The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) convicted Hartmann of contempt to the court Monday for disclosing confidential information in a genocide case. She was sentenced to pay a fine of 7,000 Euros.

Florence Hartmann prosecuted to have disclosed the existence of confidential decisions made by the Court of Appeals in the Milosevic case.

Florence Hartmann accused the court of ‘trying to silence the truth’.

Florence Hartmann was found guilty of breaching the court’s rules when she disclosed the contents of two appeals chamber decisions from the Slobodan Milošević case in a 2007 book as well as an article she wrote in 2008.  She has been fined 7,000 euros.

Hartmann was spokesperson for the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia’s (ICTY) Prosecutor Carla del Ponte between 2000 and 2006.

The court dismissed her argument that the information she realeased had already been put in the public domain by the tribunal.

The court said the fact that Hartmann spent six years in the capacity of the spokesperson of the Prosecutor meant that she was well aware of what the confidentiality of a decision entailed.

The Chamber further argued that Hartmann’s conduct could deter sovereign states from cooperating with the Tribunal in providing evidence in the future.

“This…impacts upon the Tribunal’s ability to exercise its jurisdiction to prosecute and punish serious violations of humanitarian law as prescribed by its mandate,” Judge Bakone Justice Moloto, presiding, said.

“Public confidence in the effectiveness of protective measures, orders and decisions is vital to the success of the work of the Tribunal.”

The French journalist was the first former employee to stand trial for contempt before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague.

Her case was filed under the same number as that of Slobodan Milosevic. But Hartmann refused to sit on the same chair as the tribunals regular suspects since her case was not about war crimes.

Hartmann had publicly accused the UN war crimes tribunal of “trying to silence the truth”.

The tribunal argued that she “knew that the information was confidential at the time disclosure was made, that the decisions from which the information was drawn were ordered to be filed confidentially, and that by her disclosure she was revealing confidential information to the public.”

Hartmann covered the 1990s Balkan wars as a correspondent for the French newspaper Le Monde. She thereafter became spokeswoman for the former chief war crimes prosecutor Carla del Ponte from 2000 to 2006. She then published a book, “Peace and Punishment: The Secret Wars of Politics and International Justice”.

In 2008, Hartmann wrote an article entitled “Vital Genocide Documents Concealed” that was published by the Bosnian Institute.

In her publications Hartmann wrote that the Hague prosecution was allegedly unhappy with the tribunal’s decision to accept Serbia’s request to have some portions of the state archive documents considered in closed sessions. The judges in the Milosevic case allowed Serbia to censor parts of evidence that was made public. She believes that it was precisely those pieces of evidence that were key in determining Serbia’s responsibility for the genocide in Bosnia.

Hartmann argued that it was thanks to the Tribunal’s collusion with Serbia in the suppression of this crucial piece of evidence, that Bosnia was not able to draw upon the latter in its case against Serbia for genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), leading to Serbia’s acquittal.

Far from punishing the perpetrators of genocide in the former Yugoslavia, the Tribunal has helped to shield them, Hartmann said. She accused judges of the Appeals Chamber, headed by former Tribunal President Fausto Pocar, of being “accomplices in manipulation organized by the authorities in Belgrade, so that the International Court of Justice, which heard the Bosnian genocide lawsuit, would be made to make the same mistakes the Hague Tribunal made”.

Her book has received broad coverage, and it kicked off a storm in the Balkans even before translations became available in early November 2007, with local politicians using it to attack the ICTY’s legitimacy. A month after the publication, she received a letter from the tribunal reminding her of her administrative and legal obligations to respect its confidentiality rules.

Related Posts: Tables Turned: Former ICTY Spokeswoman now before The Hague Court

Vor dreissig Jahren bzw. noch davor war es im Westen wohlfeil, gegen den Kommunismus zu sein. ALLE waren dagegen, gegen den EXISTIERENDEN, sowjetischen, außer ein paar Pickelgesichtern von der “D”KP, einer Truppe, die sich später als echte 5. Kolonne der SED erwies. Zu Recht war jedermann gegen die Bolschewisten, aber leider meist nicht aus Überlegung, sondern aus Gefolgsamkeit der Zentralmacht bzw. einer Leitkultur gegenüber, innerhalb derer die Feindschaft zu Rußland bedeutsam ist. Sogar der KBW (Kommunistischer Bund Westdeutschland), aus dessen Personalpotential sich die heutigen Grünen in hohem Maße bedienen, war ja eigentlich so gesehen gegen sich selbst, gegen jede Art von sozialistischer REALITÄT – oder waren das Mao-Fans? Viele von uns Christen staunten damals jedenfalls über weltliche Gewissheiten auf allen Seiten, und wir stellten Frage um Frage. Einige unserer Mitbürger gingen so weit, die afghanischen Nazi-Mullas mit erstklassigen Stingers auszurüsten, und die Jihadisten zu feiern, welche russische Wehrpflichtige lebendig enthäuteten (begeistert berichtete die “Welt” davon) – Derart schrankenlos wollte ich persönlich den Kampf gegen den Kommunismus denn doch nicht führen. Und das war auch gar nicht nötig: Nötig waren die eiserne Geschlossenheit des Westens und besonders das Talent, die Zuversicht und der Humor des amerikanischen Präsidenten Ronald Reagan. Seinem Nachfolger fiel der Erfolg in den Schoß, und der russische Bolschwismus verschwand mit einem Winseln.

Die letzte sozialistische Enklave in Europa mußte dann wohl auch noch eliminiert werden: Slobos Jugoslawien. Dieser Staat wurde zerteilt, und man erhielt im Tausch für einen sozialistischen Staat einen serbischen, zwei normale und ZWEI neue mohammedanistische. Man verfolgte mit aller institutionellen Schärfe vor allem serbische Kriegsverbrecher, wobei die Balken des Rechts bis nahe ans Zerbrechen gebogen wurden. Mr. Slobo, Feldherr in einem vermeintlich ethnischen Krieg, in dem, so unsere MSM, ausschließlich bedauernswerte, absolut friedliche, freundliche Mohammedanisten von grimmigen, kommunistischen Robotern abgeschlachtet worden sein sollen, wurde schließlich, so hatte es für manch aufmerksamen Prozessbeobachter den Anschein, elegant geselbstmordet (1).

Jedoch, nach 10.000 Kilometern Lügen: Herausragende Funktionäre der damaligen Ereignisse scheinen vom heiligen Geist heimgesucht zu werden, der sie zwingt, die Wahrheit zu sprechen und vom Saulus zum Paulus bzw. zur Carla del Paulus zu werden.

Aus der Schweiz meldet der “BlicK” (2):

“Erst drei Monate ist es her, dass Carla Del Ponte (61) ihr Amt als Chefanklägerin (in Den Haag, T.) niederlegte. Und schon ist ein selbstverfasster Rückblick auf ihre Zeit als Jägerin der Kriegsverbrecher auf dem Markt. Ein Buch, das für Aufregung sorgt.

In ‘La caccia’ (Die Jagd) bringt sie Hashim Thaçi (39), den Regierungschef der Republik Kosovo, mit einem fürchterlichen Verbrechen in Verbindung. Thaçi, der den Kosovo eben erst in die Unabhängigkeit geführt hat, soll an Mord und Organhandel beteiligt gewesen sein.

Es liest sich wie ein Horror-Roman, was Del Ponte über die Entführung von 300 Serben 1999 schreibt: Im albanischen Ort Burrel seien die Menschen von der (mohammedanistischen, T.) Kosovo-Befreiungsarmee UCK ermordet und ausgeweidet worden. Ihre Organe habe man nach Westeuropa verkauft.”

Jahrelang hat sie die Ork-Kamarilla in Schutz genommen, Serbien denunziert, Serben gehetzt, und nun dies? Für mich ein Wunder!

Ein weiteres Wunder erschien mir heute (Montag, 310809) in der FAZ. Ex-Serbenfresser Michael Martens, zusehend nachdenklich werdend, wird nun neuerdings offensichtlich häufiger auf Kleinasien angesetzt, als Nachfolger des unsäglichen (gleichwohl aus saudischen Quellen stets gut informierten Sunniten-Freund) Ali Hermann.

Meikel, der früher jedwede Mohammedanistenspucke vom Bürgersteig gierig aufleckte, berichtet heute aus der Türkei von Schauprozessen in der Regie der AKP from the Fuhrergan:

Haarsträubende Ungereimtheiten

Der Ergenekon-Prozess in der Türkei hat viele Mängel – doch ist er deshalb überflüssig? (‘Hatten Stalins Schauprozesse und Freislers Gekreische nicht doch irgendwie einen geheimen Sinn?’, T.)

Den einen ist er ein Beleg des demokratischen Aufbruchs der Türkei, den anderen eine Kampagne der Machthaber in Ankara, die unter falschem Vorwand ihre säkularen Gegner verhaften lassen, um das Land zu islamisieren, so lauten, vereinfacht und überspitzt, die Ansichten von Befürwortern respektive Gegnern des Gerichtsprozesses gegen eine unter dem Namen “Ergenekon” firmierende Gruppe, deren Mitglieder versucht haben sollen, die seit 2002 das Land regierende “Partei für Gerechtigkeit und Entwicklung” (AKP) des Ministerpräsidenten Erdogan zu stürzen.

In seiner jüngst erschienenen Studie “Zwischen Fakt und Phantasie” nähert sich der britische Türkei-Fachmann Gareth Jenkins dem Thema mit dem Anspruch auf wissenschaftliche Unvoreingenommenheit, auch wenn dem Leser des mehr als 80 Seiten umfassenden Textes schon nach wenigen Absätzen deutlich wird, dass Jenkins zu jenen gehört, die große Zweifel an der Rechtsstaatlichkeit des Verfahrens und vor allem an der Glaubwürdigkeit der AnklagepunKte hegen. In der Tat: Wann immer auf einem Dachboden zwischen Izmir und der Grenze zu Armenien eine Handgranate gefunden wird, soll die Krake “Ergenekon” dahinterstecken – angeblich streng säkulare Militärs, Professoren, Journalisten, Geschäftsleute, aber auch verkrachte Kaffeehausspintisierer und andere schräge Figuren, mithin Personen, die sich im richtigen Leben nicht einmal die Hände schütteln würden.

Jenkins, der seit 1989 in der Türkei lebt, hat sich die Mühe gemacht, die beiden ersten, mehr als 4000 (!, T.) Seiten umfassenden Anklageschriften im Fall “Ergenekon” (die dritte lag noch nicht vor, als er seine Studie abschloss) Satz für Satz zu prüfen. Er stieß dabei auf haarsträubende Ungereimtheiten. Es sei nicht zuletzt der erstaunlichen Länge der Anklageschriften zuzuschreiben, dass sich kaum jemand mit diesen Absurditäten beschäftigt habe, stellt Jenkins fest – denn schon die oberflächlichste Prüfung dieser Texte werfe verstörende Fragen auf. Der Brite unterstellt den Anklägern eine “verschwörungstheoretische Weltsicht” und eine Missachtung rechtsstaatlicher Grundsätze. Besonders anhand der ersten Anklageschrift, die offenbar in aller Hast erstellt wurde, gelingt es ihm überzeugend, viele Widersprüche des Verfahrens zu belegen.

