Albania Minister Denies Investigating Allegations of KLA Crimes

Albania’s Minister of Interior Lulzim Basha has denied assisting an ICTY expert who travelled to the country in 2003 to investigate claims that the Kosovo Liberation Army harvested organs of Serb prisoners.

Besar Likmeta

Tirana

“This is a dumb declaration, I have never been in any yellow house,” Basha told reporters in the city of Shkodra on Sunday, referring to an ICTY investigation of a house in the Mat region in northern Albania where Carla Del Ponte, the former chief prosecutor at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, ICTY, has alleged that Serb prisoners were killed for their organs.

The allegations that Basha assisted the ICTY as a translator were made by former forensics expert Pablo Baraybar.

In an interview for Swiss newspaper Le Temps, Baraybar said that had visited northern Albania incognito to investigate the claims in 2003, and had been assisted by Basha, who worked as a legal expert for UNMIK in Kosovo at the time.

“My translator was Lulzim Basha, he became interior minister in Albania later and I have heard him say that the allegations were nonexistent, while he was with me,” said Baraybar.

“I know that he knows, we were together and he has seen the dossier,” Baraybar added.

Basha's alleged presence at the investigation in 2003 surfaced after the contents of a draft Council of Europe report hit headlines around the world last week.

The document, drafted by Dick Marty, a Swiss MP in the Council of Europe, links a group of former Kosovo Liberation Army fighters, including Kosovo's current Prime Minister Hashim Thaci, to organised crime and organ harvesting.

Basha said the claims made in the report, which was approved by the CoE's Legal and Political Affairs Committee in Paris on Thursday, were only recycled allegations.

The report also criticises Albania for not cooperating in investigating the alleged abuses.

Thaci, whose party won the recent elections in Kosovo, called the report "scandalous" and said it is filled with defamation and lies, in a press conference last Thursday.

Died an adviser to George Papandreou, Tommazo Padoa Skiopa

Tommazo Padoa Skiopa, the Italian adviser to Prime Minister George Papandreou, died yesterday evening in Rome. Skiopa, seventy years, felt unwell during dinner at the mansion Sakketti the Eternal City. "Excuse me, but I'm not so good," he told his friends, with whom he had met to exchange Christmas greetings. The transfer of the hospital Santo Spirito in chassis was futile. Sudden heart attack, the diagnosis of doctors. Born in Belluno in northern Italy, in 1940, Skiopa considered one of the most prestigious economists in the country. Analyst of "Corriere Della Sera" newspaper, he studied at the University of Milan Bokkoni, specializing in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. It now stress the Italian commentators, has always been a staunch philanthropist, starting with the period during which took over the general direction of monetary and economic affairs of the then EEC - in 1979 - in close cooperation with the Chemout Schmidt and Valery Giscard d'Estaing. In 1984, Skiopa, became vice president of Bank of Italy, headed by then, the future President of the Republic, Carlo Champi Atzelio. A close associate of Jacques Delors, succeeded former head of the European Commission, as president of the foundation bearing the name. In 1998, he became a member of the First Council of the European Central Bank, in seven years. From 2006 to 2008, he served as finance minister, the second center-left government of Prime Minister Romano Prodi. The Italian media reported and the most recent professional responsibility, the role of adviser to Prime Minister George Papandreou, the last four months. "Greece will be able to overcome the crisis, subject to strictly implement the reform agenda has been prepared," he said recently, an Italian economist.

