On Monday, the spokeswoman of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, accused Ukraine of trafficking organs of war victims.
In an editorial published in ‘Rossiiskaya Gazeta’, Zakharova writes that ‘Ukraine has been known as the world leader in organ tra<cking’ for a long time, starting in 1990 and growing a lot after what she calls “Russian special military operation” in February 2022, the attack of the Russian army on Ukrainian territory.
In a part of her editorial, Zakharova links organ tra<cking from Ukraine to the Kosovo Liberation Army. According to her, people involved in the KLA may have connections or are dealing with organ trade, while mentioning the trial in the Special Court of former Kosovo President Hashim Thaçi and other former leaders of the KLA.
“There is information that people involved in the Kosovo Liberation Army may have an organ store or at least deal with this trade. One of its leaders is now on trial for tra<cking the organs of dead Serb soldiers, civilians and other dissidents during the war in Yugoslavia. The army is still functioning, but under a diUerent name, and its soldiers can Vght as mercenaries in Ukraine,” writes Zakharova.
A few days ago, the Albanian authorities arrested Dritan Goxhajn, at the request of the Specialized Chamber of Kosovo based in The Hague, where the former KLA leaders Hashim Thaçi, Kadri Veseli, Jakup Krasniqi and Rexhep Selimi are being tried, who are accused of war crimes in the period 1998-1999.
According to the General Prosecutor’s O<ce of Albania, Goxhaj is suspected of the criminal oUenses of “intimidation during criminal proceedings” and “obstructing o<cials in the performance of their o<cial duties”.
The issue of organ tra<cking by the KLA using bases in Albania, the most famous of which was the Yellow House in Mat, was used by Carla del Ponte and Dick Marty to bring charges against the KLA.
On April 3, 2023, in an interview in Euronews, Dritan Goxhaj denounced the article “Yellow House” by BIRN as commissioned by Belgrade and accused the co-author of the article, who was also a witness in the trial in The Hague, Altin Raxhimi.
“Everything started on the basis of a letter written by BIRN journalists, at that time there was no BIRN in Albania, but was paid directly by Belgrade and the writing was done by an American and an Albanian. The Albanian is Altin Raxhimi who wrote this letter where he says that 19 Albanians were arrested and held by the KLA in Kukës in this factory and for this writing this gentleman has received political asylum today in Canada and is also hidden and a witness protected by the Special Prosecution against the trial that will begin today against the accused. This article was accepted by the UMNIK prosecution and based on this article, a judicial process was started in 2009.” – declared Goxhaj.
About two weeks ago, on July 26, BIRN published another article entitled ‘In the wake of an elusive decision on organ trafficking in Kosovo’. The article has no facts or data and serves simply to keep alive the thesis of organ trafficking.
Regarding the arrest of Dritan Goxhaj, security expert Ilir Kulla said that it was done because of the crisis in which the Special Court is in, as well as to discourage potential witnesses who have knowledge from speaking about the events for which the former leaders of the KLA are accused.
“Dritan Goxhaj is an old friend of the former KLA commander in Pristina Sali Mustafa, who has been sentenced to 26 years and two of the witnesses mentioned there are also the witnesses of Mr. Mustafa’s Vle and he has to go to appeal and here is the problem, to prevent anyone else who has knowledge in relation to the events, the witnesses, from speaking that otherwise theyface prison, as happened to Hysni Kucati, Nasim Haradinaj.” – said Kulla.
The former Foreign Minister of Kosovo, Petrit Selimi, called Zakharova’s accusations the same as those of Serbia against the KLA.He writes on Twitter that Maria Zakharova’s writing is the same as the Serbian KLA’s allegations of organ tra<cking. He points out that for more than 10 years, Russia has been campaigning in the Council of Europe to ‘investigate’ Dick Marty’s report and his accusations against the KLA for organ trafficking using NATO.
(Source: Hashtag.al)
