Albania gives EU green light on organ probe

TIRANA, Albania – Albania's parliament has approved legislation granting the European Union permission to investigate claims that civilian captives from the 1998-99 Kosovo war were murdered by organ traffickers.

American prosecutor John Clint Williamson, who heads an EU investigation task force, described Thursday's vote as "a strong statement of Albania's commitment to accountability and the rule of law."

A Council of Europe report by Swiss politician Dick Marty alleged that the rebel Kosovo Liberation Army ran detention centers on Albania's border during neighboring Kosovo's war for independence from Serbia. It says civilian captives, including Serbs, were killed there and their organs sold on the black market.

Both Kosovo and Albania have denied those allegations.