Einen bizarren Gipfel erreicht die erste Anklage mit den unbelegten Vorwürfen, Mitglieder von “Ergenekon” hätten sich mit dem damaligen amerikanischen Vizepräsidenten Cheney getroffen, um über den Sturz der AKP-Regierung zu beratschlagen. Zudem habe “Ergenekon” die Herstellung von chemischen und biologischen Waffen geplant, “um mit den daraus erzielten hohen Gewinnen jede Terrororganisation – nicht nur in der Türkei, sondern in der ganzen Welt – zu finanzieren und zu kontrollieren”.

Nicht alle Abschnitte der Anklageschrift klingen dermaßen nach einer Inhaltsangabe eines James-Bond-Films, doch auch manch weniger versponnener Absatz hat es in sich. So stieß Jenkins auf den erstaunlichen Umstand, dass auf einer angeblichen Todesliste von “Ergenekon” der Name eines ehemaligen Generals geführt wird, der im Juli vergangenen Jahres verhaftet und als einer der Führer der Organisation dargestellt wurde. Jenkins wundert sich darüber, dass die Anklage es nicht für nötig hielt, der Frage nachzugehen, warum ein “Ergenekon”-Führer wohl seine eigene Ermordung für ratsam gehalten haben mochte.

Alles in allem mag Jenkins nicht an die Existenz einer Organisation namens “Ergenekon” glauben. Sie sei vielmehr das Produkt verschwörungstheoretischer Geister, die von Ministerpräsident Erdogan unterstützt werden – denn der habe die Kritiker der Ermittlungen durchweg beschuldigt, mangelndes Vertrauen in die Unabhängigkeit der türkischen Justiz zu haben. Das sei indes ein Mangel, der auch Erdogan und seine Mitstreiter ausgezeichnet habe, als deren Partei im Jahr 2008 vom Verbot durch ebendieses Justizsystem bedroht war, wie Jenkins spitz bemerkt.

Er weist zudem auf einen Umstand hin, der jedem Zeitungsleser in der Türkei fast täglich begegnet – dass vermeintliches Belastungsmaterial der Anklage, etwa die Mitschriften von abgehörten Telefongesprächen, regelmäßig in AKP-nahen Medien ausgebreitet wird, bevor es in den Gerichtsverhandlungen überhaupt eine Rolle spielt. Dass es sich dabei stets um Mitschriften der Gespräche von AKP-Gegnern handelt und deren illegale Veröffentlichung folgenlos bleibt, muss allenfalls der Vollständigkeit halber erwähnt werden.”

Bis hierhin ok., aber wenn Martens jetzt nicht schleunigst einen Kniefall nachliefert, darf er in Zukunft nicht mal mehr Pfandflaschen sortieren. Also, was nun, Micki?

Er apportiert promt: “Zu dieser Vollständigkeit gehört allerdings auch die Anmerkung, dass Jenkins Analyse ebenfalls Mängel aufweist, wenn auch auf UNGLEICH HÖHEREN Niveau als die von ihm sezierten Anklageschriften. In seinem Versuch, das Vorgehen der türkischen Justiz auf ein von Verschwörungstheoretikern betriebenes Unternehmen zu reduzieren, entwickelt er mitunter einen fast ebenso verschwörungstheoretischen Ehrgeiz, ZUMINDEST aber einen auffälligen Willen zur Aussparung. Darauf WEIST unter anderem Ekrem (nomen est omen, T.) Güzeldere von der in Berlin UND Istanbul (wow, international = objektiv, T.) beheimateten “Europäischen STABILITÄTSINITIATIVE” (ESI) hin.

(Ich schlage einen Wettbewerb der allerabsurdesten Vereinsnamen vor, wobei die betreffenden Organisationen sich, so meine Prognose, zu 99,9 als mohammedanistisch, zu 99,99 als staatsfinanziert und zu 99,999% als frei von Deutschen herausstellen werden. Eine Alibi-Deutsche werden sie bei 10.000 Mitgliedern allerdings wohl schon haben, einen grünen Schrumpfkopf auf einer Stange vor dem Vereinsportal!)

“Jenkins geht auf keinen der Anschläge -und Morde näher ein, die Teil der Anklageschrift sind und verblüffende Verbindungen aufzeigen. Vielmehr konzentriert er sich auf Schwachpunkte, die sich in einer Schrift von mehreren tausend Seiten natürlich finden lassen”, so Güzeldere, der sowohl die Amklageschriften als auch Jenkins Zusammenfassung davon untersucht hat. Jenkins bemängele die Anklageschriften als inkonsistent und zu lang, erwähne aber nicht, dass dies für türkische Anklageschriften TYPISCH sei (Hey, die MANGELHAFTIGKET türkischer juristischer Anklageschriften ist TYPISCH, und also offenbar grade daher völlig o.k., T.).

Eine Schwäche sei es zudem, dass Jenkins nicht dem Umstand nachgehe, dass viele Angeklagte nicht in das Bild einer Konfrontation zwischen Islamisten und Säkularisten passten, auf die der Brite den derzeitigen Machtkampf in der Türkei zu reduzieren versuche, MUTMASST Güzeldere. Überdies sei es absurd, der AKP nach nunmehr SIEBEN (magischen, T.) Jahren IMMER NOCH eine islamistische Agenda zu unterstellen: “Die Türkei ist in diesen Jahren kein Stück näher an Iran gerückt, dafür deutlich näher an die EU.”

Wirklich nett, das mit dem angeblichen Nicht-Heranrücken der Türkei an den faschistoiden Iran, welches ja ganz unzweifelhaft mit dem “An-Europa-Nachrück-Metronom” in, ähem… Eurometern… näh, Eurolitern, ähä, naja, jedenfalls UNZWEIFELHAFT messbar ist…

Schon vergessen, was the Fuhrergan im Januar sagte? “Die Welt” vom 19.1. (3): “Israel werde ein Fluch Gottes heimsuchen, prophezeite der türkische Ministerpräsident Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Allah werde das Land bestrafen. Der Judenstaat werde sich selbst zerstören; zum Schluss forderte er gar, Israel von den UN auszuschließen.” Na, und so gesehen hat Extrem Gezetere sogar Recht, denn the Fuhrergan zumindest steht nicht weiter entfernt von jenem schrecklichen, zutiefst antijüdischen alten Europa als von Mammut Gardinenstanges Hobbyraum by the name of “Iran”.

Time am 31. August 2009

_____

(1) Links in Bezug auf die Balkankriege: http://madrasaoftime.wordpress.com/2009/05/06/eine-unheilige-familie/

(2)
http://www.blick.ch/news/schweiz/organhandel-87795

(3) http://www.welt.de/politik/article3055409/Warum-die-Tuerkei-die-Beziehungen-zu-Israel-riskiert.html

(4) http://madrasaoftime.wordpress.com/2009/04/30/zwei-momos-gegen-israel/

Ms. Carla Del Ponte’s statements about Human Organ Harvesting by some members of the UCK are well known (e.g. here). Several on-line videos of TV news also exist about this case, e.g. this one here (with important personal testimonies in the end).

• In Greek: Για ΕΛΛΗΝΙΚΑ πιέστε ΕΔΩ.

Carla Del Ponte

Ms. Carla Del Ponte’s honesty, integrity, reliability and impeccable judgment have been proved, on several occasions. E.g. when she protested against the biggest cover-up operation (before the scandal of Albanian human organ trafficking): -The (initially) secret agreement between the International Court and Serbia, prohibiting the use of certain types of hot documentation proving the complicity and guilt of the central Serb government (of Milosevic) in planning the worst Bosnian-Serb atrocities. (e.g. read THIS). It is therefore sheer slander to say that she is “working for the Serbs” (as certain Albanians alleged) since Ms. Del Ponte has exposed Serbia, above all; a fact that most Serbs (and Greeks… and Albanians) do not know…

Well, here are some… highly infuriating recent news:

1) Albania vetoes international probe of organ harvesting (09/08/2009):

TIRANA, Albania — Albania is ready to probe allegations of organ harvesting during the Kosovo conflict, but says any investigation on its territory must be carried out by domestic authorities. After a meeting with visiting Council of Europe special rapporteur Dick Marty, Justice Minister Enkeiled Alibeaj told reporters the government is “open to all demands” for an inquiry based on CoE criteria. But he also said only domestic prosecutors were authorised to carry out investigations on Albanian territory, ruling out an international probe.

Serbia alleges that members of the now disbanded Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) kidnapped Serb civilians during the Kosovo conflict, took them to camps in northern Albania and removed their organs for sale on the black market. (AFP, Kosovo Times – 07/08/09)

Dick Marty

2) Albanian villagers block organ trafficking probe (12/08/2009)

TIRANA, Albania – Villagers prevented a team of European investigators from entering a house Monday (August 10th) that was allegedly used by Kosovo rebels to collect the human organs of hundreds of Serb victims of the 1998-99 conflict in Kosovo. Residents of the village of Ripa blocked the road for two hours and prevented Council of Europe (CoE) investigators from entering the house without a warrant issued by Albanian prosecutors, according to local media reports Tuesday. The investigators, led by CoE Special Rapporteur Dick Marty, were forced to drop efforts to visit the Katuci family home. Marty was in Albania as part of a fact-finding mission that included stops in Serbia and Kosovo. His team is looking into Serb allegations that Kosovo rebels killed up to 500 Serb citizens in Albania in order to remove their organs and sell them abroad. The victims were kidnapped in Kosovo. (AFP, News 24 – 11/08/09)

3) Islami urges Albania to allow CoE investigation (13/08/2009)

TIRANA, Albania — Investigators from the Council of Europe (CoE) must be allowed to visit a house in Ripa where Serbia claims members of the Kosovo Liberation Army harvested organs from Serb civilians and prisoners of war years ago, says Kastriot Islami. The opposition representative in Albania’s delegation to the Council of Europe (CoE), spoke out on Wednesday (August 12th) after his government said the CoE lacks a mandate to investigate the so-called “yellow house”. Islami, a member of the opposition Socialist Party who served as foreign minister between 2003 and 2005, says Albania, as member of the CoE, should respect Strasbourg’s decision to launch the probe. Earlier this week, a CoE delegation led by Special Rapporteur Dick Marty was turned away from the house by village residents who blocked its entrance for hours. The delegation ended up returning to Tirana. (Gazetatema – 13/08/09; Makfax – 12/08/09)

1. - WHO do these “villagers” think they ARE?

2. - HIDING evidence proves NOTHING but GUILT.

3. - NO, we do NOT trust “local investigators”…

Bear in mind that:

…Now, a probe is being led by Dick Marty, the Swiss senator who headed an investigation into claims the CIA operated secret prisons in Eastern Europe. Marty, working on behalf of the Council of Europe… (source: here)

In Greek:

Οι δηλώσεις της κ. Carla Del Ponte για το Εμπόριο Ανθρώπινων Οργάνων από τον UCK είναι γνωστές (π.χ. ΕΔΩ). Υπάρχουν επίσης πολλά βίντεο ειδήσεων για το ίδιο θέμα, π.χ. ΑΥΤΟ ΕΔΩ (με σημαντικές καταθέσεις μαρτύρων στο τέλος).

