Albania-EULEX to Cooperate on Organ Trafficking Probe

Bujar Nishani and Xavier Bout De Marnhac ink agreement | Photo courtesy of the Ministry of Interior

The agreement aims to strengthen cooperation on the investigation into allegations of organ trafficking by the Kosovo Liberation Army in Albania

“The Ministry of Interior and the police will offer cooperation on the organ trafficking probe,” Nishani said in a statement after the agreement was signed.   

The agreement reached between Albania and the EU Mission for the Rule of Law in Kosovo, EULEX, also provides for police cooperation on border control, smuggling and exchange of information between agencies.

Marnhac was in Albania ahead of the visit of US Prosecutor John Clint Williamson, appointed in August as the lead prosecutor for the investigation. Williamson will head a seven-member task force headquartered in Brussels and operating under the jurisdiction of EULEX.  

Marnhac also met on Thursday with Albanian Foreign Minister Edmond Haxhinasto and Prime Minister Sali Berisha who also pledged to support the probe into the organ trafficking allegations.

Marnhac meetings in Tirana on Thursday follow direct contacts between Albania’s General Prosecutor Ina Rama and EULEX prosecutor Isabell Arnal in January.  

Rama and Arnal had discussed a joint strategy to investigate the allegations made in a report by the Council of Europe.

Dick Marty, a Swiss MP, released a report in December that linked former Kosovo Liberation Army fighters, including Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaci, to organised crime and accused them of harvesting the organs of Serb prisoners and others in Albania.

The Kosovo government has denied the allegations and pledged to cooperate in the investigation.