15.12.2010., srijeda
Report: KLA behind deadly human kidney trade (AP)
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PARIS – Civilians detained by the Kosovo Liberation Army were allegedly shot to death in northern Albania so their kidneys could be extracted and sold on the black market after the war in Kosovo ended in 1999, according to a report prepared for Europe's premier human rights watchdog. The report by Council of Europe investigator Dick Marty — more than two years in the making — also suggested Kosovo's U.S.-backed prime minister was once the "boss" of a criminal underworld behind the alleged grisly trade. Kosovo's government branded the report as "baseless" and described it as an attempt "to tarnish the image of the Kosovo Liberation Army." In a statement, the government also accused Marty of bias and "fabrications." Marty, a Swiss senator, led a Council of Europe team of investigators to Kosovo and Albania in 2009, following allegations of organ trafficking by the KLA published in a book by former U.N. War Crimes tribunal prosecutor Carla Del Ponte. Marty is known internationally for a 2007 probe on behalf of the Council of Europe that accused 14 European governments of allowing the CIA to run secret prisons and conduct rendition flights from 2002 to 2005. The 55-page report is an attempt to cast new light on the KLA, which received U.S. backing in its fight to secure Kosovo's independence from Serbia in 1999. Marty says it is an attempt to unearth alleged crimes that went unpunished in the postwar period. Marty's investigation found that there were a number of detention facilities in Albania, where both Kosovan opponents of the KLA and Serbs were allegedly held once the hostilities in Kosovo were over in 1999, including a "state-of-the-art reception centre for the organized crime of organ trafficking." The report says the captives had their blood drawn and tested to help determine whether their organs would be suitable for transplant, and were examined "by men referred to as 'doctors'" in the towns of Rripe and Fushe-Kruje. During his 2007 trip to Albania, then-U.S. President George W. Bush visited Fushe-Kruje. Marty said his findings were based on testimonies of "KLA insider sources" such as drivers, bodyguards, and other "fixers" involved in logistical and practical tasks, as well as "organizers," or the ringleaders behind the lucrative organ trade. The report, however, does not name any of the sources, or the number of people who were allegedly killed in the process. The accounts pointed to "a methodology by which all of the captives were killed, usually by a gunshot to the head, before being operated on to remove one or more of their organs," the report said. The report alleges that the captives were first taken to a house in Albania run by an ethnic Albanian with ties to KLA's leadership. When the surgeons were ready, KLA gunmen would shoot the captives — their corpses quickly taken to an operating clinic, it said. Marty did not specify how many people were killed for their organs, but said the "filtering" process allegedly ended in Fushe-Kruje where "the small, select group of KLA captives who were brought this far met their death." In his report, Marty says that Fushe-Kruje was selected for its proximity to Albania's main international airport, which "therefore offered accessibility for incoming international visitors and outgoing shipments alike." The report also pointed to "a small but inestimably powerful group of KLA personalities" known as the Drenica Group whose "boss" was Kosovo's current prime minister and former KLA leader, Hashim Thaci. The investigator said his team's firsthand sources "credibly implicated" some KLA leaders and members of Thaci's inner circle for "having ordered — and in some cases personally overseen — assassinations, detentions, beatings and interrogations in various parts of Kosovo." Kosovo's government described Marty's allegation as "slanderous", and part of an attempt to "obstruct" Thaci, whose party this month won Kosovo's first election since it declared independence from Serbia — in a vote tainted by claims of fraud. The government said in the statement it would take all necessary legal and political means to counter Marty's "fabrications" and urged Council of Europe members to oppose the report. Meanwhile, Serbia's deputy war crimes prosecutor Bruno Vekaric, praised the report as a "great victory for the truth and justice." "Thanks to the help and authority of Serbian President Boris Tadic, and the perseverance of the (Serbian) judicial authorities, we came to this victory which gives hope to the families of the kidnapped victims," Vekaric said. The report also appeared to suggest that the traffic in human kidneys predated — and could even have links to — suspects behind illegal sales of donor kidneys involving a private Kosovo clinic. A Kosovo court heard a prosecutor's arguments Tuesday that seven Kosovans on trial were part of the elaborate international network trading in the organs of people living in extreme poverty. European Union Prosecutor Jonathan Ratel told the Pristina District Court that the men, including a former Kosovo Health Ministry official, had promised poor people from Moldova, Kazakhstan, Russia and Turkey as much as to $20,000 for their organs — money that was never paid. The prosecutor said the recipients of the organs, including patients from Canada, Germany, Poland and Israel, had paid euro80,000 to euro100,000 ($110,000 to $137,000) for them. The prosecutor, who serves in Kosovo as part of the EU's rule of law mission, alleged that what he called an organ-harvesting ring recruited