The Special Investigative Task Force (SITF) conducted a criminal investigation into allegations contained in the January 2011 Report Inhuman treatment of people and illicit trafficking in human organs in Kosovo of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE).
The SITF, which was based in Brussels and funded by the European Union, had a mandate to investigate individuals for the crimes alleged in the PACE Report. To reinforce the independence and confidentiality of the process, the SITF consisted exclusively of international staff.
The investigation lasted until September 2016 when the Specialist Prosecutor’s Office took over the SITF personnel and mandate on the basis of provisions in the Special Law on the Specialist Chambers and the Specialist Prosecutor’s Office that was adopted by the Kosovo Assembly in August 2015.
The original Lead Prosecutor of the SITF was Ambassador Clint Williamson, a former US Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes Issues, who served with the SITF between October 2011 and August 2014. He was succeeded by David Schwendiman in May 2015, who became the first Specialist Prosecutor in September 2016.