Organ theft in Kosovo (sometimes also known as the "yellow house" case) refers to organ harvesting and killing of an indeterminate number of "disappeared" people, for which 5 people so far have been convicted in the case involving an elaborate organ trafficking network, and other cases are under investigation. Various sources estimate that the number of victims ranges from a "handful", up to 50, between 24 to 100 to over 300. The victims are believed to be mostly ethnic Serbs of Kosovo, killed by perpetrators with strong links to elements of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) in 1999. By 2011, about 1,900 "disappeared" people (about two-thirds of them Albanians of Kosovo) still remained missing from the Kosovo conflict.
According to UN document, the victims were chosen from a pool of about 100 to 300 combatants and civilians taken prisoner or kidnapped by the KLA during and after the Kosovo War and then taken to detention centers and private homes in northern and central Albania. The UN document indicates the involvement or at least knowledge of several mid-level and senior KLA commanders, the men were taken to a makeshift clinic near Tirana, Albania, where they were shot in the head and then had their organs removed. The United Nations (UN) war crimes prosecutors investigated the case in 2002 and 2003, and again in 2004, but concluded there was insufficient evidence to prove that the organ harvesting ring existed.
In 2010, a report by Swiss prosecutor Dick Marty to the Council of Europe (CoE) uncovered "credible, convergent indications" of an illegal trade in human organs going back over a decade, including the deaths of a "handful" of Serb captives killed for this purpose. On 25 January 2011, the report was endorsed by the CoE, which called for a full and serious investigation. Since the issuance of the report, however, senior sources in the European Union Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo (EULEX) and many members of the European Parliament have expressed serious doubts regarding the report and its foundations, believing Marty failed to provide "any evidence" concerning the allegations. A EULEX special investigation was launched in August 2011.
A possibly related case of illegal, yet non-lethal, organ transplants at the Medicus clinic outside Pristina is reportedly part of an international organised crime network with links to Kosovo's government. The Medicus case resulted in the indictment and arrest of several people who are to be tried in two separate trials in Kosovo and Turkey.
Read more about Organ Theft In Kosovo: Del Ponte's Book (2008), Prosecutor Marty's Report (2010), Leaked Documents, Acquitted, See Also
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