Probe into alleged organ trafficking in Albania

(TIRANA) - An EU-appointed prosecutor probing alleged organ trafficking from Kosovo in late 1990s will soon visit Albania, an official said Wednesday.

"It is in the interest of all the region that this investigation comes to a clear conclusion and is able to provide an end to that story," said Xavier de Marnhac, head of the European Union mission in Kosovo (EULEX), after his meeting with Albania's Foreign Minister Edmond Haxhinasto.

De Marnhac said the prosecutor would arrive in Albania in the coming weeks, without naming the official.

A US prosecutor, John Clint Williamson, has recently been appointed to investigate the case, but the probe is yet to start.

Last year, Council of Europe rapporteur Dick Marty alleged that senior commanders of the rebel ethnic Albanian Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), including Kosovo prime minister Hashim Thaci, were involved in organised crime and organ trafficking during and after the 1998-1999 war with Serbian forces.

The report set out allegations that organs had been taken from the bodies of prisoners, many of them Serbs, held by the KLA in Albania in the late 1990s. Both Kosovo and Albania denied the accusations and rejected the report.

"Albanian authorities are open and support all investigations on the Albanian territory on alleged organ trafficking claimed in Dick Marty's report," said Haxhinasto.

He said that Albania was "interested in a deep and conclusive investigation," adding that Tirana was "sure that it will prove the falsity of allegations and we want such a chapter closed once and for all."