Albanian family sues Dick Marty for libel

An Albanian family is suing Swiss legislator Dick Marty for libel over claims that Serb prisoners were held in their home before being killed for their organs.

Roland Islami, the lawyer for the Brama family, confirmed by email to swissinfo.ch that his clients had filed a suit against Marty at the Tirana District Court on Wednesday. They are claiming damages of €200,000 (SFr260,000).

Marty told the Swiss News Agency on Thursday that he had no information about the suit, and added that if a case had indeed been filed, it was not to be taken seriously.

Marty, a member of the Swiss Senate, investigated allegations of organ trafficking in Kosovo on behalf of the Council of Europe. He filed a report in December, in which he alleged that after the end of hostilities with Serbia in 1999, high-ranking members of the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) had been involved in the murder of Serbian and Kosovo Albanian prisoners, whose organs were then trafficked.

The prisoners were said to have been held in the so-called “yellow house” in the village of Rribe in northern Albania before being killed.

Marty pointed out that the Brama family were not named in the report, nor had he ever mentioned them in interviews. The report names a different family as owners of the house. It says they had left it before it was used as a prison.

However, the Bramas’ name has come up several times in the press.

The Council adopted the report in January and called for prompt action to determine whether the allegations were true.

Among those named in the report are Hashim Thaci, the current prime minister of Kosovo.

Thaci and his government, as well as Albania, have denied Marty’s claims. When the report was made public, the Kosovo government responded by saying it would take “all necessary legal and political means” to counter the “fabrications”.