UN Pressures Albania to Allow Independent Inquiry Into Organ Harvesting

By Kenneth F. Hunt
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

TIRANA, Albania – A United Nations special expert has accused Albania of stalling an investigation into illicit organ harvesting of ethnic Serbs. The allegations of exploitation of Serbs stem from events in Kosovo during the 1998-1999 Kosovo War. As such, the UN and other international bodies are pressuring the country to comply with a full investigation.

UN Special Rapporetuer, Philip Alston, after a personal seven day trip to Tirana, has accused the government of stifling an investigation into the abduction, killing, and organ harvesting of some 300 ethnic Serbs during the War.

Mr. Alston said that Albanian officials believe that outside investigation of these allegations are “politically motivated and absolutely without any foundation.” As a result independent inquiries have not resulted in “meaningful co-operation [by] the government of Albania.”

Serbia initially launched an investigation in March 2008 after Carla del Ponte, the former UN War Crimes Chief Prosecutor, published a book called The Hunt.

In the book Ms. del Ponte alleged that hundreds of Serbs were kidnapped, taken to the notorious “yellow house” in the town of Burrel in northern Albania, where the victims had their organs extracted by Kosovo Albanian militants. The organs were then sold to foreign traffickers and clinics.

In writing the book, del Ponte was summarizinga search of the “yellow house” by UN investigators, which turned up  “pieces of gauze, a used syringe and two plastic IV bags encrusted with mud and empty bottles of medicine, some of which was of a muscle relaxant often used in surgical operations.”

Despite new pressures from the UN, Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha has summarily dismissed the allegations as “fictitious”. Mr. Berisha also insists that the matter has already been properly investigated by Albania after Serbia and the European Union launched investigations in 2008.

If Albania continues to refuse to cooperate, Mr. Alston said the United Nations will take further action. In the mean time, the Council of Europe, EULEX, and Serbia’s war crimes prosecutor are all currently investigating the allegations.

For more information, please see:

BBC – UN says Albania ‘stalling’ Serb human organs inquiry – 23 February 2010

NEW YORK TIMES – U.N. Sleuth Calls on Albania to Allow Organ Inquiry – 23 February 2010

RADIO SRBIJA – UN: Tirana should be open to independent investigation – 23 February 2010

Author: Impunity Watch Archive