Σημειώστε επίσης ότι…

• Η κ. Κάρλα Ντελ Πόντε έχει ΑΠΟΔΕΙΞΕΙ επανειλλημένα την τιμιότητα, την αξιοπιστία της και την ΑΔΕΚΑΣΤΗ κρίση της. Π.χ. τόσο στη Σερβία όσο και στη (φιλο-σερβική) Ελλάδα όσο και στην Αλβανία, είναι ΕΛΑΧΙΣΤΑ (ή ΚΑΘΟΛΟΥ) γνωστά τα διαβήματα της Κάρλας κατά του πιο μεγάλου αναίσχυντου κουκουλώματος (πριν το σκάνδαλο του Αλβανικού εμπορίου ανθρώπινων οργάνων)…
  

• … δηλαδή, η Κάρλα Ντελ Πόντε διαμαρτυρήθηκε για το γεγονός ότι τα πιο καυτά ντοκουμέντα για την ενοχή της ΣΕΡΒΙΑΣ στα Βοσνιο-σερβικά εγκλήματα ΚΡΥΦΤΗΚΑΝ. Υπογράφτηκε (αρχικά-) μυστική συμφωνία μεταξύ του Διεθνούς Δικαστηρίου και της Σερβίας, να ΑΠΟΚΛΕΙΣΤΟΥΝ από το δικαστήριο πολλά ντοκουμέντα που εκθέτουν τη Σερβία, αποδεικνύοντας τον ΚΕΝΤΡΙΚΟ ρόλο της Σερβίας (του Μιλόσεβιτς) στο ΣΧΕΔΙΑΣΜΟ των Βοσνιο-Σερβικών φρικαλεοτήτων… (δείτε ΕΔΩ και το σχόλιό μου ΕΔΩ).
  

• Άρα, είναι ΛΑΣΠΗ οι ισχυρισμοί Αλβανικών κύκλων ότι η Κάρλα “δουλεύει για τους Σέρβους”, αφού ΠΡΩΤΑ αυτούς ξεμπρόστιασε!
  

Ορίστε τώρα μερικές νέες… ΠΟΛΥ εξοργιστικές ειδήσεις:

1) Η Αλβανία προβάλει βέτο σε διεθνή έρευνα για αφαίρεση οργάνων (09/08/2009)

ΤΙΡΑΝΑ, Αλβανία – Η Αλβανία είναι έτοιμη να ερευνήσει καταγγελίες αφαίρεσης οργάνων κατά τον πόλεμο του Κοσσόβου, αναφέρει όμως ότι η όποια έρευνα επί της επικράτειάς της θα πρέπει να διενεργηθεί από τις τοπικές αρχές. Μετά τη συνάντηση με τον Ντικ Μάρτι, επισκεπτόμενο ειδικό εισηγητή του Ευρωπαϊκού Συμβουλίου, ο υπουργός δικαιοσύνης Ενκέιλεντ Αλιμπέαζ δήλωσε στους δημοσιογράφους ότι η κυβέρνηση είναι “ανοικτή σε όλα τα αιτήματα” για έρευνα βάσει των κριτηρίων του Συμβουλίου της Ευρώπης. Είπε ωστόσο ότι μόνον οι ανακριτές της χώρας είχαν το δικαίωμα διενέργειας έρευνας επί αλβανικού εδάφους, αποκλείοντας τη διενέργεια διεθνούς έρευνας.

Η Σερβία υποστηρίζει ότι μέλη του σήμερα διαλυμένου Στρατού Απελευθέρωσης του Κοσσόβου (UCK) απήγαγαν σέρβους πολίτες κατά τη διάρκεια του πολέμου στο Κόσσοβο και τους μετέφεραν σε στρατόπεδα της βορείου Αλβανίας όπου και αφαίρεσαν τα όργανά τους για πώληση στη μαύρη αγορά. (AFP, Kosovo Times – 07/08/09)

2) Αλβανοί χωρικοί εμποδίζουν έρευνα σχετικά με τη διακίνηση οργάνων (12/08/2009)

ΤΙΡΑΝΑ, Αλβανία – Χωρικοί δεν επέτρεψαν σε ομάδα ευρωπαίων ερευνητών να μπουν σε οικία την Δευτέρα (10 Αυγούστου), η οποία φέρεται να είχε χρησιμοποιηθεί από αντάρτες του Κοσσόβου ως σημείο συλλογής ανθρώπινων οργάνων από εκατοντάδες σέρβους που έπεσαν θύματα στον πόλεμο του Κοσσόβου κατά την περίοδο 1998-99. Κάτοικοι του χωριού Ρίπα μπλοκάρισαν το δρόμο επί δύο ώρες και δεν επέτρεψαν στους ευρωπαίους ερευνητές να εισέλθουν στην οικία άνευ εντάλματος αλβανού εισαγγελέα, σύμφωνα με τα δημοσιεύματα τοπικών μέσων ενημέρωσης την Τρίτη. Οι ερευνητές υπό τον ειδικό Εισηγητή της Ευρωπαϊκής Επιτροπής Ντικ Μάρτι αναγκάστηκαν να εγκαταλείψουν την προσπάθεια να επισκεφθούν την οικία των Κατούκι. Ο Μάρτι βρίσκεται στην Αλβανία ως μέρος αποστολής διαπίστωσης γεγονότων σε σημεία της Σερβίας και του Κοσσόβου. Η ομάδα του εξετάζει σερβικές καταγγελίες ότι αντάρτες του Κοσσόβου σκότωσαν 500 περίπου σέρβους πολίτες στην Αλβανία με σκοπό την αφαίρεση και πώληση των οργάνων τους στο εξωτερικό. Η απαγωγή των θυμάτων έγινε στο Κόσσοβο. (AFP, News 24 – 11/08/09)

3) Ο Ισλάμι καλεί την Αλβανία να επιτρέψει έρευνα από το Συμβούλιο της Ευρώπης (13/08/2009)

ΤΙΡΑΝΑ, Αλβανία – Στους ερευνητές από το Συμβούλιο της Ευρώπης θα πρέπει να επιτραπεί η επίσκεψη σε οικία στη Ρίπα όπου η Σερβία ισχυρίζεται ότι ο απελευθερωτικός στρατός του Κοσσόβου αφαιρούσε όργανα σέρβων πολιτών και αιχμαλώτων πολέμου πριν από χρόνια, λέει ο Κάστριοτ Ισλάμι. Ο εκπρόσωπος της αντιπολίτευσης που μετέχει στην αλβανική αποστολή στο Συμβούλιο της Ευρώπης προέβηκε στις δηλώσεις αυτές την Τετάρτη (12 Αυγούστου) όταν η κυβέρνησή του είπε ότι το Συμβούλιο της Ευρώπης δεν έχει εντολή να ερευνήσει το αποκαλούμενο “κίτρινο σπίτι”. Ο Ισλάμι, μέλος του σοσιαλιστικού κόμματος της αντιπολίτευσης, ο οποίος διετέλεσε υπουργός εξωτερικών κατά το διάστημα 2003 – 2005, λέει ότι η Αλβανία, ως μέλος του Συμβουλίου της Ευρώπης, οφείλει να σεβαστεί την απόφαση του Στρασβούργου να διενεργήσει έρευνα. Στις αρχές της εβδομάδας, δεν επετράπη σε αποστολή του Συμβουλίου της Ευρώπης υπό τον Ειδικό Εισηγητή Ντικ Μάρτι να μεταβεί στην οικία. Χωρικοί είχαν αποκλείσει την είσοδο στην οικία για ώρες. Η αποστολή αναγκάστηκε να επιστρέψει στα Τίρανα. (Gazetatema – 13/08/09; Makfax – 12/08/09)

1. - ΠΟΙΟΙ νομίζουν ότι ΕΙΝΑΙ, τέλος πάντων αυτοί οι “χωρικοί”;

2. - Η ΑΠΟΚΡΥΨΗ ΣΤΟΙΧΕΙΩΝ αποδεικνύει ΜΟΝΟ την ΕΝΟΧΗ…

3. - Ε, ΟΧΙ, ΔΕΝ εμπιστευόμαστε “ντόπιους ερευνητές”!…

UPDATΕ 1: Δυστυχώς το γεγονός της ΑΠΑΡΑΔΕΚΤΗΣ και ΑΚΑΤΑΝΟΗΤΗΣ ΑΡΝΗΣΗΣ της Αλβανίας να επιτρέψει την ΑΜΕΡΟΛΗΠΤΗ ΕΡΕΥΝΑ του Συμβουλίου της Ευρώπης, όπου ΣΥΜΜΕΤΕΧΕΙ, είναι κάτι που δεν αναφέρθηκε στο ποστ του φίλου N. Ago “Ερευνα της ΕΕ για την εμπορία οργάνων στην Αλβανία“ (ένα ποστ που γράφτηκε ΠΡΙΝ τις εξελίξεις που διαβάσατε ΕΔΩ). (UPDATE 1a: Δείτε το νέο του ποστ ΕΔΩ). Αυτή η άρνηση όμως, της Αλβανίας, αυτός ο ΗΛΙΘΙΟΣ τσαμπουκάς σκορπάει τις ΧΕΙΡΙΣΤΕΣ κακές εντυπώσεις, ενώ ο κ. Ισλάμι έχει ΑΠΟΛΥΤΟ δίκιο στο ότι η έρευνα ΠΡΕΠΕΙ να επιτραπεί. Δυστυχώς όμως, το πιο πιθανό, τώρα πια, είναι ότι τα εγκλήματα ΕΓΙΝΑΝ και ότι ΠΟΛΥΣ κόσμος σην Αλβανία εθελοτυφλεί, σιωπά και κωλυσιεργεί για να ΜΗΝ ξεσκεπαστεί τίποτα...

UPDATE 2: Για τη δουλειά και τις απόψεις της Κάρλα Ντελ Πόντε, διαβάστε:

• Carla del Ponte: Kosovo leaders kidnapped Serbs and sold their organs
• [...]

UPDATE 3: Διαβάστε το νέο ποστ του N.Ago, “Γιατί η Αλβανία αρνείται την έρευνα;”

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• Kosovo civilian abuses revealed (news.bbc.co.uk)
• Kosovo Ex-Prime Minister Arrested on War Crimes (nytimes.com)
• Horror revealed (news.bbc.co.uk)
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di Anna Petrozzi – 30 luglio 2009 (fonte: AntimafiaDuemila)

Fonte: La Stampa

“Un amico mi ha tradito, un amico mi ha tradito”… Sono le parole che Paolo Borsellino avrebbe affidato a due giovani colleghi, un uomo e una donna, ai tempi di Marsala con la voce rotta dal pianto e la testa tra le mani. Una testimonianza finora inedita (sulla quale i magistrati di Caltanissetta stanno indagando alla ricerca di questo “amico”) ma non sorprendente.