Mufti: Regime creating new Kosovo

19 December 2010 | 11:32 | Source: Beta, Dnevnik

NOVI SAD -- Islamic Community in Serbia Chief Mufti Muamer Zukorlić says that Belgrade regime could make a “new Kosovo” out of Sandžak thanks to its ignorant behavior. He repeated the accusations against Head of the OSCE Mission to Serbia Dimitrios Kypreos, pointing out that he had been partial during the affair regarding the Bosniak National Council elections. Muamer Zukorlić (Tanjug, file) He said that it was very hard to establish stability if the government did not believe them. “And there is a much greater chance that Sandžak will become new Kosovo with this behavior. Everything is the same as Milošević did in Kosovo,” he told Novi Sad-based daily Dnevnik. He stressed that the Bosniak Cultural Community (BKZ), that he led in the elections for the Bosniak National Council, had expanded its requests from cultural-educational autonomy to full autonomy of Sandžak because of the behavior of the Belgrade authorities. He also added that the autonomy had both historical and constitutional stronghold. “We’re only asking a gradual authority solely within the Constitution, because I’ll remind you that Serbia’s highest legal act envisages possibility to establish new autonomies,” Zukorlić explained. He pointed out that he had decided to turn to international institutions and the public because the Serbian authorities were not allowing him to solve the problems in domestic institutions and in accordance with the existing laws................more see: http://www.b92.net/eng/news/politics-article.php?yyyy=2010&mm=12&dd=19&nav_id=71612

The Fear for fraud, forces the Greeks Orthodox of Albania, to count separately

Started in the Saranda region, the preliminary census of population, which believes that belongs to the Orthodox religion and Greek ethnicity

Fear of a manipulation of the data of the census to be conducted in April 2001, has forced representatives of the Greek and Orthodox religion, the individual counting to make in advance, which will face the official census of the population, the next year.

The reason according to sources informed of the organization "Omonia", is because the Albanian government, has avoided in this process, the participation of minorities in the Central Census Commission.

"Gazeta Shqiptare", writes that from Saranda, have begun to distributed forms authorized by the Orthodox Church of Albania, where individuals can claim in a form, their ethnic origin and religious.

According to analysts who belong to non-Albanian ethnic groups, the process of population census in Albania, is considered very difficult, as a network of Albanian non-governmental organizations, have urged the Albanian government to scrap the declaration form, religion and nationality, as otherwise, this government will be considered anti-national, and will be the consequences for the future of Albania.

Regarding the fact that a country like Albania, which never in its own existence as a state, did not develop democratic free elections, nothing like that happen otherwise, that such Census have strong legal base, and the process by the Albanian government has to be distorted.

The Greek minority, fears a large-scale manipulation of the population and therefore counting has started in collaboration with the Orthodox Church, before the organization's own official count of the population census in Albania.

Census, Dule appeals: "We will not know the falls census If Tirana, wants to manipulate"

"Recently, have changed the data for religion and nationality by the Albanian government, for which it was attempting to manipulate the outcome of the population census"

TIRANA-President of HRUP Vangel Dule, has requested the inclusion of minorities in the national population register. During the speech held at the 9th Conference of HRUP for Tirana, Dule said that registration should be complete and all the elements listed as language, religious affiliation etc..

"Therefore also use this opportunity we have today, the state authorities to address today, tomorrow is too late, start functional cooperation with representatives of various minorities, street Open dialogue, transparency. O Our country will do a population census data of ethnicity, language and religion as it has done every European country, or by members of minorities will not be tolerated any rebate "- Dule said.

U.S. to continue cooperation with Thaci 18 December 2010 | 13:39 | Source: Tanjug WASHINGTON -- The U.S. will continue to cooperate with Kosovo PM Hashim Thaci despite the CoE report linking him to crimes, the U.S. Department of State has announced. U.S. Department of State Philip Crowley has assessed that accusations of Thaci’s involvement in organ trafficking are “not going to change fundamentally U.S.-Kosovo relations”. “At this point, since any individual anywhere in the world is innocent until proven otherwise, he is the current prime minister, and we will continue to work with that government,” he stressed. “I don’t think it’s going to change fundamentally U.S.-Kosovo relations. I mean, they’re based on our mutual interest, not on specific personalities,” Crowley said. He repeated that the Washington administration was “fully supporting any investigation by a legitimate authority into these charges”. The Department of State spokesman explained that “some of these issues had been investigated before, but to the extent that this report sheds new light on these issues, they should be followed through”. According to Crowley, “if there’s new information that is revealed in this report, it should be fully investigated”.

