at 16 different sites.

He pointed out that the working group is constantly receiving a lot of information which can help trace missing persons, but they are usually not precise enough.

Nusi pointed out that it will be hard to find the remaining 1,904 missing persons and it will take a lot of time and effort.

Chair of the working group Caroline Tissot from the International Red Cross said that, although the exchange of information between Belgrade and Pristina is much better now both sides must make every effort to give precise explanations to the families of the missing.

Today’s meeting was attended by representatives from the EU, France, Germany, the International Commission on Missing Persons, OSCE, Russia and the US, as well as members of the Association of the Families of Kidnapped and Missing Persons in Kosovo and the International Red Cross.