By Christina Berger
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

PRISTINA, Kosovo – The Council of Europe has called for new inquiries into claims that the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) engaged in organ trafficking following the conflict with Serbia in 1999.  This was prompted by a recent report by a Swiss Senator, Dick Marty, which alleges that following the war with the Serbs, a faction of the KLA, an ethnic Albanian separatist group, took prisoners to detention facilities where their organs were removed and later sold. A copy of the Marty report can be viewed here.

The Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly passed a resolution calling for a “serious and independent” inquiry into the organ trafficking claims.  While not binding, the resolution has reignited claims that have previously led to investigations but no prosecutions.

The report claims that witnesses to the organ trafficking were silenced and paid off by a KLA faction known as the Drenica Group.  The report accuses the Drenica Group of heroin smuggling and assassinations, in addition to organ trafficking, and the report claims Hashim Thaci, the current Prime Minister of Kosovo, was the group’s leader.

Thaci strongly denies this claim.  Thaci told the BBC’s Mark Lowen, “This is slanderous Serbian propaganda,” adding that “[t]here may have been individuals who misused the name of the KLA to commit illegal acts.  But I have never broken international law.  If there’s any evidence, an investigation should be launched to clear this slander once and for all.”

Marty has said he never claimed Thaci was directly involved in the organ trafficking, but that “it [was] hard to believe that [Thaci] never heard anything being said.”

On Friday, the EU rule of law mission (Eulex), which works with Kosovo Albanian officials to fight crime and corruption, stated that they opened a preliminary investigation into the allegations made in Marty’s report.  The mission stated that it took these allegations “very seriously” and that it was “ready, willing, and able to assume responsibility” for any resulting judicial proceedings.  Eulex called on all officials and organizations to come forward with relevant evidence, and promised full protection of witnesses.

Dick Marty has responded to the Eulex statements by saying that an investigation into the organ trafficking claims should be conducted by an independent body outside of Kosovo.  Marty noted, “It’s not that I don’t have confidence in everybody who work[s] in EULEX…but another solution needs to be found when…persons who have high political responsibility in the country should be investigated.”

For more information, please see:

PRESS ASSOCIATION – EU probes organ trafficking claims – 30 January 2011

B92 – “Independent body should conduct probe” – 30 January 2011

AP – EU probes organ trafficking allegations in Kosovo – 29 January 2011

BBC – EU studies Kosovo ‘organ traffic’ allegations – 28 January 2011

BBC – Report reignites Kosovo organ trafficking claim – 25 January 2011

BBC – Council of Europe calls for new Kosovo organ inquiry – 25 January 2011

By Christina Berger
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

DUBLIN, Ireland — A newly revealed 1997 document shows that the Vatican warned Irish Bishops against mandatory reporting of suspected child-abuse cases by priests to the police. Victims groups are calling this letter the “smoking gun” they’ve been looking for to prove that the Vatican engaged in a culture of cover-up.

The document does appear to contradict repeated claims from the Vatican over the years that church leaders in Rome did not seek to steer the actions of local bishops in suspected child-abuse cases by priests, nor did they hamper criminal investigations into child abuse.

The letter, obtained by the Irish Broadcaster RTE, was sent by the late Archbishop Luciano Storero, who was serving as Pope John Paul II’s chief representative to Ireland at the time. The letter was a response to a new policy instituted by Irish Bishops to deal with sexual abuse of children by priests. The policy included mandatory reporting of suspected abusers to the police.

The Storero letter, a copy of which the New York Times has made available on their website, stated that the proposed policy of mandatory reporting “gives rise to serious reservations of both a moral and a canonical nature.”  The letter stresses “the need for the policy to conform to the canonical norms presently in force.” The letter goes on to state that by following non-canonical procedures, Bishops “could invalidate the acts of the same Bishops who are attempting to put a stop to these problems” and the “results could be highly embarrassing and detrimental to those same Diocesan authorities.”

A spokesman for the Vatican, Rev. Federico Lombardi, confirmed the letter’s authenticity, but stressed that it was outdated, saying it referred to a “situation that [they’ve] now moved beyond.” Lombardi indicated that the approach to sexual abuse cases changed in 2001 when the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, at the time led by then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, was put in charge of such cases.

According to the Associated Press, today the Vatican instructs bishops worldwide to report crimes to the police — in a legally non-binding lay guide on its Web site. This advice is not included in the official legal advice provided by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, which was updated last summer. The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith continues to stress the secrecy of canon law.