“Many countries knew about Thaci’s crimes”

18 December 2010 | 09:25 | Source: Tanjug

GENEVA -- CoE investigator Dick Marty told Swiss daily Le Temps that the majority of countries had been aware of the criminal activities of Kosovo PM Hashim Thaci. Dick Marty (Beta) “Numerous reports of the intelligence services, the German, British, Italian, and Greek ones, as well as reports of the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) were sent to various foreign ministries,” he explained. “They, however, gave priority to diplomatic policy, perhaps because they felt that the past should be left behind. The news is that somebody has published the reports,” Marty was quoted as saying. The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights adopted Thursday Marty's report and draft resolution on the illicit trade in human organs in Kosovo and Albania. In his report about the human organ trafficking, Marty identified the current Kosovo PM as the leader of the mafia-style group involved in the criminal activities. He pointed out that Thaci had for certain period been persona non grata in Switzerland, which showed that Bern had known he was problematic, because a ban prohibiting somebody from entering a country was not issued against people who are absolutely trustworthy..............................MORE see...www,b92.net

Kouchner: I knew nothing about organ trade

18 December 2010 | 12:04 | Source: BBC

LONDON -- First UNMIK Chief and Former French FM Bernard Kouchner says he did not know about the illegal human organ trade. Bernard Kouchner “I am skeptical about Dick Marty’s report,” he told BBC. In its initial reaction to the CoE investigator’s report, the British Foreign Ministry announced that such allegations always needed to be taken seriously. The British government has called upon Marty to provide all the evidence to the competent authorities in order to conduct a complete investigation. Great Britain encourages Kosovo government to support and facilitate the investigation, the announcement adds. None of the participants of the EU summit in Brussels on Friday wanted to comment on the CoE investigator’s report. Kouchner told BBC that he was skeptical about Marty’s allegations about the human organ trade and that a full international investigation should be launched. “My first reaction, and I read the report very carefully, is that I’m very skeptical about those accusations of the organ trade. My second reaction is to have somebody investigate this, conduct a real investigation. Those are my two reactions,” he was quoted as saying..... WWW.B92.NET

WALL STREET JOURNAL

Organ Trafficking Charge Hits Kosovo

By GORDON FAIRCLOUGH

A human-rights investigator for the Council of Europe is calling for an international probe into allegations that former Kosovo guerrilla fighters killed some prisoners in order to sell their internal organs on the black market as chaos engulfed the southern Balkans in 1999.

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Reuters

Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaci, seen at a Pristina school in 2008.

There is "compelling evidence" that Kosovo Liberation Army members held captives at detention centers in neighboring Albania before singling out "a small, select group" for execution so that their kidneys could be sold, according to a draft report for the council's legislature.

The current Kosovo government, which includes former guerrilla leaders, denied the allegations. Bajram Rexhepi, Kosovo's Interior Minister, said the accusations were "unrealistic and stupid." A spokeswoman for Albania's prime minister declined to comment.

"These allegations should not be left unanswered. They have to be either confirmed or refuted through proper criminal investigation," Thorbjorn Jagland, secretary general of the 47-nation Council of Europe, said Wednesday.

The draft report, which expands on allegations made by former war-crimes prosecutor Carla Del Ponte, of Switzerland, in a book published in 2008, was prepared by Swiss prosecutor-turned-politician Dick Marty, who also investigated for the council the existence of secret prisons in Europe run by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency.

Mr. Marty's findings—which are to be discussed Thursday by the human-rights committee of the council's Parliamentary Assembly—could cause trouble for the leadership in Kosovo, a newly independent country that is preparing for negotiations next year aimed at improving relations with its former political master, Serbia.

Mr. Marty alleges a wider range of misdeeds, including detainee abuse and score-settling among Kosovo's various Albanian factions. He also says alleged victims include ethnic Albanians and ethnic Serbs.

In his report, Mr. Marty alleges that some Kosovo politicians, including prime minister, Hashim Thaci, whose Democratic Party of Kosovo finished first in parliamentary elections Sunday, have links to organized crime. Kosovo's government dismissed that allegation as "slanderous."....more see;

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704098304576021562059446314.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

"Kathimerini"

‘Huge’ influx of guns tests police

Police sources have told Kathimerini that “huge amounts of weapons of all kinds” smuggled into Greece from Albania are in the possession of criminal rings and drug barons.The police also believe that some of the heavy weaponry – such as Scorpion submachine guns and Kalashnikov assault rifles – discovered in the suspected hideouts of terrorism suspects may be the spoils of raids on military facilities in Albania in the 1990s.

