Albanian lawmaker to sue del Ponte over allegations

18/04/2008

TIRANA, Albania -- Qemal Minxhozi, a member of parliament from the main opposition Socialist Party, said on Thursday (April 17th) he plans to sue the former chief prosecutor of the UN war crimes tribunal, Carla del Ponte. At issue are allegations in her recent book involving the trafficking of human organs in Kosovo and Albania. In parliament, Minxhozi represents the village Gure, which is described in the book as a human-organ-trafficking point. Del Ponte claims that some Albanian and Kosovo Albanian leaders, including current Prime Minister Hashim Thaci, were involved in removing organs from the bodies of around 300 Serb prisoners in the summer of 1999.

On Wednesday The Hague's tribunal issued a statement saying no reliable evidence had been obtained to substantiate del Ponte's allegations. (Koha Jone - 18/04/08; AP - 17/04/08)