EULEX appreciates the cooperation with Albania and Kosovo

TIRANA, Aug. 1 – EULEX has praised cooperation with the Albanian government regarding the allegations raised by Dick Marty for the organ trafficking in Albania and Kosovo.
The head of the European Union mission to the rule of law in Kosovo, EULEX, Xavier Bout de Marnhac, in a letter to Albanian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Edmond Haxhinasto appreciates the support of Albanian government for a full investigation of the allegations, raised by Senator Dick Marty in his report to the Council of Europe, dated on January 7, 2011.
Tirana has always been ready to cooperate in the investigation into the illicit trade of human organs in Kosovo.
Albania had cooperated before, in this case with The Hague Tribunal, adding that there is no other alternative to conducting an investigation as soon as possible.
In his December report, Swiss senator Dick Marty, working as a Council of Europe investigator, said Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaci, then military leader of ethnic Albanian rebels fighting Serb forces during the 1999 war, led a network dealing in human organs.
The report claimed that Serb prisoners were held in the Brama home north of Tirana before being murdered.
Thaci has flatly denied this.
The organ trafficking claims, which were first made public in a 2008 book by former U.N. war crimes prosecutor Carla del Ponte, resurfaced three years after Kosovo declared independence.
Serbia has called on the U.N. Security Council to authorize an international investigation.
The European Union mission, known as EULEX, has launched a preliminary investigation into Marty’s allegations.
Yet so far, both the U.N. and EULEX have maintained that their investigations into the alleged organ harvesting have failed to yield any evidence.