As for the more modern weapons found at the hideouts, such as Glock semiautomatic pistols, police have not ruled out the possibility that these were procured from the same batch as the two 9-millimeter pistols linked to the Sect of Revolutionaries, the country’s deadliest guerrilla organization.

According to police in Attica, some 10,000 legally registered pistols and revolvers account for just a tenth of such weapons on the market. It is unclear what the corresponding figures are for other weapons.

Albania President Condemns Organ Harvesting Report

Albania’s President Bamir Topi condemned on Friday the Council of Europe report linking top Kosovo politicians to organised crime and organ-trafficking, as baseless and hearsay.

Besar Likmeta

Tirana

“The president condemns forcefully all accusations not based on concrete proof and allegations spun in a web of hearsay, which seem to have been cooked up in a démodé kitchen of ultra-nationalistic circles, which unfortunately continue to exist in the Balkans – a territory where time after time the mass graves of the genocide of Milosevic’s forces are discovered and war criminals wanted by the Hague tribunal find sanctuary,” Topi said in a statement.

“These phantasmagoric accusations, brought up many times, formerly investigated and never proven, do nothing less than slander Albania, the Albanian nation and its identity,” the statement added.

The draft report, which was compiled by Swiss MP Dick Marty, was approved by the Council of Europe's Legal and Political Affairs Committee in Paris on Thursday. It links a group of former Kosovo Liberation Army fighters, including Kosovo's current Prime Minister, Hashim Thaci, to organised crime.

It also criticizes Albania for not cooperating in investigating the alleged abuses mentioned in the report.

Thaci, whose party won the recent elections in Kosovo, called the report "scandalous" and said it is filled with defamation and lies, in a press conference on Thursday.

In his statement Topi said that the dangerous smokescreen created by the report not only undermined Albania’s image but also risked peace and stability in the region.

He suggested that the best way to put an end to the allegations would be through renewed cooperation between national and international investigative bodies, like EULEX, the Hague tribunal and national prosecutor’s offices, which, he said, despite thorough investigations have found no proof to bring anyone before the courts.

“Albania’s institutions have always cooperated with international specialized institutions regarding the investigations made in the project-resolution compiled by Dick Marty, who has made his stance against Kosovo known worldwide,” Topi said.

Blic: Bank accounts could be evidence against Hashim Thaci

17 December 2010 | 10:04 | FOCUS News Agency

Home / Southeast Europe and Balkans

Belgrade. Bank accounts in Switzerland, Albania, Germany and other European countries in which the money from organ trafficking is reported kept could serve as evidence for the Council of Europe report which accuses the Kosovan Prime Minister Hashim Thaci of being “a boss of the Albanian mafia in Kosovo,” Serbian Blic daily writes.

The bank accounts have been discovered by the Serbian war crimes prosecutor’s office, but also by the U.S.’s FBI, which was investigating into the financing of extreme Islamist groups.

Some of the accounts carry personal names and others – the names of humanitarian organizations, which served as a screen for crimes. Some of the organizations are Aid for Kosovo, Mediker, Karavan, Al Haramajin, Taibah International.

The author of the report Dick Marty said he had presented enough evidence for launching an investigation.

Albanians, Bosnians rejoice at visa-free travel

Enver Jaganjac shows his new biometric passport outside a police station in central Bosnian town of Zenica, 75 km (45 miles) from capital Sarajevo, December 15, 2010. The European Union decision to lift visa requirements for travellers from Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina, aiming to encourage democratic reforms in the Balkan states, came into effect on Wednesday.

Credit: Reuters/Dado Ruvic (BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA - Tags: POLITICS )

By Benet Koleka and Daria Sito-Sucic

TIRANA/SARAJEVO | Thu Dec 16, 2010 12:19pm EST

TIRANA/SARAJEVO (Reuters) - Albanians raced to claim the honour of making the first visa-free visit to the European Union on Wednesday after the bloc eased entry rules, while Bosnians took a less euphoric approach despite travel discounts.

