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Del Ponte's sources on this story are Western journalists who heard of the story, and were told of the yellow house, by people who new of it firsthand. Del Ponte's people actually informed the Serbs about this, not the other way around.

For some odd reason, the men who maraud, rape and slice and dice, are often proud of their dirty work, to the point of compulsively wanting to show their deeds to journalists and witnesses. This has been the case through the 20th century. I can cite numerous examples, including the well known one in the Balkans in which the Italian ambassador, Kurt Erich Suckert, was passed a bowl full of eyeballs. Naser Oric showed his handiwork to a Canadian journalist. Hitler made films of the Valkyrie executions. Etc. It's no small wonder that journalists would be far more apt to hear of such acts than investigators.

by Upstate NY on Wed Apr 9th, 2008 at 03:01:28 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Del Ponte's sources on this story are Western journalists who heard of the story, and were told of the yellow house, by people who new of it firsthand.

Could you quote the source for us?

*Traitor*, n.
A benighted individual who perceives an illusory distinction between serving his nation and abetting the criminals who govern it.

by DoDo on Fri Apr 11th, 2008 at 03:29:16 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Unfortunately I can't. I'm getting this from snippets of Del Ponte's book which have been released. That's where the sources of the information are quoted, and then she describes the subsequent investigative follow-up.

One thing to note: I read these quotes in English, and Del Ponte's book is not written in English, and the quotes I read were not attributed to any particular translator. I actually don't know where they came from.

by Upstate NY on Fri Apr 11th, 2008 at 08:10:41 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Just for the sake of precision, the book was written in English- actually American- and translated into Italian. Feltrinelli is pulling off another literary scoop as it did with Dr. Zhivago. It is coming out in anteprima worldwide in the translated version. It's been in the bookstores for the past week in Italian but will come out in "American" once enough hype has been generated. It is a very lengthy book that touches Carla Del Ponte's entire career.
by de Gondi (publiobestia aaaatttthotmaildaughtusual) on Fri Apr 11th, 2008 at 09:07:29 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Really? Wow. Then the articles I was reading were completely half-cocked because they claimed the English translation is not due for awhile. Hard to believe anything these days.
by Upstate NY on Fri Apr 11th, 2008 at 09:54:25 AM EST
[ Parent ]
The Telegraph versions are translations from Italian according to the site.

The book, which I have, has written "translated from American." I presume it must be based on tapes and put together in English by the two authors. Del Ponte does speak several languages.

by de Gondi (publiobestia aaaatttthotmaildaughtusual) on Fri Apr 11th, 2008 at 01:35:46 PM EST
[ Parent ]
I found in today's Torygraph:

Serb prisoners 'were stripped of their organs in Kosovo war' - Telegraph

Miss Del Ponte reports that the allegations were made by several sources, one of whom "personally made an organ delivery" to an Albanian airport for transport abroad, and "confirmed information directly gathered by the tribunal".

According to the sources, senior figures in the Kosovo Liberation Army were aware of the scheme, in which hundreds of young Serbs were allegedly taken by truck from Kosovo to northern Albania where their organs were removed. Miss Del Ponte provides grim details of the alleged organ harvesting, and of how some prisoners were sewn up after having kidneys removed.

"The victims, deprived of a kidney, were then locked up again, inside the barracks, until the moment they were killed for other vital organs. In this way, the other prisoners were aware of the fate that awaited them, and according to the source, pleaded, terrified, to be killed immediately," Miss Del Ponte writes.

That's a more complex picture (with not all alleged organ-harvesting equal to killing; throwing up the question whether there could have been survivors), and indeed Del Ponte reports sources making quite specific claims, it's not mere rumours.

*Traitor*, n.
A benighted individual who perceives an illusory distinction between serving his nation and abetting the criminals who govern it.

by DoDo on Fri Apr 11th, 2008 at 04:08:58 AM EST
[ Parent ]
The Torygraph includes excerpts from the book, which if anything make the case even more suspicious - and are in fact quite shocking. I note that the book explicitly states that: "According to the journalists' sources, who were only identified as Kosovo Albanians, some of the younger and fitter prisoners were visited by doctors and were never hit"... and it is that small subset of the 300 captured Serbs that were killed for their organs - apparently from the rest of the story that includes 1 kidney and 1 other organ.

The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom - William Blake
by talos (mihalis at gmail dot com) on Fri Apr 11th, 2008 at 07:48:55 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Thanks for that link, that gives all the answers!

In the first excerpt (on what preceded the yellow house visit), I think I can read out something between the lines:

'The material within [from the office of the court] does not contain specific material from Albania; but a low number of witness statements and other material we have confirms and to a certain extent amplifies the stated information,' I noted in a memo on this activity.

...The victims of these cases were probably seized after the end of the NATO air campaign... It was not clear whether crimes committed in this arc of time fell under the mandate of the tribunal.

The prosecutors office should have asked for the names of the sources from the journalists and UNMIK as well as any other information they had on this case.

E.g., this case didn't solidify further not because of simply weak evidence but because it wasn't properly investigated; Del Ponte suggests her hands were bound, with the territorial and temporal limits to her Tribunal. The last sentence is mysterious, her being the Chief Prosecutor; does she suggest some outside (or lower-ranked inside) powers prevented the prosecutors' office from taking action?

From the second excerpt:

The house was now white. The owner denied it had ever been repainted even though investigators found traces of yellow along the base of its walls.

...The syringes, the iv solution bags, the gauze are clearly material which confirms the tales, but as proof they are unfortunately insufficient. The investigators were not able to determine whether the traces they found were of human blood. The sources did not indicated the position of the grave of the presumed victims and so we did not find the bodies.



*Traitor*, n.
A benighted individual who perceives an illusory distinction between serving his nation and abetting the criminals who govern it.
by DoDo on Fri Apr 11th, 2008 at 11:17:18 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Off topic, but is it typical in Europe to refer to an unmarried woman as Miss?
by Upstate NY on Fri Apr 11th, 2008 at 08:13:01 AM EST
[ Parent ]
The Torygraph is not in Europe. It's in Great Britain. They could sue you for that comment you know.

The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom - William Blake
by talos (mihalis at gmail dot com) on Fri Apr 11th, 2008 at 08:16:47 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Is that what the Torygraph does?

FWIW, a long time ago when I was learning English I was told Ms is neutral with respect to marital status, and I tend to use that almost exclusively. But that's just me.

When the capital development of a country becomes a by-product of the activities of a casino, the job is likely to be ill-done. — John M. Keynes

by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Fri Apr 11th, 2008 at 08:17:49 AM EST
[ Parent ]
That is common practice in the United States as well. Miss is used for a very young woman, and NEVER for a professional woman.
by Upstate NY on Fri Apr 11th, 2008 at 09:55:25 AM EST
[ Parent ]
The Guardian's now reporting it, too.

"You can't be a successful crook with a dishonest face, now, can you?" -The Fourth Doctor
by lychee (lychee9393 A yahoo D com) on Fri Apr 11th, 2008 at 07:42:38 PM EST
[ Parent ]

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