Kosovo to help investigation of alleged organ harvesting

PRISHTINA, March 31 – Kosovo’s justice minister says authorities would help foreign officials investigate claims that ethnic Albanian guerrillas killed Serb prisoners and sold their organs.
However, Nekibe Kelmendi said Monday the allegations were “not alarming, since we are certain such crimes did not happen.”
The case was initially investigated by United Nations investigators and it is now being investigated by the European Union’s police and justice mission here in Albania.
The claims were first reported in a book by former chief U.N. war crimes prosecutor Carla Del Ponte, who said she had been told that about 300 people were kidnapped and transported to Albania, where they disappeared. There were reports that some were victims of an organ harvesting operation, Del Ponte wrote.
Albania has also denied any knowledge of the incidents. Authorities have said they would support any investigation held from the international institutions but not from Belgrade.