The EU lifted visa requirements for Albanian and Bosnian holders of biometric passports at midnight on December 15, leaving Kosovans as the only Balkan citizens still needing visas for all trips to EU countries.

Firecrackers greeted the first cars arriving at Albania's land crossings with Greece and to board ferries to Italy.

"I am very happy, very proud. I have driven through snow to be the first," said one 54-year-old Albanian, celebrating a milestone on the country's long journey to EU membership.

He left without giving his name, and discovering that a 74-year-old woman had crossed an hour earlier as she knew what he had forgotten -- that due to the time difference Greek clocks had ticked to midnight an hour before Albania's.

Bosnians could once travel widely without visas when they were citizens of the now-defunct Yugoslavia, but lost the right when the country disintegrated in the 1990s.

Low temperatures and a chronic lack of money were the main reasons for an absence of euphoria among Bosnians, despite 50 percent discounts offered by a travel agency on "Schengen Day", named after the EU's free travel area.

Nevertheless, they were happy to see the visa requirement lifted. "I am glad, now I'll be able to finally visit my cousin in France," said Dzenana, a hairdresser, who has never gone abroad because she loathed waiting for long hours for a visa.

In contrast to Bosnia, where around only 420,000 citizens have obtained biometric passports out of a 3.8 million population, more than one million Albanians have paid 50 euros for such a document.

The EU decided last month to lift the visa requirements for travellers from the two countries, aiming to encourage democratic reforms in the Balkans, but warned that restrictions will be re-imposed if travel rules are abused.

Some EU governments doubt the two membership hopefuls can cope with problems such as illegal immigration and trafficking along drug routes from Asia to Europe, because of weak institutions and corruption.

Such concerns rose after relaxed visa requirements for citizens of Serbia, Montenegro and Macedonia last year led to a jump -- in some cases a fourfold increase -- in applications for asylum in the EU from the three Balkan countries.

Many impoverished Bosnians and Albanians see the relaxation as a chance to make money illegally in difficult times.

"As soon as I get a passport, I'll go to Austria, where my cousin lives," said a young man in Sarajevo who did not want to be named. "I'll try to find a job on the black market there, I can earn more in three months there than here for a year."

Albania, an "ally" of the charges against Hashim Thaci

Albanian Parliament Speaker, Jozefina Topalli, "has required medical exam" for Dick Martin

By Mero Baze

Editorial, "Gazeta Tema"

The Council of Europe report on the involvement of particular individuals by Hashim Thaci, in illegal activities during the Kosovo war and doubts about the consolidation of a network of trafficking in human organs is the most serious initiative against the credibility of western political factor in Kosovo, and as such should be taken very seriously. Emotional reactions to Tirana and Pristina until now, not only have excited anyone except myself, but i have fuel to the fire by promoting an unanimous vote for an international investigation on the allegations and made Kosovo's prime minister in office a portrait that resembles horror films.

Not wanting to deal with the emotional response in Kosovo, should be bound to reaction from Tirana. The first scandalous reaction came from Speaker of the Parliament of Albania, Jozefina Topalli, which has required medical exam for the drafter of the report of Dick Martin. With the ease of human clod who sells drool Shkodra stranded villagers to "enemy in Tirana, Edi Rama, with the same ease and irresponsibility, communicates official level for a report, which in fact if not explained by the competence and professionalism by the Government, has left us all life and stain proof against any initiative to promote Kosovo to the West.

Since today are publicly throwing accusations of excessive money to support western Kosovo, and a primitive reaction ours makes the most reliable and these voices. If Dick Marty is psychotic or normal, this trace, could not determine Topalli. Ms Topalli, in this case, is to protect the Albanian part of the charges with evidence and cooperate with the Council of Europe on this issue, and not produce hostile distance with the author of the report, has made it easier to raise the shoulders as innocent, at the height of the offensive against the Albanian factor in Kosova..... .....More see in Albanian www.gazetatema.net

Del Ponte Calls for Kosovo Organs Trade Inquiry

The former ICTY prosecutor says the International Criminal Court or a special tribunal should investigate allegations of murder and organ trafficking by Kosovo politicians.

