Whatever happened to Clint Williamson’s report?

„Thaci was not arrested after Dick Marty’s report, but Clint Williamson’s,“ a Pristina lawyer, Tom Gashi, told the Kosovo Assembly MPs in December 2020.

Only a month after the first arrests of the accused before the Hague tribunal was made, as well as after Pristina officials presented a series of accusations against Council of Europe rapporteur Dick Marty – namely, that his report allegedly contributed to the formation of this court, Gashi revealed he is convinced that the Kosovan MPs at the time had not read the report of the US prosecutor, Clint Williamson.

Gashi even went so far as to offer a €10,000 reward to every MP who sends him a copy of the Clint Williamson report.

Kosovan President Hashim Thaci and three other former KLA members were arrested and taken to The Hague under war crimes charges in November 2020.

It was at that time that Dick Marty’s 2010 report came under the criticism of the Kosovo public and politicians, primarily the former „war coalition“ that was in power at the time. In his findings, Marty linked KLA leaders to crimes in Kosovo and organ trafficking.

Pristina officials stressed what they perceived as the lack of a basis for launching court proceedings and establishing the special chambers in general – that no charges have been filed for organ trafficking, which they claim was the main reason the court was established.

However, the establishment of the war crimes tribunal in Kosovo was preceded by a verification process of Marty’s findings by US prosecutor Clint Williamson. Williamson was the chief prosecutor of the European Union Special Investigative Task Force for crimes committed in Kosovo since 1999. This team was formed after Dick Marty’s report was published.

In 2014, Williamson claimed that he and his team did not find enough evidence to file organ trafficking indictments, while not excluding the possibility that additional evidence may be found in the future. He also said that his findings were in line with Dick Marty’s report and that the evidence obtained was sufficient to file other indictments. Shortly afterward, the establishment process of the Special Court was initiated.

Seven years later, and more than a year since the first arrests were made, the public in Kosovo and the Pristina media, as well as some Belgrade-based media outlets, have re-launched the false narrative that Kosovo Special Chambers were formed based on Dick Marty’s report.

This false narrative emerged once again after Marty caught headlines in Kosovo last week, after telling Swiss media „that radical elements of the Serbian secret services want to eliminate him, and blame Kosovars for it.“

Following Marty’s allegations, Pristina officials, in addition to accusing Serbian services of „plotting the assassination of Hashim Thaci“, „organizing the burning of churches on March 17“ and „planning the assassination of Fatmir Limaj and Rexhep Selimi“, brought into question all indictments filed against former KLA members before the Hague tribunal, citing the “fact” that Special Court was established based on Marty’s report.

„Recent events with Marty show that there is no reliable body for the trial in The Hague (…) The Special Court for Kosovo was created based on fabrications of Belgrade and Moscow,“ PDK Deputy President, Vlora Citaku, said recently, adding that Kosovo should unmask Marty’s report with a new Council of Europe resolution.

„This is absurd of truth and justice because today European taxpayers are paying for the court created based on misinformation and fabrications of the Serbian secret services,“ Citaku assessed.

Similar allegations were made by other Pristina officials, and reported about by the Pristina media outlets, as well as some Belgrade media.

They transmitted numerous statements of Pristina officials without corrections, or directly reported that the Court in The Hague was formed based on the report of Dick Marty – not Clint Williamson.

Out of the media outlets we followed last week, none of their reports even mentioned Clint Williamson or his report.

On April 13th, within the news piece revealing the Special Court does not exclude the possibility of Dick Marty testifying before the court in The Hague, Pristina-based Klan Kosova writes:

„Former Council of Europe rapporteur Dick Marty could be called as a witness in the Special Court, which was formed based on his report which states that the KLA committed organ trafficking.“

Reporting on the same news, the Zeri portal also claimed that the Special Court was established based on Marty’s report.

Transmitting the news of Marty’s guest appearance on a Swiss radio station, during which this former Council of Europe rapporteur said that he had nothing to do with the arrest of Hashim Thaci, Gazeta Express presented the same allegations on April 14th.

The same media outlet alleged in the English edition of the news that Dick Marty’s report „was the reason for the establishment of the Special Court“.

Reporting on the same guest appearance, Zeri also defined Marty’s report as the „cause“ of the formation of this court.

In the news about Bexheti Pacolli’s allegations that „it’s time for Dick Marty to admit that he created a narrative that sent Hashim Thaci to The Hague“, this media outlet also wrote that based on Marty’s report in which he “condemned the alleged crimes committed by the KLA, including organ trafficking, an investigation was launched against Hashim Thaci.”

In another text published earlier this month, Zeri stated that the court was formed thanks to Marty’s report, quoting the statement of the former investigator of the Hague Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, Nevenka Trump, who said that Marty should testify before the Special Court.

In the text entitled „Plan for Marty’s assassination, Osmani warns of actions as soon as Switzerland informs her„, Pristina-based Koha also made no mention that the Special Court in The Hague was formed based on Clint Williamson’s report.

„Marty denied on Thursday that he was the cause of the arrest of the former president of Kosovo, Hashim Thaci, by the Special Court, which was established following the accusations raised by the Swiss.“

In addition to the Kosovo media, some Belgrade media also made the same claim that Marty’s report was the reason this court was formed.

„Marty is the author of a Council of Europe report in 2010 in which he condemned the crimes of the KLA, including the ‘Yellow House’; that is, organ trafficking. Based on that report, an investigation was launched against Hashim Thaci, who is currently on trial in The Hague,“ reads the text published by Belgrade-based Informer tabloid, which lists Tanjug news agency as the news author.

Srbija Danas daily newspaper presented similar allegations in the news entitled: „ALBANIAN EXTREMISTS TERRIFIED! Dick Marty to act as a witness for KLA crimes?“

„The Special Court was established based on Marty’s report on human organ trafficking in Kosovo, which was adopted by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe in January 2011,“ reads Srbija Danas’ text published on April 14th.

In the news piece „ALBANIAN LOBBY PUTTING THE MURDER OF DICK MARTY ON SERBIAN SERVICES: Scandalous action in Switzerland, the BIA also reacted!“ – Kurir tabloid shared similar claims on April 12th, stating that the investigation against Thaci was launched based on Marty’s report.

Almost all of these Belgrade media outlets reported that Marty’s report mentions organ trafficking and the „yellow house“, without specifying that Clint Williamson, based on whose report the Special Court was actually formed, did not confirm or find enough evidence to corroborate these claims.