File:UNMIK Investigation Organ Trafficking Kosovo.pdf

Extensive information about human organ trafficking in Kosovo implicating senior members of the Kosovo government. It comprises a memo to the then UN Chief of Investigations from the Head of the UNMIK Mission - the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo - dated 30 October 2003, together with documents dealing with various aspects of the investigations.

 collection of reports of unknown authorship

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Subjects: Kosovo, Serbia, War Crimes, Kosovo War, Organ trafficking
Source: Anonymous upload

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Summary

Beginning in mid-1999 (and possibly earlier), between 100 and 300 people were abducted and taken by truck and van to detention facilities in or near the northern Albanian towns of Kukes and Tropoje. Most of these people were Serbian men from Kosovo taken captive between June and October 1999. Beginning in August 1999, some of these captives (24-100) were transferred from northern Albania to secondary detention facilities (private homes and rough industrial compounds) in central Albania, mainly near the town of Burrel (or Buneli), about 110 kilometers southwest of Kukes. Captives were also moved to detention facilities near Pesakopi, about 50 kilometers east of Burrel.

The captives taken to central Albania were again moved, in small groups, to a private house south of Burrel that was set up as a makeshift clinic. There, medical equipment and personnel were used to extract body organs from the captives, who then died. Their remains were buried nearby. The organs were transported to Rinas airport near Tirana (approximately 75 kilometers southwest of Burrel) and flown abroad. Other captives taken to the house/clinic near Burrel included a smaller number of females from Kosovo, Albania and eastern Europe. The last delivery of captives to the house/clinic was reported in spring or early summer of 2000

In addition to captives taken to Albania alive, an unknown number of bodies of Serbian civilians killed in Kosovo were transported to Albania and buried in remote locations.

This summary is based on interviews with at least eight sources, all ethnic Albanians from Kosovo or Montenegro who served in the Kosovo Liberation Army. Four sources directly participated in the transport of at least 90 ethnic Serbs and others to detention facilities in northern and central Albania. Of these, three sources delivered captives to the house/clinic south of Burrel. two sources claim to have participated in the disposal of human remains near the house and one source claims to have participated in the delivery of body parts and/or organs to Rinas airport near Tirana. None of the sources witnessed the medical operations.

According to all sources, the transports and surgical procedures were carried out with the knowledge and/or active involvement of mid-level and senior KLA officers as well as doctors from Kosovo and abroad. The operation was supported by men with links to Albanian secret police operatives of the former government of Salih Berisha.