Michael Montgomery

Former United Nations war crimes prosecutor Carla Del Ponte has called for an international criminal inquiry into allegations of murder and human organ trafficking by senior Kosovo politicians.

The allegations were made in a report released earlier this week by European human rights investigator Dick Marty. A parliamentary committee of the Council of Europe has approved the report, sending it to a full assembly meeting in January.

“You cannot read this report and simply look away,” Del Ponte said in an interview from Argentina where she is the Swiss ambassador. “It must be followed up by an international institution capable of conducting a thorough investigation.”

Del Ponte told Balkan Insight and the US based Center for Investigative Reporting that the complexity of the case made it unlikely that any national court could investigate the allegations, which span multiple Balkan countries and implicate Kosovo’s current prime minister, Hashim Thaci.

“What my experience shows me is that it is impossible for any national authority to take this kind of an investigation to its end,” said Del Ponte, who was the chief prosecutor for the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia from 1999 to 2007.

more see: http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/carla-del-ponte

The Parliament of Tirana, calls, as anti Albanian the report of Dick Marty to the Council of Europe

The Parliament Speaker Topalli: The Report aims anti-Albanian sentiments

Gramoz Ruci, The Socialist Party in Opposition: The report, attempt to stability in the region

TIRANA-On behalf of the Albanian opposition, the Socialist group parliamentary leader Gramoz Ruci, condemned the charges CE reporter, Dick Marty, to the Prime Minister of Kosovo Hashim Thaci, and the KLA's links to drug trafficking, arms and bodies.

By the Parliament of Albania, Ruci asked to prepare a resolution to condemn the harsh accusations that are made Kosovo and Albanian state.

Meanwhile Ruci called Marty's report as a attempt that made stability in the Balkan region.

"The charges in relation to harm our country, not just charges against Thaci. This report threatens stability in the region, "said Ruci.

Parliament Speaker Topalli: report aims anti-Albanian

Even the head of the Albanian Parliament Topalli, reiterated during today's session in parliament, its position on the report of the Rapporteur Dick Marty, accusing him of abuse of office.

"I repeat, is a report on political, total abuse of the duty of a member of the Assembly of the Council of Europe. There is no evidence, talk to some descriptions. The report is intended anti-Albanian, is against our people, against peace in the region.

Kosovo PM seeks to sue European investigator

By NEBI QENA

Kosovo's prime minister and Leader of Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) Hashim Thaci watches TV at his office minutes before an unnoficial vote tally is to show his party leading in Kosovco general elections in capital Pristina on Sunday, Dec. 12, 2010.The exit poll conducted Sunday by Kosovo-based Gani Bobi Center shows Thaci winning 31 percent, with the LDK, or Democratic League of Kosovo, trailing with 25 percent of the vote and newcomer Albin Kurti winning 17 percent in his political debut." alt=" Visar Kryeziu
Kosovo's prime minister and Leader of Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) Hashim Thaci watches TV at his office minutes before an unnoficial vote tally is to show his party leading in Kosovco general elections in capital Pristina on Sunday, Dec. 12, 2010.The exit poll conducted Sunday by Kosovo-based Gani Bobi Center shows Thaci winning 31 percent, with the LDK, or Democratic League of Kosovo, trailing with 25 percent of the vote and newcomer Albin Kurti winning 17 percent in his political debut." rel="story-images">

AP Photo - Kosovo's prime minister and Leader of Democratic Party of Kosovo (PDK) Hashim Thaci watches TV at his office minutes before an unnoficial vote tally is to show his party leading in Kosovco general elections in capital Pristina on Sunday, Dec. 12, 2010.The exit poll conducted Sunday by Kosovo-based Gani Bobi Center shows Thaci winning 31 percent, with the LDK, or Democratic League of Kosovo, trailing with 25 percent of the vote and newcomer Albin Kurti winning 17 percent in his political debut.

PRISTINA, Kosovo Kosovo's prime minister is planning to sue a European investigator whose report suggested he had civilian detainees killed for their kidneys when he was head of the Kosovo Liberation Army, a senior Kosovo official said Thursday.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter, said that Prime Minister Hashim Thaci has contacted attorneys to consult them about pursuing a libel suit against Council of Europe investigator Dick Marty. The official said Thaci is also considering suing the London-based Guardian newspaper, which first published the report.

