Report: KLA behind deadly human kidney trade

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press

Report: KLA behind deadly human kidney trade
updated 1 hour 29 minutes ago 2010-12-14T20:44:26

PARIS — A European investigator has issued a report claiming civilian detainees of the Kosovo Liberation Army were shot to death in Albania so their kidneys could sold on the black market.

The report by Council of Europe investigator Dick Marty, two years in the making, suggests Kosovo's U.S.-backed prime minister was once the "boss" of a criminal underworld behind the grisly trade.

The alleged crimes occurred after the Kosovo war ended in 1999.

Marty's investigation of the KLA's alleged trade in organs stemmed from a book by U.N. War Crimes tribunal prosecutor Carla Del Ponte, based on information she said she received from Western journalists.



Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40659604/ns/world_news-europe/

[valerief]

1. Aren't the criminals the ones who buy the black market kidneys? nt

[reorg]

6. No, the criminals are the organized crime network formerly known as KLA

which, unfortunately, was supported by the powers that be so they would become "an element of stability in the region".

It was never a secret, Chris Hedges, who was in the Balkans at the time, wrote many an article about these criminals. See for instance this one on Mr Thaci:

http://www.nytimes.com/1999/06/25/world/crisis-balkans-separatists-leaders-kosovo-rebels-tied-deadly-power-play.html









http://www.kosovo.net/kla2a1.html

[No Elephants]

9. At the very minimum, wouldn't both be "the real criminals?"

Assuming you mean those who buy kidneys for resale.

Desperate dying people who buy kidneys may technically be criminals, but I would put them in a different category from the shooters or their wholesale customers.

[reorg]

2. Kosovo PM is head of human organ and arms ring, Council of Europe reports

Source: The Guardian

Two-year inquiry accuses Albanian 'mafia-like' crime network of killing Serb prisoners for their kidneys
Paul Lewis in Pristina
guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 14 December 2010 15.17 GMT

Kosovo's prime minister is the head of a "mafia-like" Albanian group responsible for smuggling weapons, drugs and human organs through eastern Europe, according to a Council of Europe inquiry report on organised crime.

Hashim Thaçi is identified as the boss of a network that began operating criminal rackets in the runup to the 1999 Kosovo war, and has held powerful sway over the country's government since.

The report of the two-year inquiry, which cites FBI and other intelligence sources, has been obtained by the Guardian. It names Thaçi as having over the last decade exerted "violent control" over the heroin trade. Figures from Thaçi's inner circle are also accused of taking captives across the border into Albania after the war, where a number of Serbs are said to have been murdered for their kidneys, which were sold on the black market.

Legal proceedings began in a Pristina district court today into a case of alleged organ trafficking discovered by police in 2008. That case – in which organs are said to have been taken from impoverished victims at a clinic known as Medicus – is said by the report to be linked to Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) organ harvesting in 2000. It comes at a crucial period for Kosovo, which on Sunday held its first elections since declaring independence from Serbia in 2008. Thaçi claimed victory in the election and has been seeking to form a coalition with opposition parties.

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/dec/14/kosovo-prime-minister-llike-mafia-boss

---

see also this article:

>>Kosovo physicians accused of illegal organs removal racket

The story of how Kosovo hosted an illegal market in human organs began to unfold today in a district court in the capital, Pristina. As armed special forces stood outside, the court heard how desperate Russians, Moldovans, Kazakhs and Turks were lured into the capital "with the false promise of payments" for their kidneys.

EU prosecutor Jonathan Ratel told the court the organs had been illegally removed from victims and transplanted into wealthy recipients in the clinic, known as Medicus. Those who paid up to €90,000 (£76,400) for the black-market kidneys included patients from Canada, Germany, Poland and Israel, Ratel said.<<

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/dec/14/illegal-organ-removals-charges-kosovo

[JDPriestly]

3. How horrible.

[Davis_X_Machina]

4. And the headline is badly written...

...it appears as though they're trafficking in human limbs, as well as organs.

[Alameda]

5. The organ/tissue thing is rife with abuse and potential abuse.

It gives new meaning to the term "body snatcher". We have only to look at what happened to Alistair Cooke's body to get a glimpse or the horrors. It makes one worth more dead to some. After all, there are all those harvestable parts.

[Blue_Tires]

7. i didn't know about that case after Alistair Cooke's death

i really wish now that i didn't google it, either...

[Delphinus]

8. And here I am,

struggling to decide if I should donate my body to science or be an organ & tissue donor. This doesn't make it any easier.

[goforit]

10. This is a sick business. Humanity at its worst.

This is why I refuse to give organs....too many profit from it.
The recipients have to pay through the nose for them.

[Alameda]

11. even if you don't donate, your tissue can be harvested.....

as it was with Mr. Cooke.