Prime Minister Edi Rama has made several serious allegations against Democratic Party Chairman Lulzim Basha, related to the so-called “Yellow House report” following the end of the Kosovo war.
Over the weekend, Rama made several allegations against President Ilir Meta, former Prime Minister Sali Berisha, and Basha regarding the report of Dick Marty which was used to set up the Kosovo Special Prosecutor office.
Rama said that Berisha and Meta had approved the 2010 report in the Council of Europe. He then accused Basha of collecting data for Yellow House during his work in Kosovo.
Rama tweeted:
“Ilir can you tell the Albanians why you voted for Dick Marty’s report, together with Sali, when we voted against it? Lulzim, can you explain what file you have prepared for the fabrication of Yellow House together with a Peruvian doctor who proved that you collected evidence with him?”
Rama also accused Basha of the Democratic Party and LSI voting in favour of the Yellow House report.
In 2010 Carla del Ponte, a former Prosecutor at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia alleged that serious crimes had taken place during the Kosovo war. She detailed these in a book and following its publication, the Council of Europe opened an investigation into the allegations, appointing Swiss prosecutor Dick Mary.
The allegations included trafficking in human organs. She claimed that they were committed by members of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) against Serbian nationals who remained in Kosovo at the end of the war.
“According to the information gathered by the Assembly and to the criminal investigations now underway, numerous concrete and convergent indications confirm that some Serbians and some Albanian Kosovars were held prisoner in secret places of detention under KLA control in northern Albania and were subjected to inhuman and degrading treatment, before ultimately disappearing, the Report noted.
It alleges that prisoners were taken by truck into Albania to a clinic near Fushe-Kruje where they had organs removed.
A 2008 letter from Human Rights Watch sent to then Prime Minister Sali Berisha said:
“According to Del Ponte, the Tribunal received information from credible sources that Kosovo Albanians transported by truck between 100 and 300 persons from Kosovo into northern Albania after June 12, 1999. The individuals were then reportedly held in warehouses and other buildings, including facilities in Kukës and Tropoje. Some of the younger, healthier captives were allegedly fed, examined by doctors, and never beaten. According to the information provided to Del Ponte, these abducted individuals were later transferred to a facility in or around Burrel, where doctors extracted the captives’ internal organs. These organs were then transported out of Albania via Rinas airport near Tirana, now Mother Theresa airport.”
It’s alleged that bodies are buried near what was, at that time, a “yellow house”. Tribunal investigators claimed they found the house and medical equipment with traces of blood. This was evidence that some medical procedures took place, but it could not be established whether the allegations of organ harvesting were legitimate.
It was also established that captives were brought into Albania, but again, the rest of the claims cannot be confirmed.
Human Rights Watch noted they had not investigated any of the allegations, that evidence was “circumstantial” yet compelling, and that a full investigation should be carried out
Albanian authorities refused exhumations or investigations, saying ther“ was no war in Albania and therefore, no graves. The government did not conduct any investigation nor collaborate in any international investigation within the country. Del Ponte claims the smuggling was carried out with the cooperation of the Albanian secret service.
Lulzim Basha was an assistant translator to prosecutors in the Tribunal.
Basha responded to Rama’s claims at the weekend, by saying that he is the “spokesperson of Belgrade” and that he is responsible for the lives lost to COVID-19. He said that all this talk of ‘Yellow House’ is to divert attention from the crisis.
“Instead of doing his job, Edi Rama becomes the spokesperson of Belgrade. He is responsible for the lives and health of Albanians. The sick are lying in ambulances because the hospitals are full. After destroying the economy, he lost control of the pandemic,” he wrote.
As Rama continued publishing accusations about Basha’s involvement in the report, Basha responded by saying that Rama had failed to live up to his promises such as lowering taxes, reducing unemployment, creating jobs, providing free health care, and lowering energy bills.
Rama responded by asking Basha to clarify his involvement in “Dick Marty’s slander”. He called int question whether Basha’s role as a translator was a disguise.
Basha has not specifically responded to Rama’s allegations and maintains that these attacks are simply to divert the public and media attention from the handling of the pandemic and “full hospitals and sick lying in ambulances and corridors.”
Director “f Media Elona Meco said that the PD did not vote in favour of the report, but rather voted on a resolution which required an investigation into the issues raised.
