Paris (CNN) -- Authorities in Kosovo must conduct a "tough, independent investigation" into allegations of organ harvesting from prisoners of war, a leading European human rights activist demanded Thursday.
"These things were known by intelligence agencies in various countries, by police, by many people," said Dick Marty, whose report into the allegations was approved by a Council of Europe committee Thursday.
But people in Kosovo are afraid to come forward and give evidence, he said.
"In private they said, 'Yes, we know,' but because of political opportunism they decided to keep quiet," he said.
The report links Kosovar Prime Minister Hashim Thaci to allegations that organs were stolen from prisoners of war and political rivals when the Kosovo Liberation Army was fighting Serbian forces for control of the territory.
"Numerous indications seem to confirm that ... organs were removed from some prisoners ... to be taken abroad for transplantation," the Marty report says.
Investigators have "made progress" toward "proving the existence of secret KLA places of detention in northern Albania where inhuman treatment and even murders are said to have been committed," it says.
Illegal organ trafficking continued after the war ended, the report suggests. CNN
