Serbian security agency denies reports of planning Dick Marty assassination

JOHANNA LEGUERRE/AFP

Serbia’s top civilian security agency on Monday denied claims of its involvement in plans to kill the author of a Council of Europe (CoE) on crimes committed by the Kosovo Liberation Army.

The Security Information Agency (BIA) sent a letter to the Swiss Federal Intelligence Agency (FIS) condemning and denying “malicious claims of the involvement of Serbian security services in planning anyone’s murder”. According to recent reports by Swiss media, former Swiss prosecutor Dick Marty has been under armed guard for nearly 18 months following death threats he believes originated from Serbia. Marty authored a CoE report on KLA trafficking of human organs during and after the war in Kosovo.

The KoSSev news portal said that the BIA issued a press release on its web site. “In these hard times, claims like this inflict unjustified damage on the Republic of Serbia, the reputation of the BIA and its staff who are committed to professionally performing their jobs in line with the law,” the BIA press release said.

Marty told Swiss public broadcaster RTS that he has had armed officers at his home since the end of 2020 and is forced to wear a bullet-proof vest in public. Marty is also known for his investigation into alleged secret CIA prisons in Europe as well as organ trafficking in Kosovo.

“The threat apparently comes from certain circles of the Serbian intelligence services who asked the underworld, professional killers, to liquidate me simply to put the blame on the Kosovars,” Marty told the Swiss broadcaster. Swiss Federal police officers are due to travel to Serbia soon.

Serbia’s former war crimes prosecutor Vladimir Vukcevic said that there is no reason for the Serbian security services to threaten Marty. “He discovered everything based on what we did, not on his own,” Vukcevic told Danas daily. He added that everything in Marty’s report benefits Serbia, confirming what the War Crimes Prosecution discovered.

“Dick Marty’s part in uncovering KLA crimes began when the authorities in Tirana refused to investigate 12 sites which we learned held remains. When the authorities in Albania refused that investigation, I informed the CoE and sent Marty everything the War Crimes Prosecution had,” Vukcevic said.