Kosovo - SITF/Williamson report

Clint Williamson, Lead Prosecutor for the EU Special Investigative Task Force (SITF) under the authority of the EU Mission in Kosovo (EULEX), today published the results of three years of investigations into suspected crimes against humanity and allegations of organ-trafficking by individual members of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) shortly after the Kosovo conflict of 1998-1999. Greens/EFA MEP Ulrike Lunacek, rapporteur/draftsperson on Kosovo since 2009 and newly elected Vice-President of the European Parliament, welcomed the clarity created by this report and thanked Clint Williamson for his good work. Ms Lunacek also called for the rapid establishment and financing of the new court necessary for the foreseen legal proceedings. Commenting on the report, Ulrike Lunacek said:

“For years, the allegations of crimes against humanity by high-level KLA fighters after Yugoslav President Milosevic's war against the Albanian majority in Kosovo have strained the neighbourhood relations in the region. As a result of my visits to Kosovo as rapporteur for the European Parliament, I have seen the extent to which the allegations in the report by Dick Marty, Swiss Member of the Council of Europe's Parliamentary Assembly, have stirred controversy in Kosovo society and hurt the young state's international image.

“Therefore, I welcome today's report and I want to thank SITF Lead Prosecutor Clint Williamson for his good work. He presented the first findings of the investigations, started in September 2011 by the newly-established investigative task force SITF, which clarifies the responsibilities. In his statement today, Williamson has rightly pointed out that the charges in his report, as well as future indictments, involve certain individuals rather than the KLA liberation movement as a whole, which fought against the violent regime of Slobodan Milosevic and for the independence of Kosovo.

“Based on the evidence collected by Williamson - including the killing, torture and detention in inhumane conditions of civilians by certain individual high-level former KLA fighters - the planned court must now be able to start its work as quickly as possible in order to bring those responsible to account and ensure belated justice for victims and their survivors. We call on the EU Member States and the European Commission to provide funding for the establishment of this new court as soon as possible, so that this tragic chapter in Kosovar history can be closed.”