The former Swiss prosecutor Dick Marty, renowned for his international investigations and in particular that of organ trafficking in Kosovo, revealed to the Swiss media that he was threatened with death by “Serbian intelligence service circles”, and lived under protection. policewoman.
“On December 18, 2020, I received a call from the police which informed me that I was threatened with death and told me that I was going to be immediately placed under high police protection”, said the former councilor of State in an interview broadcast on RTS. The Swiss Federal Office of Police placed Dick Marty under danger level 4, the second highest, and so he had to accommodate “armed to the teeth” police officers at his home for more than four months.
Questioned by AFP, the Public Ministry of the Confederation – the office of the general prosecutor – confirmed the existence of a “serious threat” against the former general prosecutor of the canton of Ticino Mr. Marty since the end of 2020, and the implementation of “a vast system of measures”, without specifying what threat it was.
Conflict with Kosovo?
Dick Marty, who now routinely travels in an armored car and with a bullet-proof vest, said the threat came “apparently from certain Serbian intelligence circles who asked the underworld, professional killers, to liquidate me quite simply to put the blame on the Kosovars”.
The former prosecutor and rapporteur for the Council of Europe investigated the alleged crimes of the former Kosovar guerrillas of the UCK, the Kosovo Liberation Army, in the 1990s, and in particular the trafficking of Organs Harvested from Majority Serb Prisoners. In particular, he had written a report denouncing these crimes, a report from which an investigation was opened against Hashim Thaçi, former head of the UCK, who later became president of Kosovo.
At the end of 2020, the special tribunal for Kosovo, a body based in The Hague, indicted former KLA leader Hashim Thaçi with war crimes, and the latter had to resign from his post. Dick Marty therefore believes that the Serbian secret services are seeking to eliminate him to blame the Kosovars, Serbia still contesting the declaration of independence of Kosovo in 2008. “Apparently, a state service wants to eliminate me to discredit its adversary , this is absolutely unacceptable,” he told RTS.
According to him, the Swiss judicial authorities decided “to send police officers to Belgrade at the end of April to talk to their Serbian colleagues”.