Organ Theft in Kosovo - Prosecutor Marty's Report (2010)

Prosecutor Marty's Report (2010)

On 12 December 2010, a draft report from Swiss prosecutor Dick Marty to the Council of Europe was pre-released. The report alleged that the Republic of Kosovo's prime minister, Hashim Thaçi was the head of a "mafia-like" group responsible for smuggling weapons, drugs and human organs through eastern Europe. As stated in the report, the KLA held prisoners in a network of six facilities located in Albania, and Thaçi's "Drenica Group" had the greatest responsibility for the prisons and the fate of those held there.

"Some Serbians and some Albanian Kosovars were held prisoner in secret places of detention under KLA control in northern Albania and were subjected to inhuman and degrading treatment, before ultimately disappearing," the report says. A "handful" of the healthiest prisoners were presumably transferred to a farmhouse near Fushë-Krujë, not far the Albanian capital of Tirana, where they were killed for their kidneys.

The report states: "As and when the transplant surgeons were confirmed to be in position and ready to operate, the captives were brought out of the 'safe house' individually, summarily executed by a KLA gunman, and their corpses transported swiftly to the operating clinic." Some of the captives were aware of the fate that awaited them and pleaded not to be "chopped up". The organs were then subsequently shipped to Istanbul, Turkey.

Marty's report, entitled "Inhuman treatment of people and illicit trafficking in human organs in Kosovo", was presented to the Council of Europe Foreign Relations Committee on 16 December 2010, and was expected to be on the agenda of the Session of Council of Europe in January 2011. The report made waves across the world and led to a series of similar reports. The Swiss foreign ministry noted that Marty's report contained "grave accusations made on the basis of countless witness accounts and evidence."