Infatti più volte la signora Agnese Borsellino, moglie del giudice, aveva riferito dello stato di profondo turbamento in cui suo marito, in preda all’esigenza di “fare in fretta”, visse quei 57 giorni che gli rimasero dopo la strage di Capaci.

Una sera, ha raccontato la signora, Borsellino era talmente sconvolto per quanto aveva scoperto che vomitò e tra le pochissime cose che, per proteggerla, le confidava, le disse che era disgustato dal grado di corruzione in cui si stava imbattendo. E ancora esclamò: “Sto vedendo la mafia in diretta”, commentando gli eventi che in quel folle mese e mezzo si avvicendavano palesemente e occultamente nel Paese.

La storia della mafia e dell’antimafia è sempre stata piena di tradimenti e di “Giuda”, così come Borsellino stesso ebbe a ricordare commemorando Falcone, e non è nemmeno un mistero che di nemici i due magistrati nel corso di svolgimento del proprio lavoro ne avessero collezionati tanti. Erano nemici quelli che avevano messo sotto ascolto i telefoni che rivelavano i suoi spostamenti e lo erano anche quelli che ne avevano pedinato fino all’ultimo l’itinerario da Villagrazia di Carini fino a Via D’Amelio ed erano nemici, forse ancora più pericolosi, quelli che sapevano che Borsellino annotava tutte le sue intuizioni investigative sulla sua agenda rossa, fatta sparire con una manovra da manuale, pochi secondi dopo che quella strada era stata devastata dal tritolo.

Ma forse Borsellino ne aveva scoperti altri di nemici, forse inaspettati, forse aveva saputo che alcuni pezzi dello Stato stavano trattando con la mafia, quello solo doveva essere il nemico, o ancora peggio si era accorto di aver parlato con la persona o con le persone sbagliate.

Forse aveva condiviso il risultato delle sue investigazioni con personaggi dal doppio volto e se ne era reso conto e per questo era assolutamente consapevole che sarebbe morto di lì a poco. Sapeva che i suoi nemici sapevano.

Nino Giuffré, in uno dei tanti interrogatori, spiegò che “non si sa come, ma Provenzano riusciva sempre a venire a conoscenza di tutto (…) era venuto a sapere che Borsellino era incorruttibile, irremovibile e per questo andava eliminato”.

Talpe, confidenti, accordi e trattative dietro i mandanti occulti della strage di via D’Amelio, ma altrettanti depistaggi, menzogne, finti pentiti anche per gli esecutori materiali dell’eccidio.

Il procuratore di Caltanissetta Lari e suoi aggiunti e sostituti Gozzo, Bertone, Marino e Luciani stanno infatti cercando di ricostruire daccapo anche le fasi preparative e attuative della strage oggi messe in discussione dalle dichiarazioni di due nuovi collaboratori di giustizia, Gaspare Spatuzza e Angelo Fontana, rispettivamente uomini d’onore di Brancaccio e dell’Acquasanta, che entrano in contrasto con quanto, seppur con perplessità, era stato consolidato dalle sentenze.

La valutazione di Vincenzo Scarantino, oggi considerato un falso pentito e accusato di calunnia, era stata sempre molto prudente perché sin da subito aveva mostrato incongruenze, contraddizioni per non parlare delle sue continue ritrattazioni. In ogni caso la sua versione era stata ritenuta valida a sufficienza per far condannare diversi uomini d’onore e non, come il suo complice Candura. Crollato al suo primo confronto con Spatuzza.

Ora si tratta di capire perché Scarantino si è autoaccusato e ha scontato anni in carcere in caparbio silenzio. E a beneficio di chi.

Primo passo i verbali. I magistrati hanno riesumato il primo anomalo verbale riempito da Scarantino il 24 giugno 1994. Stranezza numero uno: non sono indicati i presenti come invece è prassi fare, e numero due, la trascrizione è piena di appunti a penna nei quali si legge chiaramente come la deposizione venisse “aggiustata”.

La Procura ha individuato e sentito l’ispettore di polizia che si era occupato della protezione di Scarantino mentre si trovava ad Imperia e questi ha affermato di essersi limitato a trascrivere quanto lui gli dettava. “Ho scritto quegli appunti su richiesta di Scarantino che aveva difficoltà a leggere i verbali. Mi chiese anche delucidazioni su alcuni punti degli interrogatori e io gli risposi che per questo doveva rivolgersi al suo legale”.

A margine delle dichiarazioni si intravvedono nomi, annotazioni, orari insomma versioni da accordare e ricordare. Sin dagli inizi del suo parlare Scarantino aveva cercato di adeguare il suo racconto con quello degli altri coindagati, come fece con le deposizioni di Francesco Andriotta il criminale, ergastolano e trafficante di droga e armi, che per primo riferì all’autorità giudiziaria quanto aveva appreso da Scarantino sulla strage di via D’Amelio e con quelle di Candura, anche lui oggi indagato per calunnia.

A parte le menzogne c’è da scoprire chi le architettò e perché.

Per individuare le linee di quella che appare sempre più chiaramente come una lucida opera di depistaggio il procuratore Lari e gli altri pm hanno iscritto nel registro degli indagati anche poliziotti e uomini dei servizi segreti, ma sulla questione permane il più stretto riserbo.

Alle dichiarazioni di Spatuzza si sarebbero aggiunte su questo preciso punto anche quelle di Angelo Fontana, che avrebbe riconosciuto in alcune immagini della strage mostrategli dagli inquirenti uomini legati ai servizi segreti che mantenevano contatti con gli uomini di Cosa Nostra. Dalle rivelazioni di entrambi i pentiti sarebbero stati individuati inoltre altri due personaggi coinvolti uno nella strage di Capaci, un uomo organico a Cosa Nostra, già in carcere, ma di cui mai si era saputo nulla, e uno per il fallito attentato all’Addaura quando, nel 1989, una borsa sportiva piena di candelotti di dinamite venne posta sulla scogliera davanti la villa in cui Falcone stava lavorando con i magistrati elvetici Carla Del Ponte e Claudio Lehman.

Insomma le carte sono state rimischiate e ridistribuite sul tavolo. Il lavoro dei magistrati di Caltanissetta così come quelli di Palermo impegnati sul fronte della cosiddetta trattativa, in seguito all’importante testimonianza di Massimo Ciancimino, è estremamente delicato. Non è dietrologia immaginare che l’interesse su queste indagini sia altissimo e che provenga da più parti. Restano le domande: Chi ha guidato le false testimonianze di Scarantino e Candura? Chi ha beneficiato oltre alla famiglia di Brancaccio, guidata dai Graviano, di questa falsa pista? Cosa ci facevano i servizi segreti sul luogo della strage Borsellino? Da quale filo rosso sono legate l’Addaura, Capaci e via D’Amelio? E ancora più di tutto: cosa avevano capito Giovanni Falcone e Paolo Borsellino da ingenerare una tale mastodontica strategia eversiva e destabilizzatrice per eliminarli?

Intanto che resti alta l’attenzione della società civile e di tutte le forze oneste e positive in campo, la verità è un diritto, da pretendere fino in fondo.

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Hat der Film “Das Tal der Wölfe“* doch Recht? Wo ein geldgieriger, schmieriger Jude mit Organen handelt? Der wohl bizarrste Vorwurf trifft einen Mann aus Brooklyn namens Levy Izhak Rosenbaum, der über diverse Ecken mit dem Rabbi-Network verbandelt sein soll. Die Staatsanwaltschaft bezeichnete ihn als einen “Organhändler”: Er habe versucht, einem Undercover-Agenten für 10.000 Dollar eine Niere abzukaufen und diese dann unwissentlich einem anderen FBI-Spion angedient – für erst 150.000, später 160.000 Dollar. Rosenbaum habe sich gerühmt, schon “recht viele” Nieren vermittelt zu haben. “Ich bin ein Matchmaker”, zitiert die Anklage ihn. Ist das eine Bestätigung der antisemitischen Propagandafilme der arabischen Fimstudios, wo einem kleinen Mädchen die Augen ausgestochen werden, damit ein reicher Jude sich ungehindert weiter an seinen Reichtümern erfreuen kann, an denen das Blut Unschuldiger klebt?

Nun, erst einmal sollte man relativierend eingestehen, auch Juden und Rabbis sind keine Engel, im Gegensatz zu den Uiguren, um die sich Deutschland so reisst. Aber das wissen wir ja schon. Wenn wir uns unsere eigenen Juden so anschauen, jedenfalls die, die vorgeben, für die deutschen Juden zu sprechen, wer möchte sich nicht andauernd übergeben? Um ein wenig Körpergewicht zu verlieren? Trotzdem sollte man aus dem Organhandel nicht so ein Drama machen und aus der Korruption.  Schliesslich unterstützt Deutschland einen ganzen Staat, dessen Entstehung mit Organhandel finanziert wurde. Carla Del Ponte, die Haager Chefanklägerin hat mehrmals darauf hingewiesen.

In «La caccia» (Die Jagd) bringt sie Hashim Thaçi (39), den Regierungschef der Republik Kosovo, mit einem fürchterlichen Verbrechen in Verbindung. Thaçi, der den Kosovo eben erst in die Unabhängigkeit geführt hat, soll an Mord und Organhandel beteiligt gewesen sein. Es liest sich wie ein Horror-Roman, was Del Ponte über die Entführung von 300 Serben 1999 schreibt: Im albanischen Ort Burrel seien die Menschen von der Kosovo-Befreiungsarmee UCK ermordet und ausgeweidet worden. Ihre Organe habe man nach Westeuropa verkauft. Das Haager Kriegsverbrechertribunal erhielt zahlreiche Hinweise auf das Massaker. In den Dokumenten und Berichten verschiedener Quellen steht: «Vorgesetzte der UCK haben von dem Organhandel gewusst und waren sogar daran beteiligt.» Namentlich genannt wird der damalige politische UCK-Führer und heutige Premier Thaçi. Zur Anklage kam es nie. Die Beweise hätten nicht ausgereicht, schreibt Del Ponte.

Und, hat es Deutschland  irritiert, Leuten einen Staat anzuerkennen, die sich solcher Scheußlichkeiten befleissigten? Ach was, vergeben und vergessen. Immerhin sind wir das der Organ-Mafia schuldig, wir, die wir in der Welt herumwuseln und unsere dreckigen Regierungspfoten auf jede Menschenrechtsverletzung legen, wenn es uns passt. Aber nur dann. Und wer wäre nicht froh, über eine neue Leber, jetzt, wo die Bierpreise so purzeln?

Verhaftung von Leute mit Bärten

* Filmtip: Komischer türkischer Film mit einem absurden Pathos.

Florence Hartmann, former spokeswoman for the UN’s Yugoslav war crimes tribunal stand trial before her former employer. Carla del Ponte’s former spokeswoman is charged with revealing confidential information over the trial of late Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic.

