Kosovo PM denounces 'monstrous' organ sale claims

Kosovo's prime minister Hashim Thaci has said that a report suggesting he headed a criminal gang behind a trade in the kidneys of slain civilian detainees was "monstrous" and "scandalous".

Mr Thaci, who made his first public appearance yesterday since the publication of the report by Council of Europe investigator Dick Marty, said the allegations were aimed at damaging Kosovo's image internationally.

"The world knows who was the aggressor and who were the victims in Kosovo," he said, referring to crimes committed by former Serbian strong-man Slobodan Milosevic against ethnic Albanians in the 1998-9 war.

In an address broadcast live on Kosovo's public television, the former leader of the Kosovo Liberation Army said he felt "deeply offended" by the allegations.

Mr Marty's report, made public on Tuesday, alleged civilian detainees of the KLA rebels were killed to sell their kidneys and suggested Mr Thaci was once the boss of a criminal underworld behind the trafficking.