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| Dick Marty |
The Serbian Intelligence Agency, BIA, on Monday rejected Swiss media reports that former Council of Europe rapporteur Dick Marty had been threatened by "radical elements of the Serbian intelligence services".
In an interview with Swiss public television, Mr. Marty, whose allegations led to the establishment of The Hague-based Special Court of Kosovo, said he had been placed under armed protection at his home since late 2020 due to threats for his life.
"The threat apparently comes from certain circles of the Serbian intelligence services, who have asked the professional underground killers to liquidate me and simply blame the people from Kosovo for this," he said during the interview.
Mr. Marty said during the interview that his house is equipped with security cameras and a safe room in case of need, while the police are located near the place where he lives. He said that when he goes out in public he should wear a bulletproof vest, VOA reports.
Serbian media reported on Monday that the Serbian Intelligence Agency had sent a letter to the Swiss Federal Intelligence Service (FIS), in which it strongly condemned and denied the allegations, allegedly "malicious" of the involvement of Serbian security services in planning the assassination of someone”.
"In these difficult times, such allegations unjustly cause incalculable damage to Serbia and the reputation of the BIA and its members, who are committed and professional in performing their duties exclusively in accordance with the law," the statement said.
The Deputy Chairman of the Democratic Party of Kosovo, Vlora Çitaku, said during a press conference in Pristina that this situation is evidence of the continuation of the same mentality of Serbia supported by Russia.
"In the mentality of the Serbian state and Serbian state structures, the same mentality of the doctrine of crime and the culprit continues. But what is disturbing is the confirmation of the manipulation done to Senator Marty by the Serbian secret services which have supplied him with fabricated information and files produced in political cabinets in Belgrade and Moscow, on which and because of which the Special Court has been set up," she said.
The report of former Council of Europe envoy Dick Marty, which contains allegations against former members of the Kosovo Liberation Army of kidnapping, ill-treatment, extrajudicial killings, and in some cases forcible taking of human organs and their trafficking from Albania during and after the war in Kosovo, was the basis for the establishment of the Special War Crimes Tribunal in The Hague.
The Special Court, known as the Specialized Chambers, was established in 2015 and launched its first trial in September 2021.