The French journalist, stands accused of contempt before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY). Hartmann did not wish to state her plea in court, so judge Carmel Agius entered on her behalf that she pleaded “not guilty” in November 2008.

“Silencing the truth”
Hartmann has publicly accused the UN war crimes tribunal of “trying to silence the truth”. Hartmann could face a seven years prison sentence or a 100,000 euro fine if found guilty. The ICTY alleges that she disclosed confidential information in September 2007 in her book “Peace and Punishment”, as well as in the article “Vital Genocide Documents Concealed”, which was published by the Bosnian Institute in January 2008.

Shady bargain
Hartmann covered the 1990s Balkan wars for Le Monde. In her publications Hartmann wrote that the Hague prosecution was allegedly unhappy with the tribunal’s decision to accept Serbia’s request to have some portions of the state archive documents considered in closed sessions. The judges in the Milosevic case allowed Serbia to censor parts of evidence that was made public. She believes that it was precisely those pieces of evidence that were key in determining Serbia’s responsibility for the genocide in Bosnia. Hartmann argues that it was thanks to the Tribunal’s collusion with Serbia in the suppression of this crucial piece of evidence, that Bosnia was not able to draw upon the latter in its case against Serbia for genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), leading to Serbia’s acquittal.
Far from punishing the perpetrators of genocide in the former Yugoslavia, the Tribunal has helped to shield them, Hartmann says. She accused judges of the Appeals Chamber, headed by former Tribunal President Fausto Pocar, of being “accomplices in manipulation organized by the authorities in Belgrade, so that the International Court of Justice, which heard the Bosnian genocide lawsuit, would be made to make the same mistakes the Hague Tribunal made”.

The tribunal says that she “knew that the information was confidential at the time disclosure was made, that the decisions from which the information was drawn were ordered to be filed confidentially, and that by her disclosure she was revealing confidential information to the public.”

In the meantime, The Hague Tribunal determined that the former spokesperson’s financial situation disabled her to finance her defence, thus the court would bare all the expenses…

Is this an intentional mistake or the ICTY judges are loosing their north?

May I be polite if I feel revolted by this incomprehensible proceeding? Should one says that it does not sound good, nor even worse, but really inacceptable. The judges in this case must decide which law is more important: the right of victims to access information that has allowed Srebrenica happen, and the right of the ICTY judges to hide this information to victims through a “private” decision? What is the purpose of the international justice if we place in the same indicted dock Florence Hartmann and Radovan Karadzic, even if the charges are different?

If you asked the Czar or Russia right before the bolshevik revolution if he thought people were ready to become a republic he would probably have said NO

If you asked Louis XVI from France, right before his head bounced into the bucket below the guillotine if people were ready to be free he would have probably said NO.

If you ask the ICTY judges if they are ready to risk a lot making a fool of themselves -awfully…. well, they would probably say NO

You can follow the proceedings in Hartmann’s case here.

Nessuno avrebbe immaginato, alla fine degli anni ottanta, con la caduta del Muro di Berlino, che l’Europa avrebbe conosciuto di nuovo il dramma della guerra civile e del genocidio. Di lì a poco, invece, la dissoluzione della ex repubblica federale iugoslava avrebbe scatenato una serie di conflitti che avrebbero insanguinato tutti gli anni novanta. Eccetto la Slovenia, in rapida sequenza Croazia, Serbia, Bosnia-Erzegovina e Kosovo avrebbero acceso una guerra civile che avrebbe toccato punte di intensità drammatica, come per certi versi testimonia la strage di Srebenica ai danni di settemila bosniaci musulmani.

Per giudicare i criminali di guerra, l’Onu nel maggio 1993 decide di istituire, all’Aja, un vero e proprio tribunale. Si tratta della prima corte istituita in Europa a partire dalla fine della Seconda guerra mondiale. L’incarico di pubblico ministero viene affidato a Carla Del Ponte. Il suo lavoro presso i tribunali delle Nazioni Unite ha permesso l’arresto e la conduzione in giudizio di decine di persone accusate di genocidio e altri crimini di guerra, tra cui Slobodan Milosevic, presidente della Serbia, e di istruire prove contro due tra i ricercati più importanti al mondo, Radovan Karadzic e il generale Ratko Mladic, accusato del massacro di Srebenica.

La caccia. Io e i criminali di guerra, Del Ponte Carla, Feltrinelli Editore, euro 20,00, pp. 412,

Interessante il commento di Francesco trovato sotto la recensione di questo libro:

“Un libro che ha fatto molto discutere, un testo del quale ne è stato chiesto il blocco della pubblicazione da parte della Serbia, con vivaci proteste. Leggete quanto pubblica Feltrinelli (editore) a proposito. E non potrebbe essere diversamente per un libro che rappresenta un pugno nello stomaco sulla vicenda più cruenta, sanguinosa e vergognosa degli ultimi cinquant’anni. Non si parlava dal ‘45 di campi di concentramento, sterminio, deportazioni, genocidio, e la nuova arma di “distruzione di massa” sperimentata efficacemente dai macellai serbo-bosniaci rappresentata dallo strupro-etnico a danno delle popolazioni musulmane dell’area.

L’autrice del libro, “madame il Procuratore” capo della Procura del Tribunale internazionale dell’Ex Jugoslavia con tutto l’ufficio di Procura conduce una caccia spietata, senza risparmiare nessuno, in modi e termini, al fine di catturare tutti i complici e correi dei crimini contro l’umanità e crimini di guerra commessi da tutti i soggetti coinvolti nella vicenda dei Balcani (dal lato serbo-bosniaco, dal lato kossovaro (uck), dal lato montenegrino). Con tono serrato, senza lasciare respiro al lettore, il Procuratore ci racconta giorno dopo giorno l’attività del Tribunale coinvolto su doppio fronte: quello dei Balcani e quello del Ruanda, con un parallelo continuo che rende efficace la narrazione.

La storia dei Balcani è quella che si protrae fino alla fine del testo, ed è la più avvincente, ma non meno cruenta di quella ruandese. Ciò che fa male nel leggere il libro, ciò che rende l’animo inquieto del lettore, è che si poteva fare forse di più. Il Procuratore, a costo di pagare il prezzo della sua stessa posizione, ha fatto l’impossibile per superare il “muro di gomma” innalzato dalla Comunità internazionale (=leggi in primis il Segretario Generale…i capi di Stato, gli stessi Paesi implicati nei crimini che sono ostruzionisti verso le indagini..fino all’inverosimile). Fa male sapere che nemmeno dinanzi ai 7500 morti di Srebrenica,c’è chi voglia conoscere la verità.”

“L’Albanie sera membre de l’Union européenne et la France soutient pleinement cette perspective”, a déclaré la présidence de la République à l’issue d’une entrevue entre Nicolas Sarkozy et le Premier ministre albanais Sali Berisha.

Dans la foulée de son adhésion à l’Otan, lors du sommet de l’organisation début avril à Strasbourg, l’Albanie doit officiellement déposer mardi son dossier de candidature auprès de la présidence tchèque de l’Union.

Nicolas Sarkozy a assuré que Paris appuierait cette démarche même si le contexte actuel n’est pas des plus favorables avec la crise économique qui fragilise des candidats potentiels à l’Union européenne et les incertitudes persistantes sur la ratification du traité de Lisbonne.

Le président français et Sali Berisha sont convenus par ailleurs d’intensifier les relations économiques entre Paris et Tirana, qui sont peu développées, et Nicolas Sarkozy a souligné l’importance, au vu des ambitions européennes de l’Albanie, de son projet d’acquisition de 17 hélicoptères militaires.

Eurocopter, la filiale d’EADS, est en lice pour ce contrat convoité également par l’italien Agusta (groupe Finmeccanica) et l’américain Sikorsky, filiale du groupe United Technologies).

Sali Berisha a indiqué de son côté que Nicolas Sarkozy l’avait assuré “qu’il visiterait avec plaisir l’Albanie”, cette visite pouvant intervenir en 2010.

Source : L’Express 24/04/2009

Carla Del Ponte

Carla Del Ponte is not the quiet type. The tenacious European prosecutor took on some of the most powerful members of the Sicilian mafia, hammering away at their now infamous “pizza connection” with Swiss bankers. As head of the international tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, she hauled Slobodan Milosevic and dozens of others into court for war crimes, and investigated acts of genocide in Rwanda. Her enemies branded her “the whore” and plotted to blow her up with bombs, prompting the Swiss government to assign her around-the-clock bodyguards, who protect her to this day. Her investigative prowess impressed former FBI director Louis Freeh—and infuriated former CIA director George Tenet, whom she badgered for assistance in tracking Milosevic’s henchmen. And in her new memoir, “Madame Prosecutor,” the English-language edition of which was released this month, she courts fresh controversy by charging that officials at the United Nations and NATO failed to properly investigate allegations of Albanian atrocities against Serbs in Kosovo in 1999.

There is a certain irony, then, in the fact that this fearless law-enforcement legend has been barred from speaking a word about her own book.

“Madame Prosecutor” created a sensation when it was first released in Italian last year, largely due to the passage about the alleged Albanian atrocities. She reports that her U.N. war-crimes team had received tips that some 100 to 300 Serbs who disappeared just after the Kosovo conflict of 1999 had been kidnapped, transported across an international border into Albania and killed. What’s more, she’s written that some of the younger, healthier captives may have had their organs removed as part of an international trafficking operation. Albanian prosecutors maintain that probes by local authorities and the United Nations yielded no evidence to support the charge. But the charges may have stirred anxiety within the Swiss government, which hired Del Ponte as the country’s ambassador to Argentina shortly after she completed the book. The Swiss banned Del Ponte from discussing the matter. As a result, Del Ponte’s tome is on tour—without its author.

Del Ponte may be muzzled, but her co-writer, former New York Times reporter Chuck Sudetic, is speaking out. “It’s really bizarre and it’s really upsetting,” says Sudetic, who is traveling the United States in support of the English-language edition. “Carla Del Ponte does not speak with forked tongue. She is a woman who says what she thinks. She does it with style, but she’s not afraid to say what she thinks. And she’s not afraid to say it to anybody.”

A spokesman for the Swiss Embassy in Washington told NEWSWEEK that for Del Ponte to “express herself” on any previous activity would be incompatible with her “present function.” But the spokesman declined to elaborate on how the ban came about, or whether it applied to any other members of the country’s diplomatic corps. A source close to Del Ponte says she was not notified of the ban until after she assumed her post, even though she had already finished the book and received authorization to travel to Milan for its publication.

Del Ponte’s silence has taken a serious toll on sales, says Judith Gurewich, Del Ponte’s U.S. publisher. Her company, Other Press, printed 15,000 copies of “Madame Prosecutor,” but has so far sold only 600. Without the star of the show, the media backed out of interviews, and plans for the book tour had to be scaled back. “My dream was that Stephen Colbert would have interviewed her,” says Gurewich, who consulted with Swiss officials herself, bidding unsuccessfully to persuade them to lift the ban. “I was told that, as the ambassador of Switzerland in Argentina, she can’t toot her own horn about her book. Sometimes politics trumps human rights. They will claim it’s for the greater good, but I don’t think that’s acceptable.”