about 20 foreign nationals with false promises of payments in 2008. The seven have pleaded not guilty to charges ranging from people trafficking to unlawful medical practices and abuse of power. None is in custody. Two other suspects — a Turkish and an Israeli national — remain at large. Tuesday's session was adjourned until Jan. 6 to give the prosecution more time to provide additional documents. The prosecution has alleged that Kosovo surgeon Lutfi Dervishi is the ringleader of the group. A Belgrade-based daily newspaper, Blic, has claimed that Dervishi is also linked to the KLA's alleged kidnapping and killing of Serb civilians for their organs. Marty says some of those involved in the recent case, were also allegedly involved with the organ harvesting in Albania. He declined to elaborate, so as not to hamper the EU-led legal proceedings in Kosovo. The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe will debate the report in Strasbourg on Jan. 25, council said. |
White House insists health law rollout unaffected (AP)
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WASHINGTON – The White House insisted Tuesday that the implementation of President Barack Obama's landmark health care law will not be affected by a negative federal court ruling, and the Justice Department said it would appeal. "There's no practical impact at all as states move forward in implementing ... the law that Congress passed and the president signed," White House press secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters. Justice Department spokeswoman Tracy Schmaler said that, as expected, the department would appeal Monday's ruling by U.S. District Judge Henry E. Hudson in Virginia. Hudson declared that a central provision of the law — the requirement for nearly everyone to carry health insurance — was unconstitutional. The ruling by the Republican-appointed judge in a high-profile lawsuit by Virginia's Republican attorney general was a setback for the Obama administration, but not a surprise. Two other district court judges, both Democratic appointees, have found the law constitutional. Obama administration officials noted that consultations with states on implementing the law were moving forward. Later this week officials from all but a handful of states are expected to travel to Washington to meet with the Health and Human Services Department to discuss setting up the state-based insurance marketplaces, called exchanges, required by the new law. These include officials from many of the 20 states that are simultaneously suing to overturn the law in a fourth case which begins oral arguments Thursday in Florida. Many state officials have concluded that it's better to participate in discussions on implementing the law than not, even if they don't support it. Even so, Republican members of Congress seized on Hudson's ruling to caution states against moving forward. Central provisions of the law including the exchanges and the requirement for everyone to be insured don't take effect until 2014 anyway. By then the Supreme Court will likely have weighed in with the final verdict on the health law. Virginia Gov. Robert McDonnell, a Republican, urged the Obama administration Tuesday to join him in seeking to take the cases straight to the Supreme Court, bypassing the appeals process, in order to provide certainty for states and businesses. Such a course is highly unusual, and the Justice Department weighed in against it. "The department believes this case should follow the ordinary course of allowing the courts of appeals to hear it first so the issues and arguments can be fully developed before the Supreme Court decides whether to consider it," Schmaler said. |
Dems mull changes in tax bill despite GOP warning (AP)
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WASHINGTON – House Democrats considered changes in legislation to avoid a Jan. 1 jump in income taxes on Tuesday, despite a warning from Republicans that the bill's passage could be endangered as a result. "This agreement is not subject to being reopened," said Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky. "In other words, we have an understanding." President Barack Obama announced the agreement a week ago, saying it had been worked out with leading lawmakers in both parties and was essential to help strengthen an economy still struggling to recover from the worst recession in decades. There is little disagreement among lawmakers about many elements of the bill, but a provision to benefit the wealthy by easing the estate tax draws strong opposition from House liberals. The Democratic rank-and-file voted last week not to permit the bill to come to a vote unless it had been changed first. They appear to have dropped their ultimatum, and held an evening meeting to consider other possibilities. The measure commands strong bipartisan support in the Senate, which voted 83-15 on Monday to advance it to a final vote that is expected on Wednesday. At its core, the bill would extend tax cuts at all income levels that were enacted during the presidency of George W. Bush. It also would renew a program of jobless benefits for the long-term unemployed that is due to lapse, and enact a one-year cut in Social Security taxes. The bill's cost, $858 billion, would be added to the deficit. At the insistence of Republicans, the plan includes a more generous estate tax provision: The first $10 million of a couple's estate could pass to heirs without taxation. The balance would be subject to a 35 percent tax rate. The lower estate tax infuriated some Democrats who were already unhappy with Obama for agreeing to extend tax cuts for