Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) Rapporteur Jean Charles Gardetto stated that there is no witness protection in the processes against organized crime in Kosovo. There is simply no witness protection.

There is no law in Kosovo in that respect, there are no organizations which would enable the witness protection in the processes against organized crime, Gardetto stated for the Belgrade-based daily Vecernje Novosti, which recalls that material evidence on human organ trafficking in Kosovo was partly destroyed in The Hague, and partly weathered away.

EULEX is doing its best, but there is no legal framework in Kosovo, or any structures, such as commissions or special agencies for witness protection to provide practical, physical protection, psychological assistance and similar, Gardetto stressed.

The paper recalls that in January, one day after Dick Marty submitted his report on human organ trafficking in Kosovo, Gardetto pointed to the issue of protecting the witnesses, whose testimonies will be of major importance to the investigation into the organ trafficking allegations, taking into account that material evidence was destroyed.

In his report on witness protection in the Balkans, Gardetto assessed the situation in Kosovo as by far the worst. EULEX's domain is relatively limited, and their efforts cannot make up for the lack of legal norms in Kosovo, he concluded.