Dick Marty: We want to learn truth

There, he held a meeting with Kosovo Albanian Minister of Justice Nekibe Kelmendi and families of the missing, said statements afterwards.

The ministry announced that Marty and Kelmendi "spoke about the missing persons in Kosovo and that the minister of justice had requested from the CoE to press Belgrade harder in order to find out the fate of about 1,800 missing persons in Kosovo".

CoE special rapporteur also talked to the families of the missing persons in Kosovo before finishing his two-day visit.

Marty was appointed by the CoE to investigate allegations of organ harvesting that took place in Kosovo and Albania.

Reports said that he talked about the fate of the missing people as he met with the Kosovo officials, although the media in Priština had been announcing that the purpose of his visit was to look into suspicions that the so-called Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) members were involved in organ trafficking of captured Serb civilians in 1999.

"We are neither the court nor an investigative authority. We just want to know the truth and promote values of the Convention on Human Rights. We believe that the truth is a part of these values and that the truth is a condition so the people could live together in peace regardless of their ethnicity and religion. That is the reason of our visit," Marty stated.

He also had a meeting with officials of EULEX Office for Missing Persons and Forensics and then with Director of Kosovo government Department of Forensics Arsim Gerxhaliu.

"We are trying to be serious, professional and we thank Kosovo authorities who have made our visit easier and are ready to help and share the information with us," the CoE special rapporteur said.

Marty went to Albania last year to look into the Hague Tribunal's former Chief Prosecutor Carla Del Ponte's allegations about the trafficking of human organs of Serbs and other non-Albanians in Kosovo and spoke to the representatives of the proseuction and police there.

Serbia's War Crimes Prosecution is also investigating allegations that the so-called Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), consisting of ethnic Albanians, kidnapped hundreds of Kosovo Serbs and transported them to northern Albania where their vital organs were removed.

The case is also known as the Yellow House, after a location in northern Albania where the removal of the prisoners' organs is believed to have taken place.