It's a shame that the internet is a virtual medium, because there are a lot of people out there that I'd like to express my deep feelings of friendship to, and having spent the last two years here in Serbia, I'd like to do it in a truly Serbian way.
EULEX Joins Organ Trafficking Bribe Probe
Pristina | 13 August 2009 | Lawrence Marzouk
EULEX officers
Three Serbs were arrested in June by Kosovo police, accused of trying to bribe Kosovo Serbs to falsely testify that they were victims of organ harvesting during the 1998-99 Kosovo conflict. EULEX was not involved in the initial arrests.
Milutin Radanovic and Predrag Zelkovic are Serbian citizens. The third man arrested is Igor Jucinac, a Kosovo Serb, who was a Kosovo policeman until he was dismissed for misconduct.
Lamfalussy said the case is now being handled jointly by two prosecutors in Pristina, one from Kosovo, the other from EULEX. "The case is under active investigation, the suspects remain subject to an order of detention,” he said.
A detention order for the three suspects expires on September 11.
The news emerged as broadcaster RTK aired undercover footage of the suspects talking about offering up to 100,000 euros for false testimony.
Allegations that elements of the Kosovo Liberation Army, KLA, were involved in removing organs from prisoners for trafficking first surfaced in Carla Del Ponte’s book, The Hunt: Me and War Criminals. The claims have been strenuously denied by former KLA members and the Kosovo government.
The allegations are being investigated by EULEX and, more recently, by Dick Marty, rapporteur for the European Council, who visited Serbia and Albania to gather evidence last week.
2009-08-13 19:12:53