Victims groups and activists believe that this letter proves that the Vatican did practice a policy of cover up by instructing local bishops not to report suspected abusers to the criminal authorities. “The Vatican is at the root of this problem,” said Colm O’Gorman, director of the Irish chapter of Amnesty International. “Any suggestion that they have not deliberately and willfully been instructing bishops not to report priests to appropriate civil authorities is now proven to be ridiculous.”

Joelle Casteix, a director of U.S. advocacy group Survivors Network of Those Abused by Priests, said the Storero letter was the “smoking gun” they’ve been looking for, and would likely be used in the future by victims’ lawyers seeking to hold the Vatican responsible.

“In the mid 1990s, Irish bishops wanted to start telling law enforcement about horrific child sex crimes,” the group, The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, said in a statement. “Top Vatican bureaucrats told them no. That’s what this newly released letter shows. We can’t help but wonder how many other similar documents — in which the Vatican thwarts local efforts to combat abuse — remain hidden in church records across the world.”

For more information, please see:

BBC — Vatican officials told Irish not to report child abuse — 19 Jan. 2011

CNN — Irish abuse victims ‘disgusted’ at Vatican letter — 19 Jan. 2011

AP — Vatican Warned Irish Bishops Not to Report Abuse — 18 Jan. 2011

NYT — Vatican Letter Warned Bishops on Abuse Policy — 18 Jan. 2011

By Christina Berger
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

KIEV, Ukraine – A senior European Union official, Stephen Fuele, warned Ukraine on Tuesday not to use criminal law as a tool of political oppression.  This warning appears to be directly related to the pending criminal charges against former prime minister, Yulia Tymoshenko, and other opposition leaders.

“In the 21st century, democratic authority cannot be sustained without an independent judiciary and media.  It is a question of moral leadership,” Fuele, EU enlargement commissioner, said after meeting with various Ukrainian government officials. “I would therefore like to recall the need to ensure that criminal law is not used for political ends and that the principles of a fair, impartial, and independent legal process are fully respected.”

The EU and Ukraine are negotiating an association agreement, including a free-trade zone.  Fuele was in the Ukraine on a fact-finding visit, his fourth in the last ten months, and had lunch with Tymoshenko, one of the leaders of Ukraine’s opposition.

Tymoshenko, who lost an election last year to President Viktor Yanukovich, has been charged with abuse of power or office that entailed serious consequences. She is accused of misusing 380 million euros allocated to Ukraine under the Kyoto Protocol while she was in office from 2004-2009.

Tymoshenko has denied the charges against her.  She claims that they are part of a political witch-hunt aimed at opposition leaders, including former Ukrainian Interior Minister Yuriy Lutsenko, who was arrested Dec. 26, 2010, and former First Deputy Justice Minister Yevhen Korniychuk, who was detained on Dec. 22, 2010 and is still in jail today.

Tymoshenko stated “Look, two leaders of opposition parties in parliament were arrested ahead of the New Year.  Is it a coincidence?  Lutsenko and Korniychuk [were arrested], and I, representing the third political party, am under house arrest.  It’s not a coincidence – it’s fear and confusion by the authorities.”

U.S. officials have also recently warned the current Ukrainian government against politically motivated prosecutions.  “We have raised with the Ukrainian government our concern that while corruption should be pursued, prosecution should not be selective or politically motivated,” the US embassy in Kiev said in a statement.  “In that context, we also raised our concern that when, with few exceptions, the only senior officials being targeted are connected with the previous government, it gives the appearance of selective prosecution of political opponents.”

For more information, please see:

NEWSWEEK – ‘I’m Not Going to Leave My Country’ – 17 Jan. 2011

INTERFAX – Tymoshenko summoned to PGO at 1200 on Monday – 15 Jan. 2011

GLOBAL POST – Yulia Tymoshenko, under fire and fired up – 15 Jan. 2011

INTERFAX – Court leaves former first deputy justice minister Korniychuk in custody – 13 Jan. 2011

NEW YORK TIMES – Ukraine: Government Warned About Political Arrests – 11 Jan. 2011

DEUTSCHE PRESS-AGENTUR – EU official warns Ukraine on political repression, media crackdown – 11 Jan. 2011

UKRAINIAN NEWS – EU Hopes Ukraine Not To Apply Criminal Law For Political Purposes – 11 Jan. 2011

AFP – US alarmed by detention of Ukraine ex-officials: embassy – 30 Dec. 2010

BLOOMBERG – U.S. Concerned Over Ukraine’s Prosecution of Former Officials – 30 Dec. 2010

RFE/RL – Former Ukraine Interior Minister Rejects Charges Against Him – 27 Dec. 2010