Council of Europe (CoE) Rapporteur for Serbia Dick Marty denied having stated in his report that Kosovo Prime Minister Hasim Taci was directly involved in organ trafficking, but rather that it is hard to believe that he knew nothing about it since the people around him were involved in the crime.

If you read my report carefully, it does not mention anywhere that Taci was directly involved in organ trafficking, but it does say that the persons close to him were involved and that it is hard to imagine that he had never heard anything about it, Marty said in an interview for the Swiss website Albinfo.ch.

Although Taci had a great responsibility within the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) and the Drenica group, Marty said that he can hardly imagine that Taci himself participated in organ harvesting.

Even though the focus is on the act of organ harvesting itself, I wish to point to the hundreds of people that have gone missing, Marty stressed in the interview, parts of which were broadcast by Radio and Television of Kosovo.

According to EULEX, these persons have disappeared somewhere in the direction of Albania and they include not only Kosovo Serbs, but also Kosovo Albanians, Marty added.

Unlike (former ICTY chief prosecutor) Carla Del Ponte, I was precise in presenting a number of aspects. What I am saying is not that hundreds of illegal transplantations, but rather a handful of them, were carried out, Marty said, underlying that the aim of the report is not to accuse but rather to point to the crime.

What the report calls for is an investigation, which has never been conducted so far, despite all the indications about the links between crime and certain KLA circles.

He said that his report and moves must not be interpreted as being directed against the Kosovo or Albanian community, pointing out that he was just doing what he was told to do.

Marty said that justice must be the same for all, that investigation must be carried out on both sides, and added that the report is just as tough towards Serbs and that there is not a slightest understanding for the crimes committed by Serbs.

Marty also stressed that it was not simple to work with witnesses since they had to be guaranteed absolute discretion. Some of the witnesses received threats and some were even murdered, he underscored.

Janjic: Media reinterpreted Marty's report

Council of Europe Special Rapporteur Dick Marty had to repeat the allegations from the report dated December 12, that people from Hashim Thaci’s close circle participated in the trade in human organs, because he failed to do so in time, when the media reinterpretation of his report appeared, especially in the media in Belgrade, said political analyst Dusan Janjic.

He told that it is common knowledge that Thaci was a political commissar and not a commander of the KLA units.

Janjic said that the media in Belgrade reinterpreted agency news in a way that they talked solely and directly about Thaci which is, as Janjic says, impingement on Marty's report.

This was followed by political mobilization on both sides, Janjic stresses.

Faced with this situation, Marty had to give a precise statement, so that the document can be discussed at the session of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly on January 25, since the situation was such that his report could have been dismissed, said Janjic.