Kosovo militia may have stolen prisoners' organs, report alleges

By the CNN Wire Staff

(CNN) -- The authorities who control Kosovo may have stolen organs from prisoners of war and political rivals when the Kosovo Liberation Army was fighting Serbian forces for control of the territory, European authorities allege in a new report.

"Numerous indications seem to confirm that... organs were removed from some prisoners... to be taken abroad for transplantation," according to a draft report from the Council of Europe.

Prime Minister Hashim Thaci of Kosovo is one of the founders of the Kosovo Liberation Army. The report names him as the "boss" of a prominent faction in the militia that "apparently wrested control" of "illicit criminal enterprises" from rivals across the border in Albania.

Kosovo's government called the report "defamatory" and "mendacious," saying the allegations "have been constructed to damage the image of Kosovo and the Kosovo Liberation Army."

On Thursday, the report will be debated by a committee of the Council of Europe, an organization with 47 member countries that seeks to promote democracy and human rights. The council's parliament plans to debate it in January.

It's based partially on investigations by European Union officials.

The investigators have "made progress" towards "proving the existence of secret KLA places of detention in northern Albania where inhuman treatment and even murders are said to have been committed," the draft report says.

Investigators are not getting enough cooperation from either Albania or Kosovo, the report adds.

Kosovo's majority population is ethnic Albanian. Serbs are the minority.

The KLA was backed by NATO bombing when it fought for independence from Serbia in the late 1990s.

Illegal organ trafficking continued after the war ended, the Council of Europe draft suggests.

Nearly 1,900 people who disappeared during the conflict still have not been found, and another 500 disappeared after NATO troops arrived in June 1999, the report says.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said Wednesday, "We are very seriously concerned about the published information."

He was appearing in a joint news conference in Moscow with Serbian Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic.

CNN's Maxim Tkachenko in Moscow, Russia, contributed to this report.

source: http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/europe/12/15/kosovo.organs/index.html?hpt=T2