individuals making more than $200,000 and couples making more than $250,000. The estate tax was repealed for 2010. But under current law, it is scheduled to return next year with a top rate of 55 percent on the portion estates above $1 million — $2 million for couples. House Democratic leaders want to bring back the 2009 estate tax levels. That year, individuals could pass $3.5 million to their heirs, tax-free. Couples could pass $7 million, with a little tax planning, and the balance was taxed at a top rate of 45 percent. Despite the maneuvering, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer told reporters, "I think, frankly, that ultimately we will pass legislation." "The vote in the Senate indicates an urgency that is felt by a broad spectrum that the middle-income taxes not be increased come Jan. 1. In order to affect that, you've got to pass the bill," he said. |
Report: Transplant may have cured man of AIDS (AP)
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A very unusual blood transplant appears to have cured an American man living in Berlin of infection with the AIDS virus, but doctors say the approach is not practical for wide use. The man, who is in his 40s, had a blood stem cell transplant in 2007 to treat leukemia. His donor not only was a good blood match but also had a gene mutation that confers natural resistance to HIV. Now, three years later, the recipient shows no signs of leukemia or HIV infection, according to a report in the journal Blood. "It's an interesting proof-of-concept that with pretty extraordinary measures a patient could be cured of HIV," but it is far too risky to become standard therapy even if matched donors could be found, said Dr. Michael Saag of the University of Alabama at Birmingham. He is past chairman of the HIV Medicine Association, an organization of doctors who specialize in treating AIDS. Transplants of bone marrow — or, more commonly these days, of blood stem cells — are done to treat cancer, and their risks in healthy people is unknown. It involves destroying the person's native immune system with powerfuls drugs and radiation, then replacing it with donor cells to grow a new immune system. Mortality from the procedure or its complications can be 5 percent or more, Saag said. "We can't really apply this particular approach to healthy individuals because the risk is just too high," especially when drugs can keep HIV in check in most cases, Saag said. Unless someone with HIV also had cancer, a transplant would not likely be considered, he said. When the Berlin man's case first surfaced two years ago, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infections Diseases, said the procedure was too expensive and risky to be practical as a cure but that it might give more clues to using gene therapy or other methods to achieve the same result. ___ Online: AIDS information: http://www.aidsinfo.nih.gov and http://www3.niaid.nih.gov/topics/HIVAIDS/ |
Court grants bail to WikiLeaks' Assange (Reuters)
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LONDON (Reuters) – WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange, arrested in Britain on Swedish allegations of sex crimes, was granted bail by a London court on Tuesday. The 39-year-old Australian, the target of U.S. fury over WikiLeaks' publication of part of a trove of 250,000 secret diplomatic cables that have embarrassed Washington, could be freed under strict conditions, Judge Howard Riddle ruled. Assange, who denies the Swedish allegations, will be electronically tagged, must lodge 200,000 pounds ($317,400) with the court, report to police daily and observe a curfew until a further hearing on Jan 11. However, Assange's lawyer Geoffrey Robertson told reporters after the hearing that it would take time to gather the security and it was likely Assange would remain in prison on Tuesday evening. The prosecution was given until 5.30 P.M. on Tuesday to return to the court with their decision on whether or not they would appeal. Riddle ordered that Assange must live at the Suffolk, east of England, home of Vaughan Smith, a former army officer who set up London's Frontline Club, an independent press club. Assange remained defiant in a statement released by his mother on Tuesday, denouncing the firms that suspended payments to his website as instruments of U.S. foreign policy and calling for help in protecting his work from their "illegal and immoral attacks". "My convictions are unfaltering. I remain true to the ideals I have expressed. This circumstance shall not shake them," Assange said, according to a written statement of his comments supplied to Australia's Network Seven by his mother Christine. "We now know that Visa, Mastercard, Paypal and others are instruments of U.S. foreign policy," he said. "I am calling for the world to protect my work and my people from these illegal and immoral attacks." Assange handed himself in to British police last week after Sweden issued a European arrest warrant. He has rejected the allegations of sexual misconduct by two female Swedish WikiLeaks volunteers and opposes attempts by Swedish authorities to extradite him for questioning. Internet activists launched "Operation Payback" last week to avenge WikiLeaks against those perceived to have obstructed its operations, temporarily bringing down the websites of credit card firms Visa and MasterCard, as well as that of the Swedish government. Assange and his lawyers have voiced fears that U.S. prosecutors may be preparing to indict him for espionage over WikiLeaks' publication of the documents. (Additional reporting by Adrian Croft and Michael Perry; Editing by Noah Barkin) |
