Dick Marty: Without truth, no democracy in Kosovo

The Council of Europe (CoE) rapporteur and Swiss senator also said that iIndividuals responsible for the crimes must be prosecuted.

In late 2010, Marty submitted his report on organ trafficking in Kosovo and Albania in 1999 and 2000, accusing members of the ethnic Albanian KLA of perpetrating the atrocities, with Serbs and other non-Albanians their victims.

"There can be no justice without truth, nor can there be democracy without justice," Marty said in an interview for Swissinfo, and added that this was a simple equation that should never be forgotten.

According to Marty, i"t is in the interest of Kosovo citizens for the truth to surface and for a transparent democratic system to be set up".

He explained that in his report on trafficking of human organs, he simply voiced facts that were already common knowledge, although the Kosovo Albanian authorities tried to impose their version of the events.

"Kosovo wanted to impose their official truth, claiming that there are good guys and bad guys and that Western countries bombed the bad guys and supported the good ones," Marty said and added that Slobodan Milosevic's regime "id commit heinous crimes" but it would be"a tremendous lie if it were to be said that the other side is innocent".

Marty noted that the police, intelligence services and international agencies filed a number of reports over the past years with regard to crimes committed on both sides and the connections between politics and organized crime in the region.

Marty said that his report recorded what was already well-known, and added that he had no personal interest in the issue, but suffered many unpleasant experiences as a consequence of his work.

"Still, the truth cannot always be pleasant," Marty added.