Stefan850
03-10-2010, 09:19 AM
BELGRADE, Serbia -- A media watchdog on Wednesday condemned French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner's recent remark that a Serb reporter was "insane" for asking him a question about alleged organ trafficking in Kosovo.
The South East Europe Media Organization, based in Austria, said in a statement that Kouchner's behavior was unprofessional and surprising from a French government representative.
Kouchner, who was Kosovo's U.N. administrator in 1999-2001, was asked by a Voice of America reporter in Kosovo this month if he knew about allegations that minority Kosovo Serbs were kidnapped by ethnic Albanians and had their organs removed for trafficking during the 1998-99 Kosovo conflict.
"But you are sick, aren't you? Do I look like someone who would traffic organs? You are insane to believe all kinds of nonsense like that," Kouchner responded. "Sir, you should consult (a doctor) ... people who talk about things like that are bastards and murderers."
Europe's top right body, the Council of Europe, is currently conducting an investigation into the alleged organ trafficking - a probe let by Swiss Senator **** Marty.
Serbian officials say up to 400 Kosovo Serbs vanished without a trace during the war, and some fear a few dozen may have fallen victim to an organ trafficking operation performed in the so-called "yellow house" inside neighboring Albania.
Kosovo and Albania have strongly denied the allegations of organ trafficking, which first surfaced in a book by former U.N. war crimes prosecutor Carla Del Ponte. She portrayed the "yellow house" as a building in Albania where organs might have been surgically removed from the victims.
But Kouchner said, "There was no yellow house. There was no organ trade."
The media watchdog said it was unacceptable that a top official should be so aggressive at a news conference.
"As a politician and a member of the French government, he should communicate professionally and responsibly with journalists," said the South East Europe Media Organization. "We would have expected Mr. Kouchner to react in a more courteous and dignified way."
Asked about the organization's criticism, French Foreign Ministry officials in Paris declined to comment immediately.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/10/AR2010031001173.html
for those that don't know what's that all about, recent developments.
UN says Albania 'stalling' Serb human organs inquiry
A UN expert has said Albania is holding up inquiries into reports that Serbs captured during the 1998-99 Kosovo war were butchered for their organs there.
UN special *******eur Philip Alston said the Council of Europe, Serbia and the EU authorities in Kosovo were all investigating the reports.
He called on Albania to allow an independent inquiry.
Albanian PM Sali Berisha has dismissed the allegations as fiction and says they have already been investigated.
International attention was drawn to the alleged crimes in 2008 when former UN war crimes prosecutor Carla Del Ponte revealed in her memoirs that her team had investigated reports that around 300 Serbs held in Albania had had organs removed, apparently for sale to foreign clinics.
http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/shared/img/o.gif http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/img/v3/start_quote_rb.gif None of the efforts to investigate have received meaningful co-operation on the side of the government of Albania http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/img/v3/end_quote_rb.gif
Philip Alston
UN special *******eur on extrajudicial executions
According to her book, UN investigators searched a house in the Albanian town of Burrel in 2004 after receiving reports that Kosovo Albanian militants had used it as a base for removing Serbs' organs before killing them.
"The investigators found pieces of gauze, a used syringe and two plastic IV bags encrusted with mud and empty bottles of medicine, some of which was of a muscle relaxant often used in surgical operations," Ms Del Ponte wrote.
The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia said its judges had never received evidence in support of the allegations.
During the Kosovo war, which ended with Serbia withdrawing its forces from the province after a Nato bombing campaign and an eventual unilateral declaration of independence by the ethnic Albanian majority, thousands of people were killed, most of them ethnic Albanians.
'Diplomatic ping pong'
Last year, Albania rejected a Serbian request for an investigation into the alleged abductions and killings.
Speaking to reporters in the Albanian capital Tirana, Mr Alston said the authorities in Albania strongly believed that the allegations were "politically motivated and absolutely without any foundation".
"On this basis, none of the efforts to investigate have received meaningful co-operation on the side of the government of Albania."
His own inquiries in Albania had met with a "game of bureaucratic and diplomatic ping pong", said Mr Alston, who is the UN special *******eur on extrajudicial executions.
"The bottom line is that the issue is definitely stalled," he added.
"All Albanian officials I have met with consider the claims, charges of killings, as ridiculous," he said.
"If it is ridiculous, in order to get rid of this issue, make available a proposal for an independent investigation and offer genuine co-operation."
Serbia welcomed the UN expert's call for an independent investigation.
"That would be the right path to find out the truth and achieve full regional co-operation," Bruno Vekaric, a spokesman for Serbia's war crimes prosecutor, told ******* news agency.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8531289.stm
Albania "will cooperate in organ trafficking case" 8 March 2010 | 19:56 | Source: Tanjug TIRANA -- Albania's Deputy PM and Foreign Minister Ilir Meta says the country is willing to cooperate with international institutions.
This came in response to the claims made by some UN officials that Albania is preventing an international investigation into the allegations of human organ trafficking during the 1999 conflict in Kosovo.
Meta described the allegations as lacking evidence, adding that the Albanian government is determined to complete the process and put an end to all claims about such crimes in Albania "once and for all".
United Nations official Philip Alston accused Albania last month (http://www.b92.net/eng/news/crimes-article.php?yyyy=2010&mm=02&dd=23&nav_id=65394) of preventing an international investigation into the allegations of torture, murder and organ trafficking during the 1999 conflict in Kosovo.
