EU Investigators to Grill Kosovo Organ Witness

A member of the EU special investigation team for the Kosovo organ trafficking case said Serbian prosecutors had informed the team leader, Clint Williamson, about the witness whose sensational claims of having removed a prisoner`s heart were aired in Serbia. "As the investigation is ongoing, any comments related to the case and possible eyewitness can be harmful," the source said. "On our next visit to Belgrade, we will discuss this with Serbian colleagues and see if this testimony is relevant and how to proceed further on the case," the same source added.The witness, a former fighter in the Kosovo Liberation Army, KLA, told the Serbian public broadcaster, that he had removed a prisoner`s heart intended for the black market in organs during the 1990s Kosovo conflict.

The witness said he had been trained by doctors to remove the heart from a prisoner at an undisclosed location : " We cut the veins and when I took the heart, it was still beating ... I put it in the box," he said. Serbian prosecutors say that the victim was a Serbian prisoner, and the operation had been carried out near the northern Albanian town of Kukes.The heart was then allegedly taken to the airport in the Albanian capital, Tirana, where the the KLA men, including the witness, allegedly met several Albanian army officials.The box was then given to a "foreigner" who came out of a small private plane with a Turkish flag, the witness said. One of the Serbian prosecutors told Balkan Insight that the testimony would not necessarily expedite a trial. "Serbia is currently investigating the case, but as all suspects are in Kosovo, where Serbia has no power to arrest anyone, it is only possible now to try them in absentia," he said.

Serbia and Kosovo have no extradition treaty, since Serbia does not recognise Kosovo's independence, and there is also no agreement between Serbia and the UN and EU missions in Kosovo, UNMIK or EULEX, regarding the extradition of suspected criminals.Williamson said he believes that the organ trafficking case will be forwarded to international courts and international judges."We are part of the EULEX justice system so maybe the trial will be conducted in Kosovo, by international judges. A special court may be formed just for this purpose," Williamson said.The investigation into organ harvesting follows the release of a report by Dick Marty, the human rights rapporteur at the Council of Europe, in December 2010. This linked senior former KLA fighters, including Kosovo`s Prime Minister, Hashim Thaci, to organised crime and accused them of having harvested the organs of Serbian prisoners and others in Albania in the Kosovo war.