So what has the Swiss so worried? Some Balkans specialists suggest the country’s leaders may fear a coming political storm. The book’s release in Italian last spring coincided with Switzerland’s politically sensitive decision to recognize Kosovo as an independent country—a stance shared by the United States and much of Western Europe, but bitterly opposed by Russia. The political fallout from allegations about possible crimes committed by Kosovo’s Albanians may well have put top Swiss officials on edge; some Swiss compatriots, Del Ponte wrote, warned her about discussing issues of Albanian violence in her book. At the same time, a source close to Del Ponte, who would not speak on the record due to diplomatic sensitivities, hinted that the Swiss foreign minister may be wary of being shown up on the world stage by a star ambassador. Whatever the case, the book did succeed in drawing attention to the controversy; on Feb. 23 the Serbian government announced that it would press Albanian authorities for more information about the alleged organ trafficking. And there is no question that the political wounds in the Balkans continue to fester nearly a decade after Kosovo’s drive for independence and the painful breakup of the former Yugoslavia. (On Thursday, international judges convicted five of Milosevic’s associates on charges of war crimes, while acquitting the Serbs’ wartime president.)

Sudetic acknowledges that dark conspiracy theories are commonplace in the region, which he covered for the Times, among others, during the 1990s (Sudetic, who also did a stint as an analyst with the Balkans tribunal, now works for the Open Society Institute, a George Soros-backed policy group). But he maintains that this case involves hard evidence. According to the book, investigators found medical paraphernalia and blood traces at a site pinpointed by tipsters when they visited in 2004. Still, without any bodies, they lacked definitive proof of a crime. Finding witnesses proved a challenge. The tipsters, a group of journalists, would not reveal their sources. And people living near the site would not cooperate.

Del Ponte’s tribunal did not have jurisdiction to pursue the case, since the crime was alleged to have taken place outside of Kosovo and after the armed conflict there had ceased. Local authorities in Albania and Kosovo would have had to overcome the memories of Serbian atrocities against their own people, still fresh in their minds, in vigorously investigating any crimes. Anger ran deep. At one point, Del Ponte wrote, the local Albanian prosecutor told one of her investigators, “If they did bring Serbs over the border from Kosovo and killed them, they did a good thing.” The U.N. mission in Kosovo, which had jurisdiction in the fledgling state immediately following the conflict, took a preliminary look alongside Del Ponte’s team. But they ran up against the same problems finding witnesses in the small, close-knit Albanian community, and let it drop. (A U.N. official told the Associated Press in November that the organization’s investigators had found no substantial evidence to support claims that Serbians were taken to Albania and killed.)

Leaders in Kosovo and Serbia have blasted Del Ponte’s charges as an unsubstantiated “fantasy,” claiming she never raised the issue in private meetings. It is not the first time she has attracted ire. Opponents accuse her of botching the Milosevic trial, thereby allowing him to die in custody at the Hague in 2006, five years after his capture, with no verdict ever rendered. She failed to provide adequate protection for her witnesses, critics claim; some were killed as a result, leaving others too spooked to testify. And she was ultimately ousted from the Rwandan war-crimes tribunal in Tanzania following complaints that she poorly managed the investigations while splitting her time between the Rwandan and Balkan inquiries. (Del Ponte maintains that the Rwandan government objected to her pursuit of cases against Tutsis as well as Hutus.)

Whatever her reputation, her latest charges have lit a fuse. Shortly after “Madame Prosecutor” was published, Human Rights Watch released a report offering evidence its researcher maintains independently verify Del Ponte’s claims. Serbian nationalists have seized upon the story, especially the sensational organ-smuggling elements, to drive home their message that they’ve been unfairly demonized in the world’s eyes. “To date, the main charges have always been about crimes against Albanians. But with this book, suddenly we have a story about crimes by Albanians,” explained Serbian human-rights activist Natasa Kandic. “Albanians reject that because they say the Kosovo administration didn’t have power at this time. They say Carla Del Ponte has no evidence. But where are the remains of these hundreds of people? Where are the secret mass graves?” Armed with newly obtained photos purportedly showing Kosovo’s soldiers in Albania, Serbian officials are now pressing Albanian authorities to hand over information. But they are meeting with resistance, as Albanian and Kosovar officials maintain the matter has been adequately investigated and put to rest.

The politically sensitive subject may soon flare up further. Dick Marty of the Council of Europe, whose last investigation exposed the CIA’s secret network of prisons involved in extraordinary renditions, is now on the case. And Sudetic says he expects additional revelations about the alleged crimes to emerge within the next six weeks. At that point, authorities in Kosovo and at the United Nations would have their hands forced to, as he puts it, “do what they should have done a lot earlier—and that is, take a really good, hard look at war crimes committed against Serbs by Albanians, which [the Albanians] just blanket deny.”

As the controversy swirls, Del Ponte sits silent at her diplomatic outpost in Buenos Aires. In her book, she decries what she calls a “muro di gomma”—a bureaucratic “wall of rubber”—that creates a climate of complacency in which politics trumps the pursuit of justice. Maybe she feels she’s behind such a wall herself now. We don’t know; she can’t say.

__________

Full article and photo: http://www.newsweek.com/id/186826

Within two days I had a number of google alerts concerning Mladic in my mailbox.

First, it was suddenly news that Mladic bullied allies for their support and successful help evading capture:

BELGRADE, Jan 20 (Reuters) – The support network of war crimes fugitive Ratko Mladic is getting smaller and weaker as Serbian investigators close in on a man who has alienated and bullied his protectors, a Serbian official said on Tuesday. “Some time before 2002, when he (Mladic) used army premises to hide, he lined up all the officers helping him to hide, pointed his finger at each and said that even their grandchildren will be hurt if they dare to give out information on where he is hiding,” Ljajic told Reuters. The Serbian government has posted a one-million-euro reward for information leading to Mladic’s arrest, and the United States is offering another $5 million. The arrest is vital to Serbia’s future as Belgrade cannot advance towards European Union membership until it turns over Mladic to The Hague. Ljajic, who is also Serbia’s minister for labour and social affairs, said Belgrade knows more about Mladic’s whereabouts today than six months ago. “Mladic trusts only a small number of people. He is aware that more people in his support network would only make the job for our services easier,” Ljajic said. The minister added that officials have reconstructed Mladic’s moves up until the spring of 2006. Giving rare details of the long-running manhunt, Rasim Ljajic, Serbia’s point man for cooperation with the Hague war crimes tribunal, said Mladic had even threatened the children of supporters to make sure they reveal no clues of his whereabouts. (you can read the full article here)

And – without coincidence, Carla del Ponte´s book “ Madame Prosecutor: Confrontations with Humanity´s Worst Criminals and the Culture of Impunity”

I am not sure if she goes as far as actualy claiming to have evidence, rather than refering to her associtate Florence Hartmann´s allegations:

Del Ponte’s closest associate Florence Hartman writes in her book ‘The Peace and the Punishment’ that in 2003 Mladic resided in seven different flats in Belgrade and that Serbia authorities pretended not to know where he was ‘with the blessing of the CIA’.
She also claims that Mladic enjoys protection of the French intelligence service because of release of the captured pilots and that Chirac personally stopped Mladic’s arrest on several occasions.
Artman also discloses that Joschka Fischer, former German foreign minister told Del Ponte at the beginning of 2006 that according to the report by German secret Service the BRD, he had been informed that Ashdown had met with Karadzic at the end of 2004. Del Ponte requested that report from the BRD in order to face the Great Britain with it, but Germany, as Hartman claims, refused that request.
Hartman also claims that Geoffrey Nice is actually the MI6 agent. She reminded of a small detail from an interview given by former Kosovo leader Azem Vlasi in May of 2007. Vlasi said that Nice told him during their meeting in Belgrade that he, Nice, participated in the mission in former Yugoslavia in 1966.
In August last year she told ‘Blic’ that ‘during the summer of 2005 two CIA agents, presenting themselves as the Hague Tribunal’s representatives, requested from the Bosnia/Herzegovina Police to suspend following of the Karadzic family ordered by Del Ponte’. (you can read the full article here Blic online 22.01.2209 BIA collecting data on Mladic from 30 countries

Why just the reference? -Florence Hartman, Ms Del Ponte’s former spokeswoman, was charged with two counts of contempt for knowingly and willfully disclosing information.

• The economist´s review on del Ponte´s book: a depressing, but necessary tale of our times

• ICTY – Florence Hartmann indicted for Contempt
• Greater Surbiton Blog: Florence Hartmann´s Peace and Punishment
• War Crimes Web log article: more concern about Bosnia
• New York Times article: Islamic revival tests Bosnia´s secular cast

Apparently, if data on Mladic is compiled from 30 countries – a fugitive story.
Not so long ago he was seen as a sheperd, than as a tuberculosis patient in Belarus ……as himself, proudly and in all his glory.

Someone told me, that Mladic was seen as Chirac´s poodle.
No wonder Chirac was mauled by his depressive dog.

In 2007 Florence Hartmann, journalist and former spokeswoman for Carla del Ponte, published a book about the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) called “Peace and Punishment” (“Paix et chatiment: Les guerres secretes de la politique et de la justice internationales”, Flammarion, 2007).

She has since been indicted of contempt of the tribunal (.pdf), for “knowingly and wilfully disclosing information in knowing violation of an order of a Chamber” in her book and in the article “Vital genocide documents concealed” published by the Bosnian Institute.

She argues that “Bosnia was prevented from calling for documents that would have provided evidence against Serbia for genocide” – evidence that might have had a direct impact on the verdict in the case Bosnia-Herzegovina vs. Serbia. If the ICJ [International Court of Justice] had possessed evidence that Serbia was ‘in control’ of the Republika Srpska authorities or of the Bosnia Serbian Army, the Court would have not cleared Serbia of genocide at Srebrenica,” she continues. Among the hidden documents were “personal military files which showed clearly that VRS generals, including Ratko Mladić, were members of Serbia’s army” (how’s that for civil war?).

According to Hartmann “ICTY judges kept key material from the public for the sole purpose of shielding Serbia from responsibility before another UN court“. In other words they did the exact opposite of what the ICTY claims to be doing: “bringing war criminals to justice and bringing justice to victims”.

Hartmann’s own conclusion to the article doesn’t differ much from mine: “(…) the ICTY Appeal Chamber violated the very UN Security Council resolution (827) that established the Tribunal in 1993. According to paragraph 7 of this resolution, ‘the work of ICTY shall be carried out without any prejudice to the rights of the victims to seek compensation for damages incurred as a result of violations of international humanitarian law’.”

Hartmann herself has called the indictment against her the war tribunal’s attempt to silence the truth. It’s hard to disagree – she’s not being accused of lying, but simply of uncovering something that should have remained the tribunal’s dirty little secret.

She risks seven years of imprisonment or a fine of 100.000 Euros. A Facebook group in her support has emerged, as well as a petition organized by French and Bosnian NGOs. They point out some of the legal mistakes made by the ICTY and express their incomprehension of the indictment and a possible guilty verdict. You can sign the petition until January 25th.

