A U.N. human rights expert on Tuesday urged Albania to fully cooperate with a probe into claims Serb civilians were killed in the country for their organs during the 1999 war in Kosovo.
The Albanian government has raised "a barrier of formal obstacles" to the investigation by Europe's top human rights watchdog, Philip Alston said on a visit to Albania.
Serbian officials say up to 400 Kosovo Serbs vanished without a trace during that period, and some fear a few dozen may have fallen victim to an organ operation.
Kosovo and Albania have strongly denied the allegations of organ trafficking, which first surfaced in a book by former U.N. war crimes prosecutor Carla Del Ponte.
Alston, a special rapporteur for the UN Commission on Human Rights, said that in nine days of talks he heard Albanian top officials dismiss the charges as "ridiculous."
But he said the officials did not offer meaningful cooperation into the Council of Europe probe launched last year by Swiss Senator Dick Marty.
Marty has not yet issued his conclusions. A UN probe in 2004 found no proof to back up the claims but Serbia has insisted on reopening the investigation.
"Given the strength of the belief, at the highest level, that (the claims) are unfounded, it would be in the government's best interest to facilitate an independent and objective investigation by one or other of the international entities currently focused on the issue," Alston told The Associated Press.
"If you are innocent, you say 'Come into my house and check it.'"
Alston's meetings also focused on whether effective action is being been taken to prosecute those responsible for unlawful killings, including blood feuds, domestic violence, and communist-era human rights abuses.
Alston said Albania has made significant progress, but urged more direct commitment.
Blood feuds resumed in Albania after the fall of the former communist regime in 1990. Their number has since declined and often involve disputes between criminal gangs.
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