Serbian judicial officials state that ethnic Albanian terrorists kidnapped Serbs in Kosovo during the conflict and took them to Albania where they were killed and their organs extracted to be sold on the black market.
http://www.b92.net/eng/news/region-article.php?yyyy=2010&mm=03&dd=08&nav_id=65680
The South East Europe Media Organization, based in Austria, said in a statement that Kouchner's behavior was unprofessional and surprising from a French government representative.
Kouchner, who was Kosovo's U.N. administrator in 1999-2001, was asked by a Voice of America reporter in Kosovo this month if he knew about allegations that minority Kosovo Serbs were kidnapped by ethnic Albanians and had their organs removed for trafficking during the 1998-99 Kosovo conflict.
"But you are sick, aren't you? Do I look like someone who would traffic organs? You are insane to believe all kinds of nonsense like that," Kouchner responded. "Sir, you should consult (a doctor) ... people who talk about things like that are bastards and murderers."
Europe's top right body, the Council of Europe, is currently conducting an investigation into the alleged organ trafficking - a probe let by Swiss Senator **** Marty.
Serbian officials say up to 400 Kosovo Serbs vanished without a trace during the war, and some fear a few dozen may have fallen victim to an organ trafficking operation performed in the so-called "yellow house" inside neighboring Albania.
Kosovo and Albania have strongly denied the allegations of organ trafficking, which first surfaced in a book by former U.N. war crimes prosecutor Carla Del Ponte. She portrayed the "yellow house" as a building in Albania where organs might have been surgically removed from the victims.
But Kouchner said, "There was no yellow house. There was no organ trade."
The media watchdog said it was unacceptable that a top official should be so aggressive at a news conference.
"As a politician and a member of the French government, he should communicate professionally and responsibly with journalists," said the South East Europe Media Organization. "We would have expected Mr. Kouchner to react in a more courteous and dignified way."
Asked about the organization's criticism, French Foreign Ministry officials in Paris declined to comment immediately.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/10/AR2010031001173.html
for those that don't know what's that all about, recent developments.
UN says Albania 'stalling' Serb human organs inquiry
A UN expert has said Albania is holding up inquiries into reports that Serbs captured during the 1998-99 Kosovo war were butchered for their organs there.
UN special *******eur Philip Alston said the Council of Europe, Serbia and the EU authorities in Kosovo were all investigating the reports.
He called on Albania to allow an independent inquiry.
Albanian PM Sali Berisha has dismissed the allegations as fiction and says they have already been investigated.
International attention was drawn to the alleged crimes in 2008 when former UN war crimes prosecutor Carla Del Ponte revealed in her memoirs that her team had investigated reports that around 300 Serbs held in Albania had had organs removed, apparently for sale to foreign clinics.
http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/shared/img/o.gif http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/img/v3/start_quote_rb.gif None of the efforts to investigate have received meaningful co-operation on the side of the government of Albania http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/img/v3/end_quote_rb.gif
Philip Alston
UN special *******eur on extrajudicial executions
According to her book, UN investigators searched a house in the Albanian town of Burrel in 2004 after receiving reports that Kosovo Albanian militants had used it as a base for removing Serbs' organs before killing them.
"The investigators found pieces of gauze, a used syringe and two plastic IV bags encrusted with mud and empty bottles of medicine, some of which was of a muscle relaxant often used in surgical operations," Ms Del Ponte wrote.
The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia said its judges had never received evidence in support of the allegations.
During the Kosovo war, which ended with Serbia withdrawing its forces from the province after a Nato bombing campaign and an eventual unilateral declaration of independence by the ethnic Albanian majority, thousands of people were killed, most of them ethnic Albanians.
'Diplomatic ping pong'
Last year, Albania rejected a Serbian request for an investigation into the alleged abductions and killings.
Speaking to reporters in the Albanian capital Tirana, Mr Alston said the authorities in Albania strongly believed that the allegations were "politically motivated and absolutely without any foundation".
"On this basis, none of the efforts to investigate have received meaningful co-operation on the side of the government of Albania."
His own inquiries in Albania had met with a "game of bureaucratic and diplomatic ping pong", said Mr Alston, who is the UN special *******eur on extrajudicial executions.
"The bottom line is that the issue is definitely stalled," he added.
"All Albanian officials I have met with consider the claims, charges of killings, as ridiculous," he said.
"If it is ridiculous, in order to get rid of this issue, make available a proposal for an independent investigation and offer genuine co-operation."
Serbia welcomed the UN expert's call for an independent investigation.
"That would be the right path to find out the truth and achieve full regional co-operation," Bruno Vekaric, a spokesman for Serbia's war crimes prosecutor, told ******* news agency.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8531289.stm
Albania "will cooperate in organ trafficking case" 8 March 2010 | 19:56 | Source: Tanjug TIRANA -- Albania's Deputy PM and Foreign Minister Ilir Meta says the country is willing to cooperate with international institutions.
This came in response to the claims made by some UN officials that Albania is preventing an international investigation into the allegations of human organ trafficking during the 1999 conflict in Kosovo.
Meta described the allegations as lacking evidence, adding that the Albanian government is determined to complete the process and put an end to all claims about such crimes in Albania "once and for all".
United Nations official Philip Alston accused Albania last month (http://www.b92.net/eng/news/crimes-article.php?yyyy=2010&mm=02&dd=23&nav_id=65394) of preventing an international investigation into the allegations of torture, murder and organ trafficking during the 1999 conflict in Kosovo.
Serbian judicial officials state that ethnic Albanian terrorists kidnapped Serbs in Kosovo during the conflict and took them to Albania where they were killed and their organs extracted to be sold on the black market.
http://www.b92.net/eng/news/region-article.php?yyyy=2010&mm=03&dd=08&nav_id=65680