Serbia - Kosovo

Serbia will not issue indictment against Kosovo PM Thaci

18.12.2010 u 14:22

Bionic
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Serbian deputy war crimes prosecutor Bruno Vekaric told the Belgrade-based Blic daily on Saturday that Serbia would not issue an indictment against Kosovo Prime Minister hashim Thaci for his alleged involvement in trafficking in human organs in Kosovo and northern Albania, and on behalf of the Serbian Prosecutor's Office, he expressed readiness to cooperate with the EU rule of law mission EULEX and the Albanian Prosecutor's Office on this case.

Vekaric stressed that even if Serbia was to issue an indictment against Thaci, the Kosovo PM would not be available to the Serbian prosecution, adding that the case would be branded as "a political trial" which, according to him, Serbia wanted to avoid.

"If somebody is unavailable to our prosecution, there is no point to launch the procedure because it would look like a political trial. Besides, if the defendant is not in court, it would be difficult to establish justice without having the one on trial answer to the charges," Vekaric said.

He stressed that the Serbian prosecution has a lot of evidence of trafficking in human organs, but given that the country is trying to avoid the mixing the politics and the judiciary, Belgrade is confident that it could play a more important role in assisting EULEX and the the Albanian prosecution in this case, the daily said.

He underlined that cooperation with the EU rule of law mission EULEX has been good ever since the investigation was launched three years ago.

Earlier this week, Vukcevic said that the investigation into trafficking in human organs in Kosovo and northern Albania went further in Serbia than Council of Europe rapporteur Dick Marty's report, adding that the number of people missing from Kosovo could be 500.

The Council of Europe on Thursday approved Marty's report accusing Thaci of heading an organ smuggling and crime ring, and called on the European Union to investigate the claims.

Marty also found that Thaci and his associates are key players in Kosovo's mafia-like structures of organised crime, running money laundering, drugs and cigarette smuggling, human trafficking and prostitution operations.