Traffico d’organi in Albania dopo la fine della guerra del Kosovo.
E’ questa una delle novità piu’ clamorose contenute nel libro La Caccia dell’ex procuratore del Tribunale Penale Internazionale dell’Aja, Carla Del Ponte. La Del Ponte scrive che il suo gruppo investigativo è venuto a sapere “da fonti giornalistiche affidabili” che circa trecento serbi del Kosovo, rapiti durante la primavera del 1999, furono trasferiti nel nord dell’Albania. Questi prigionieri all’inizio furono rinchiusi in campi situati presso Kukes e Tropoje.
Secondo le stesse fonti, i prigionieri più giovani e vitali furono poi trasferiti nel carcere della cittadina di Burrel a nord di Tirana. Un gruppo di essi fu incarcerato in una baracca dentro una “casa gialla” nelle campagne di Burrel, ed una stanza di questa “casa gialla” – come hanno descritto i giornalisti – sarebbe servita da sala operatoria per estrarre gli organi dei prigionieri. In seguito, gli organi erano inviati attraverso l’aeroporto di Rinas a cliniche all’estero dove venivano impiantati ai clienti bisognosi.
Nel febbraio 2004, gli esperti del Tribunale dell’Aja hanno perquisito la casa sospetta di Burrel, che Rainews24 è riuscita a raggiungere.

Il collegamento al video è qui.

Nu comentez raţiunile absconse ale înfiinţării Tribunalului Penal Internaţional. Nu comentez moartea subită şi suspectă a lui Slobodan Milosevic. Nu comentez competenţa echipei de procurori cărora Milosevic, cu zâmbet superior, le-a spulberat dovezile contrafăcute şi argumentele logic viciate. Nu comentez plânsul isteric şi depresiv al Carlei Del Ponte când a aflat vestea morţii lui Milosevic. Nici absurditatea kafkiană a dorinţei ei de a continua procesul lui Milosevic, deşi acesta decedase… Şi nici intervenţiile americane pentru potolirea zelului demenţial al italiencei, înnebunită fiindcă rămăsese fără obiectul urii ei iraţionale.

Nu comentez decizia TPI de a elibera 4 sălbatici criminali bosniaci, musulmani, împotriva cărora fuseseră administrate probe irefutabile, şi nici pe cea de a condamna toţi inculpaţii de origine sârbă pe baza unui probatoriu subţire, a unor acuzaţii nefondate şi a unor zvonuri. Comentez, însă, decizia cinică de a-l ţine captiv pe Radovan Karadzic în aceeaşi celulă în care a fost încarcerat Slobodan Milosevic. Probabil va fi “ajutat” să moară, ca o coincidenţă sinistră, în momentul în care va face dezvăluiri supărătoare. Karadzic nu va apuca sfârşitul procesului. Pentru că substratul deciziei americane de a desfiinţa Iugoslavia, apoi Serbia şi de a extermina poporul sârb trebuie să rămână îngropat şi sigilat în arhive.

Dette er en kommentarartikkel jeg skrev i Journalisten 9.6. Jeg har interessert meg litt for temaet i mange år, utfra et skeptisk ståsted. Astrid Meland og jeg omtaler også de eldgamle vandrehistoriene om organtyveri og deres nye varianter i boka Negre har rytme (Kagge, 2007). Avsnittene om de teknisk-medisinske forutsetningene for vellykket organtransplantasjon er delvis hentet fra forarbeidet til denne boka. Et tema som drøftes litt der, men ikke er med her og selvsagt heller ikke i VGs artikkel, er de økonomiske sidene ved operasjonen.
Siden UCK jo ikke mistenkes for å ha stjålet organer og så gitt dem bort eller solgt med store tap, krever en sannsynliggjøring av påstandene også en slags teori om hvordan selve forretningen fungerte. Men heller ikke slikt har journalisten interessert seg for.

Organtyveri i Kosovo
Sterke påstander om at albanerne slaktet serbiske krigsfanger og solgte organene deres, vekker oppsikt. Men VG Helg tar lett på bevisene.
VG brakte i sitt helgemagasin en tre siders artikkel (Hans Chr. Hansson) om hvordan den albanske geriljastyrken UCK under krigen med Serbia fjernet organer fra serbiske krigsfanger og solgte dem til utlandet, før fangene til slutt ble drept.

Solid kilde

Historien er oppsiktsvekkende og har en prominent kilde; tidligere leder av FNs krigsforbryterdomstol i Haag, Carla del Ponte. Oppsiktsvekkende nok er dette også den eneste kilden.

del Ponte er en imponerende skikkelse og berømt mafiajeger. Hun har også akkurat skrevet en bok om sin jakt på Balkans krigsforbrytere. Det er der hun framsetter påstander om at UCK slaktet krigsfanger. Ifølge VGs gjengivelse ble operasjonene foretatt i landsbyen Burrel i Albania:

– Før kroppene rakk å bli kalde, var hjerter, levre og nyrer angivelig på vei ut til betalende kunder over hele verden.

Løse rykter?

del Ponte mistenker at 300 krigsfanger ble ofre for det groteske organtyveriet. Påstandene har vakt oppsikt i Beograd og Human Rights Watch slår alarm.

Jeg har ikke lest boka, som foreløpig bare foreligger på italiensk. Men omtalen etterlater så mange ubesvarte spørsmål, at det er mulig å mistenke at grunnlaget er løse rykter, og at det derfor ikke var mulig for krigsforbryterdomstolen å sikte noen. Historien kan, slik jeg leser den, like godt være usann.

VG Helg presenterer også motforestillinger, men langt bak i artikkelen. Den etablerer først et solid inntrykk av at dette må ha skjedd. Slik starter reportasjen (ikke på nett):

– Tirana/Beograd/Pristina/Burrel (VG): Uvitende om at de om (sic) få timer senere skulle dø, ble de ført inn i «det gule huset».

Ingen av dem ante at det var kodenavnet for operasjonsstuen.

Skjebnen var beseglet. «Pasientene» ble lagt i narkose – kirurgene sto klare med sine skalpeller.

Ubegripelig

Bortsett fra at det overhode ikke foreligger beviser, burde andre svakheter vel slått avisen i øynene. Den virker medisinsk og praktisk ubegripelig.

Etter det jeg kjenner til fra samtaler med kirurgisk ekspertise, kreves det et stort antall kvalifiserte leger og sykepleiere for å ta ut et organ som senere skal kunne brukes av et annet menneske. Operasjonen må foretas under helt sterile forhold.

Organene må transporteres videre snarest mulig, som regel med fly eller helikopter, til et moderne sykehus som kan foreta transplantasjonen. De må fraktes i spesialkonteinere.

Et hjerte må transplanteres før det er gått fem timer. Nyrene varer lengst, mens de aller færreste leger vil operere inn en lever som er mer enn 48 timer «gammel».

Den ufrivillige donorens blodtype må matche mottakerens, hvis ikke er det stor risiko for at sistnevnte også dør. Antigenene må også samsvare, ellers blir det transplanterte organet avvist. Dette kan testes i et avansert laboratorium, men knapt i en låve på landsbygda i Albania.

Stor risiko

Jeg tror ikke at det «over hele verden» står leger klar for å transplantere organer fra ukjent donor til sin egen pasient. Heller ikke at køen er lang blant mottakerne. Dessuten trengs det assistanse på mottakssykehuset fra en rekke spesialister, i Vesten opptil 20-30. Disse risikerer også karrieren hvis de trekkes inn i organhandel.

Hvordan dette storstilte organtyveriet har foregått, er overhode ikke berørt i VGs artikkel. Verken uttak, transport eller mottak er drøftet eller sannsynliggjort. Har ikke VG stilt spørsmålene?

NRK behandlet VG-saken som en blank nyhet, slik jeg hørte nyhetssendingen på radio lørdag morgen. VGs forsidetittel «FN mistenker at organer ble solgt» gir tilsynelatende tyngde, men kamuflerer i virkeligheten beretningens store svakheter.

KP journalists trace the scandalous book by Carla Del Ponte, prosecutor for the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia General’s list

Deputy in Serbia’s parliament and General Bozhidar Delich told us that no Serb was left alive who could testify to the KLA’s organ trafficking.

“We received information about the concentration camps holding Serbian prisoners,” Delich told KP. “We passed these materials along to international organizations. But the terrorists had their own links in the KFOR and UN missions. Whenever the commission intended on checking a specific location, the prisoners were quickly transported to another camp. Back then, we had high hopes we would see the prisoners alive. In 1999, Serbia released 2,000 Albanian prisoners to Kosovo, hoping to receive kidnapped Serbs in return. But the Albanians didn’t send one! Of course not! They would describe the horrors they were subjected to, including organ extraction. The KLA had about 10 concentration camps for organ donors in south Kosovo. The largest were Budak, Yablonits, Ponoshevets, Zrsts and Nashestk. There was a huge camp in Prizren near a bank building, but it’s very dangerous traveling there.”

Naturally, the first thing we did was visit these 10 locations. But there were no signs of war or museums honoring genocide victims. All we saw was new buildings, dumps, car parts clearance sales and hundreds of monuments honoring KLA heroes. We stopped to take a closer look at one of the monuments. Kosovo’s state myth about the righteous KLA was developing quickly.

“Who’s your hero,” we asked a young boy in English in Yablonits. He looked about 15 years old.

“Who are you?” he asked.

“Reporters from Scotland,” we said.

“Where’s that?” he asked.

“Great Britain,” we answered

The boy smiled and started running around us with his dog. “English is good, Europe is good, America is our friend! And Ramush Kharadinay is the best!” the boy shouted, getting back to my first question.

“Well who isn’t good, then?” we asked.

“Serbia,” the boy said straight away. “And Russia,” he added. “I hate Russia the most. It’s the farthest away.”

Some adults nearby joined in the political debate. But when asked about the concentration camps, they answered: “The Serbs were never here. There was never a war here. We always lived here.” And we heard the same things in every town.

After visiting the last location on the general’s list, we knew there was little hope to find witnesses to the KLA’s organ trafficking. Driving around the mountain roads, we drove by the Holy Archangels Monastery that had been burned down by Albanians. During the last wave of the genocide in 2004, monk Khariton was kidnapped. Several days later, his naked body was found in the mountains. He was severely tortured and his severed head was never found. Today, the Middle Age monastery has a modern-day martyr. Restoration works have commenced at the monastery only inasmuch as they have begun cleaning the ruins. The monks haven’t been persecuted in recent years.

The monastery’s members are few. One is a Serbian from Prizren where the general advised us not to go.

Evitsa Dzhovevich and her daughter Militsa take a cab to the monastery on holidays. But they walk all the way back to Prizren. It’s a form of protest. Two-year-old Militsa is the only Serbian child in the ancient capital of Orthodox Kosovo. There aren’t any more Serbian children. And there probably won’t be anymore. The nuns told us that Eva and Militsa haven’t left their apartment in two years. And Eva refuses to move to Serbia. She promised God she wouldn’t leave Kosovo after being miraculously saved twice. However, she’ll most likely end up moving for her daughter’s sake.

