Thaci denies ‘organ-trafficking’ in Kosovo

15/12/10 15:42 CET

world news

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The government of Kosovo has rejected as ‘baseless’ and ‘slander’ allegations that Prime Minister Hashim Thaci was the head of a drugs- and organ-smuggling operation. The accusations are contained in a leaked report from the Council of Europe, due to be published officially tomorrow.

The Council’s investigator, Dick Marty, will claim the Kosovo Liberation Army, directed by Thaci in the late-1990s, detained and killed civilians so their kidneys and other organs could be removed and sold on the black market.

Thaci is celebrating victory in Sunday’s Kosovo elections, an event marred by allegations of widespread fraud.

The mood in Pristina, though, remains generally supportive. One man said: “There are some people, especially foreigners, who like saying these things. How true it is, that’s up to Mr Thaci. I’m not convinced, personally.”

The report will say Thaci’s links with organised crime date from 1998 when his Drenica Group took over the Kosovo Liberation Army and related criminal enterprises. It will say Thaci has personally taken part in killings, detentions, beatings and human organ harvesting.

More about: Hasim Taci, Kosovo, Mafia

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