While Serbian War Crimes Prosecution Office claims it has strong evidence that the Turkish doctor Yusuf Somnez, suspected of trafficking in human organs, is in the Netherlands, EULEX still checks this information. Eight days ago, the Serbian Prosecutor’s Office submitted the information to EULEX chief prosecutor Jonathan Ratel, including the address in Amsterdam, where Somnez was located. The fact that Somnez is on the Interpol wanted list, and still has not been arrested, is indicating that EULEX had not informed the Dutch police about possibility that a wanted fugitive is in their territory.
“EULEX is aware of the media coverage about runaway Yusuf Somnez, who is allegedly in Amsterdam,” was said from the top of EULEX. However, we did not receive answer to the question why the check takes so long and why Somnez is still at large. Officials of the Serbian War Crimes Prosecution said that they do not know when Somnez fled to the Netherlands. “All the information is submitted to EULEX and the next step is on them,” was stated from the Prosecutor’s Office.
Our interviewees believe that EULEX, for some reason, is deliberately obstructing the investigation and that one week is more than enough to establish one’s identity. Professor of Law, Bogoljub Milosavljevic, said that the key question is how to force EULEX to react. “If the Dutch police was informed that the fugitive, wanted by the Interpol, is in Amsterdam, he would have been arrested,” said Milosavljevic.
Criminologist Zlatko Nikolic agrees that the Dutch police is one of the best in Europe, and that they would check the suspect’s identity long time ago, if they were informed. “It is obvious that EULEX is obstructing the arrest, due to reasons known only to them. Since the case became public, most likely the suspect had already fled,” said Nikolic.
Before Somnez was located in the Netherlands, he was hiding for a while in South Africa. EULEX prosecutor found him and asked for his extradition, but the government of South Africa rejected it “because it does not recognize the Kosovo state”.