Eva and Militsa live in the center of Prizren in an apartment building. But she didn’t tell us her apartment number. She wanted to check that our intentions were sincere. And so we ran up and down the stairs knocking on all the doors. Essentially there were two types of doors. The first was ornate steel doors with Albanian last names. The second was wooden doors covered in a layer of cheap paint, the majority of which had been beaten in. READ MORE

KP journalists trace the scandalous book by Carla Del Ponte, prosecutor for the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia General’s list

Deputy in Serbia’s parliament and General Bozhidar Delich told us that no Serb was left alive who could testify to the KLA’s organ trafficking.

“We received information about the concentration camps holding Serbian prisoners,” Delich told KP. “We passed these materials along to international organizations. But the terrorists had their own links in the KFOR and UN missions. Whenever the commission intended on checking a specific location, the prisoners were quickly transported to another camp. Back then, we had high hopes we would see the prisoners alive. In 1999, Serbia released 2,000 Albanian prisoners to Kosovo, hoping to receive kidnapped Serbs in return. But the Albanians didn’t send one! Of course not! They would describe the horrors they were subjected to, including organ extraction. The KLA had about 10 concentration camps for organ donors in south Kosovo. The largest were Budak, Yablonits, Ponoshevets, Zrsts and Nashestk. There was a huge camp in Prizren near a bank building, but it’s very dangerous traveling there.”

Naturally, the first thing we did was visit these 10 locations. But there were no signs of war or museums honoring genocide victims. All we saw was new buildings, dumps, car parts clearance sales and hundreds of monuments honoring KLA heroes. We stopped to take a closer look at one of the monuments. Kosovo’s state myth about the righteous KLA was developing quickly.

“Who’s your hero,” we asked a young boy in English in Yablonits. He looked about 15 years old.

“Who are you?” he asked.

“Reporters from Scotland,” we said.

“Where’s that?” he asked.

“Great Britain,” we answered

The boy smiled and started running around us with his dog. “English is good, Europe is good, America is our friend! And Ramush Kharadinay is the best!” the boy shouted, getting back to my first question.

“Well who isn’t good, then?” we asked.

“Serbia,” the boy said straight away. “And Russia,” he added. “I hate Russia the most. It’s the farthest away.”

Some adults nearby joined in the political debate. But when asked about the concentration camps, they answered: “The Serbs were never here. There was never a war here. We always lived here.” And we heard the same things in every town.

After visiting the last location on the general’s list, we knew there was little hope to find witnesses to the KLA’s organ trafficking. Driving around the mountain roads, we drove by the Holy Archangels Monastery that had been burned down by Albanians. During the last wave of the genocide in 2004, monk Khariton was kidnapped. Several days later, his naked body was found in the mountains. He was severely tortured and his severed head was never found. Today, the Middle Age monastery has a modern-day martyr. Restoration works have commenced at the monastery only inasmuch as they have begun cleaning the ruins. The monks haven’t been persecuted in recent years.

The monastery’s members are few. One is a Serbian from Prizren where the general advised us not to go.

Evitsa Dzhovevich and her daughter Militsa take a cab to the monastery on holidays. But they walk all the way back to Prizren. It’s a form of protest. Two-year-old Militsa is the only Serbian child in the ancient capital of Orthodox Kosovo. There aren’t any more Serbian children. And there probably won’t be anymore. The nuns told us that Eva and Militsa haven’t left their apartment in two years. And Eva refuses to move to Serbia. She promised God she wouldn’t leave Kosovo after being miraculously saved twice. However, she’ll most likely end up moving for her daughter’s sake.

Eva and Militsa live in the center of Prizren in an apartment building. But she didn’t tell us her apartment number. She wanted to check that our intentions were sincere. And so we ran up and down the stairs knocking on all the doors. Essentially there were two types of doors. The first was ornate steel doors with Albanian last names. The second was wooden doors covered in a layer of cheap paint, the majority of which had been beaten in. READ MORE

KP journalists trace the scandalous book by Carla Del Ponte, prosecutor for the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia General’s list

Deputy in Serbia’s parliament and General Bozhidar Delich told us that no Serb was left alive who could testify to the KLA’s organ trafficking.

“We received information about the concentration camps holding Serbian prisoners,” Delich told KP. “We passed these materials along to international organizations. But the terrorists had their own links in the KFOR and UN missions. Whenever the commission intended on checking a specific location, the prisoners were quickly transported to another camp. Back then, we had high hopes we would see the prisoners alive. In 1999, Serbia released 2,000 Albanian prisoners to Kosovo, hoping to receive kidnapped Serbs in return. But the Albanians didn’t send one! Of course not! They would describe the horrors they were subjected to, including organ extraction. The KLA had about 10 concentration camps for organ donors in south Kosovo. The largest were Budak, Yablonits, Ponoshevets, Zrsts and Nashestk. There was a huge camp in Prizren near a bank building, but it’s very dangerous traveling there.”

Naturally, the first thing we did was visit these 10 locations. But there were no signs of war or museums honoring genocide victims. All we saw was new buildings, dumps, car parts clearance sales and hundreds of monuments honoring KLA heroes. We stopped to take a closer look at one of the monuments. Kosovo’s state myth about the righteous KLA was developing quickly.

“Who’s your hero,” we asked a young boy in English in Yablonits. He looked about 15 years old.

“Who are you?” he asked.

“Reporters from Scotland,” we said.

“Where’s that?” he asked.

“Great Britain,” we answered

The boy smiled and started running around us with his dog. “English is good, Europe is good, America is our friend! And Ramush Kharadinay is the best!” the boy shouted, getting back to my first question.

“Well who isn’t good, then?” we asked.

“Serbia,” the boy said straight away. “And Russia,” he added. “I hate Russia the most. It’s the farthest away.”

Some adults nearby joined in the political debate. But when asked about the concentration camps, they answered: “The Serbs were never here. There was never a war here. We always lived here.” And we heard the same things in every town.

After visiting the last location on the general’s list, we knew there was little hope to find witnesses to the KLA’s organ trafficking. Driving around the mountain roads, we drove by the Holy Archangels Monastery that had been burned down by Albanians. During the last wave of the genocide in 2004, monk Khariton was kidnapped. Several days later, his naked body was found in the mountains. He was severely tortured and his severed head was never found. Today, the Middle Age monastery has a modern-day martyr. Restoration works have commenced at the monastery only inasmuch as they have begun cleaning the ruins. The monks haven’t been persecuted in recent years.

The monastery’s members are few. One is a Serbian from Prizren where the general advised us not to go.

Evitsa Dzhovevich and her daughter Militsa take a cab to the monastery on holidays. But they walk all the way back to Prizren. It’s a form of protest. Two-year-old Militsa is the only Serbian child in the ancient capital of Orthodox Kosovo. There aren’t any more Serbian children. And there probably won’t be anymore. The nuns told us that Eva and Militsa haven’t left their apartment in two years. And Eva refuses to move to Serbia. She promised God she wouldn’t leave Kosovo after being miraculously saved twice. However, she’ll most likely end up moving for her daughter’s sake.

Eva and Militsa live in the center of Prizren in an apartment building. But she didn’t tell us her apartment number. She wanted to check that our intentions were sincere. And so we ran up and down the stairs knocking on all the doors. Essentially there were two types of doors. The first was ornate steel doors with Albanian last names. The second was wooden doors covered in a layer of cheap paint, the majority of which had been beaten in. READ MORE

KP journalists trace the scandalous book by Carla Del Ponte, prosecutor for the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia General’s list

Deputy in Serbia’s parliament and General Bozhidar Delich told us that no Serb was left alive who could testify to the KLA’s organ trafficking.

“We received information about the concentration camps holding Serbian prisoners,” Delich told KP. “We passed these materials along to international organizations. But the terrorists had their own links in the KFOR and UN missions. Whenever the commission intended on checking a specific location, the prisoners were quickly transported to another camp. Back then, we had high hopes we would see the prisoners alive. In 1999, Serbia released 2,000 Albanian prisoners to Kosovo, hoping to receive kidnapped Serbs in return. But the Albanians didn’t send one! Of course not! They would describe the horrors they were subjected to, including organ extraction. The KLA had about 10 concentration camps for organ donors in south Kosovo. The largest were Budak, Yablonits, Ponoshevets, Zrsts and Nashestk. There was a huge camp in Prizren near a bank building, but it’s very dangerous traveling there.”

Naturally, the first thing we did was visit these 10 locations. But there were no signs of war or museums honoring genocide victims. All we saw was new buildings, dumps, car parts clearance sales and hundreds of monuments honoring KLA heroes. We stopped to take a closer look at one of the monuments. Kosovo’s state myth about the righteous KLA was developing quickly.

“Who’s your hero,” we asked a young boy in English in Yablonits. He looked about 15 years old.

“Who are you?” he asked.

“Reporters from Scotland,” we said.

“Where’s that?” he asked.

“Great Britain,” we answered

The boy smiled and started running around us with his dog. “English is good, Europe is good, America is our friend! And Ramush Kharadinay is the best!” the boy shouted, getting back to my first question.

“Well who isn’t good, then?” we asked.

“Serbia,” the boy said straight away. “And Russia,” he added. “I hate Russia the most. It’s the farthest away.”

Some adults nearby joined in the political debate. But when asked about the concentration camps, they answered: “The Serbs were never here. There was never a war here. We always lived here.” And we heard the same things in every town.

After visiting the last location on the general’s list, we knew there was little hope to find witnesses to the KLA’s organ trafficking. Driving around the mountain roads, we drove by the Holy Archangels Monastery that had been burned down by Albanians. During the last wave of the genocide in 2004, monk Khariton was kidnapped. Several days later, his naked body was found in the mountains. He was severely tortured and his severed head was never found. Today, the Middle Age monastery has a modern-day martyr. Restoration works have commenced at the monastery only inasmuch as they have begun cleaning the ruins. The monks haven’t been persecuted in recent years.

The monastery’s members are few. One is a Serbian from Prizren where the general advised us not to go.

Evitsa Dzhovevich and her daughter Militsa take a cab to the monastery on holidays. But they walk all the way back to Prizren. It’s a form of protest. Two-year-old Militsa is the only Serbian child in the ancient capital of Orthodox Kosovo. There aren’t any more Serbian children. And there probably won’t be anymore. The nuns told us that Eva and Militsa haven’t left their apartment in two years. And Eva refuses to move to Serbia. She promised God she wouldn’t leave Kosovo after being miraculously saved twice. However, she’ll most likely end up moving for her daughter’s sake.

Eva and Militsa live in the center of Prizren in an apartment building. But she didn’t tell us her apartment number. She wanted to check that our intentions were sincere. And so we ran up and down the stairs knocking on all the doors. Essentially there were two types of doors. The first was ornate steel doors with Albanian last names. The second was wooden doors covered in a layer of cheap paint, the majority of which had been beaten in. READ MORE