Marty: For the threats, I am facing today, I blame the Albanian authorities; they are systematically attacking me

Former Council of Europe rapporteur Dick Marty, who has been under special protection for two years due to death threats, says he is disappointed with the Swiss authorities.

Marty, in an interview for the daily news of the Swiss public service RTS, when asked how he felt, answered - considering what was happening in the world, privileged.

"As for the police, they have taken measures to protect me, but I am disappointed and do not understand the methods of investigation by the Swiss authorities in my case. I have been an investigator for a long time and I do not want to share lessons, but it seems to me that the methods applied in my cases are not common," Marty said, who released a report on the involvement of KLA members in kidnappings, murders and organ trafficking in Kosovo and in the "Yellow House" in Albania.

After that, threats followed, and Marty says that the goal of those who threatened him was not to kill him, "but to put the responsibility on the Albanians from Kosovo".

"When the Swiss authorities already had that information, why didn't they tell the Serbs that they knew what was happening, and asked them to put everything in order at home, with the threat that otherwise a scandal would break out? Then the goal of my murder and placing the responsibility on the Albanians from Kosovo would no longer make sense," Marty believes.

He pointed out that there was no point in just protecting the target, but something had to be done, which was why he did not understand that an investigation had been launched only eight or ten months after he had received the threats, and only after 16 months a Fedpol delegation had been sent to Belgrade. 
He reiterated that he was convinced that they should have told the Serbian authorities discreetly, through diplomatic channels, that they had known what had been planned.

Marty pointed out that, instead of such a reaction from Switzerland, he had had protection for so long.
When asked if he was afraid, or if he was afraid for his life, he said that he had been an investigator for a long time, which meant that a person had to have initiative, be brave, and be ready to take risks.

"I have the impression that now more and more papers are being made and moved, and fewer and fewer people are taking risks," he said.

Marty, faced with the accusations of official Tirana, said that the former prime minister of Albania had called him Goebbels and that no one reacted.

"Such an attack is not only an attack on Dick Marty, but on the rapporteur of the Council of Europe, and the Albanian politician forgets to say that, if the Prime Minister of Kosovo had to resign due to the investigation, it means that the investigative actions showed that there were war crimes," Marty emphasized.

He also said that he did not mind the protection, but that it was unacceptable for his family to pay the price for him.

By the way, Swiss television also released a documentary on the occasion of the release of Marty's book "Under High Protection".

"I always thought that it could happen one day given the profession I was in and the cases I handled, but not that it would take on such proportions," Marty said.

A report from 2011 about crimes committed by the KLA got him into trouble, and in December 2020 he learned from the police (FedPol) that "members of the Serbian underground, trained and authorized by the Serbian police and intelligence forces, want him killed, that would blame the Albanians in Kosovo for that".

The authors of the film met the man who pointed out this threat, and he is a person of Chechen origin born in Kosovo, who in the 1990s worked for the Serbian, and then as a secret agent for the European police.

"FedPol", since he also worked for the Swiss police, considers him a reliable source.

The film, thanks to hitherto unpublished documents and testimonies, reconstructs the conversation of a secret agent, who goes by the name Sonny, with a member of the Serbian underground "K".
In the conversation, "K" stated that "it is good that Hashim Thaci was arrested", but that he was not sure that he would be convicted, and that "if Marti is killed, everyone will believe that Thaci did it, so that court will not be able to free him".

Although Sonny suggests to him that "it's not easy to kill a politician in Switzerland", "K" replies that it is "child's play", that he has already brought a weapon, and that he will "soon assassinate".

After receiving information from Sonnyi, "FedPol" launched an investigation in which members of criminal groups with ties to the Serbian gendarmerie and intelligence services were identified.
In the film, it is claimed that the suspects are from Nis and that "K" is a veteran of the Serbian police.

The authors tried to get an answer from the Serbian authorities as to whether the suspects had been arrested and interrogated.

"At this stage, it is confidential information and therefore I cannot share it. I deny any involvement of the Serbian state and I can give you the strongest guarantee that neither our institutions nor the body of our government are behind the conspiracy to kill Dick Marty. He is very appreciated in Serbia," the Prime

Minister's advisor Nikola Stojanovic said during the filming of the documentary.
At the beginning of January, the Serbian authorities informed Swiss television by email that "all the suspects were interrogated and even passed a lie detector", that none of them had known of any conspiracy, and that the results of the interrogation and investigation had been passed on to the Swiss authorities.

However, Swiss television adds, "FedPol" denies this: "We have not received all the information about the results of their investigations".

The documentary also mentions Carla del Ponte, the former chief prosecutor of the Hague Tribunal, who, it is stated, had encountered a "tough nut" regarding the KLA.

"When we had concrete indications that Albanians also committed crimes under the KLA, I launched an investigation and the problems began. NATO did not help us, no one helped us. Then I realized that politically no one wanted those investigations, because Kosovo was scandalous, and there was a fear that conflicts would start again. The victims have the right to justice, and it is our duty to make it possible," she said in a statement to Swiss television.

She also pointed out that she had been faced with huge criticism, primarily in connection with the trade in organs.

Marti also stated that everyone had known that the KLA had committed crimes, and committing crimes with a "good reason" did not justify that.

In the documentary, it is stated that now the hatred towards Marty had "moved" to the other side, to Kosovo, which had also been confirmed by Natasa Kandic.

Marty says that since the intentions have been unmasked, there is no longer any ambition to carry out his murder, but that is why there is huge hatred towards him among KLA supporters.
In the film, the president of the KLA Veterans' Organization, Faton Klinaku, accused Marti of being a Serbian mercenary, and when asked if he had killed many people, he answered: "less than he should have."

Also, statements were made by another veteran, whose name has not been published, who says that he is disappointed that a Swiss could do something like that against the KLA, as well as that he received all the information presented from Serbia.

The Speaker of the Kosovo Assembly, Glauk Konjufca, said that the Marti report was problematic because, according to him, it focused on the alleged crimes of the KLA, with the claim that "no war was more humane than that of the KLA."

The documentary reminds us that Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama attacked Marty in the UN and elsewhere, stating that the report is full of untruths, and Marty states that Albanians forget that the

American conducted the investigation and the arrests were ordered by an independent court and that he has nothing to do with the team.

For the threats, I am facing today, I blame the Albanian authorities who systematically attack me, so radicalized people see me as a target," Marty says.

Andreas Gross, a former member of the Council of Europe, criticized Switzerland for not getting involved with Marty, saying that neither the Americans nor the French would allow threats to their citizens from another country.