Marty rocked Kosovo with his allegations made public Tuesday that civilian detainees of the KLA rebels were shot to death to sell their kidneys on the black market and suggesting that Thaci was once the "boss" of a criminal underworld behind the grisly trade.

Marty was expected to speak at a press conference in Paris in the afternoon.

Thaci was the rebel army's political head during the 1998-99 war with Serbia, and his party just won Kosovo's first general elections since it declared its 2008 independence. He has not appeared in public since the report was released, but his office said he was to address the media Thursday afternoon.

Meanwhile, the Council of Europe human rights panel for whom Marty conducted the investigation voted to recommend international and national investigations into the report, it said.

The council's legal affair committee accused international organizations of being aware of the crimes, but looking the other way "to promote short-term stability at any price."

The investigation has discovered that "very serious criminal acts are taking place, have taken place and probably are still taking place and therefore the governments all over Europe should think seriously about taking steps about it," said Christos Pourgourides, the committee's chairman.

Agron Bajrami, head of Kosovo's largest daily, Koha Ditore, argued that Marty's report will have consequences for Kosovo's Western backers because "it alleges that everybody somehow conspired to hide these terrible crimes."

"This is not only about Mr. Thaci in Kosovo," Bajrami said. "It is also about the Western world and the 1999 intervention. It seems to try to say that whatever happened after the 1999 war was even more terrible than the war itself and what Serbia did here."

NATO bombed Serbia for 78 days to make it stop its brutal crackdown on separatist ethnic Albanians.

Marty, a Swiss senator, led a team of investigators to Kosovo and Albania in 2009, following allegations of organ trafficking published in a book by former U.N. War Crimes tribunal prosecutor Carla Del Ponte who said she was given information by Western journalists.

Marty's investigation found that there were a number of detention facilities in Albania, where both Kosovan opponents of the KLA and Serbs were allegedly held once the hostilities in Kosovo were over in 1999, including a "state-of-the-art reception center for the organized crime of organ trafficking."

EU investigators looking into claims that organ harvesting took place in northern Albania have said they found no proof of the allegations. The EU police force in Kosovo on Wednesday called for those with evidence to come forward.

Associated Press writer Jamey Keaten contributed to the report

Bosnia and Albania celebrated non-visa travelling to the EU

16 December 2010 | Happy celebrations in Albania and Bosnia marked the lifting of EU visas for their citizens – a situation, new for the youngest generation in the former Yugoslavian republic, and unknown to any Albanian living in his country so far.
Overridden with joy, some were organizing anything from public to private parties, while others just boarded the buses to European capitals.

"The last wall has come down, the wall of the Schengen area," sayd the Albanian president Berisha, quoted by the international press. "No longer forbidden.”

His country and Bosnia were the last, whose citizens were restricted in their travelling to the EU, except Kosovo and Turkey. Serbia, Montenegro and Macedonia obtained a liberalized access to the European Union country a year ago.

The EU decision for Albania and Bosnia was taken last month unanimously, but not unconditionally – it came with an explicit warning that it will be reversed, if it leads to an influx of people, searching illegally for work, or unreasonably – for asylum.

Committee adopts Kosovo organ trafficking report

16 December 2010 | 10:00 -> 13:34 | Source: B92, Tanjug

PARIS -- Council of Europe (CoE) Rapporteur Dick Marty today in Paris officially presented his report on human organ trafficking in Kosovo and northern Albania. Dick Marty (Tanjug, file) The draft report, detailing locations where members of the so-called Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) took kidnapped civilians to have their vital organs removed and later sold, was adopted by the Legal Affairs and Human Rights Committee. In it, Kosovo Albanian Premier and former KLA leader Hashim Thaci has been named as the ringleader of a group that was involved in organ, drugs and arms trafficking. Reports from Paris today said that the decision came despite "some attempts" to postpone it.................... http://www.b92.net/eng/news/politics-article.php?yyyy=2010&mm=12&dd=16&nav_id=71547