THE HAGUE - UN war crimes prosecutors could find no proof to back up claims that Kosovo Albanians trafficked organs taken from Serbs during the 1998-1999 war, they insisted Wednesday.
The denial came after former UN war crimes prosecutor Carla Del Ponte claimed in a book that Kosovo Albanians imprisoned Serbs and removed their organs for transplant in patients abroad during the 1998-99 Kosovo conflict.
"The office of the prosecutor, together with (the UN mission in Kosovo) UNMIK and the Albanian authorities conducted a preliminary investigation," said prosecution spokeswoman Olga Kavran said.
They had "visited a site in northern Albania in connection with the allegations," she added.
"Despite these efforts the office of the prosecutor could not substantiate such allegations and had no further basis to proceed in relation to our jurisdiction," she said.
In her book, "The Hunt: Me and War Criminals", former UN war crimes prosecutor Del Ponte writes that those involved in the trafficking included leaders of the separatist Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), which fought Serbian forces at the time in mid-1999.
Around 300 prisoners were kidnapped and transported from Kosovo to Albania, where they were locked up and had their organs removed, she said.
She does not reveal her sources in her book.
In an article published in Swiss newspaper Le Temps, Del Ponte's former aide Florence Hartmann blasted the claims as "irresponsible" and "undignified".
Del Ponte was "presenting things that were impossible to prove as established facts," she added.
Keeping the organs at the proper temperature and "a lack of proper sanitary facilities made such practices extremely difficult," Hartmann added.
In Serbia there was outrage over the claims. Government officials on Monday said they would ask the UN war crimes court to reopen their investigation into the matter.
On Wednesday, a spokeswoman for the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) said they had not yet received such a request.
However, in a weekly press briefing, court spokeswoman Nerma Jelasic stressed: "It is well known that, in line with its completion strategy, no new indictments will be confirmed by the tribunal".
In 2010 the court is expected to close its doors permanently.
The organ trafficking claims are expected to partially overshadow the first visit of Del Ponte's successor, UN prosecutor Serge Brammertz, to Serbia this Thursday and Friday.
His spokeswoman said Wednesday that despite the current Serbian outrage the office of the prosecutor believed the authorities in Belgrade were aware of the allegations when they were first made in 2002 and 2003.
After the initial investigation did not substantiate the claims, "the matter was left to the competent authorities: UNMIK and the Albanian authorities," Kavran added.
Several thousand people, mostly ethnic Albanians, were killed in the 1998-1999 Kosovo conflict between Albanian separatists in the province and Serbian forces.
Some 1,500 Albanians and 500 Serbs and other non-Albanians are still listed as missing.
Del Ponte served as the ICTY's chief prosecutor for eight years, until her mandate expired in late 2007.
Ethnic Albanian-dominated Kosovo unilaterally declared independence from Serbia in February and has since been recognised by the United States and most nations of the European Union.
gdh-sb/jj
04/16/2008 15:00 GMT