Kosovo: Organ Trafficking Trial Begins

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The trial of seven individuals accused of organ trafficking began Tuesday in Kosovo.  Each of the seven, including doctors and a former official from the health ministry, has pled not guilty. Prosecutors charge the defendants with luring victims from Moldova, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Turkey to Kosovo to sell their organs.  Each was charged with “one or more counts of trafficking in persons, organized crime, unlawful exercise of medical activity, and abusing official position or authority,” according to a statement from the EU Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo (EULEX), which is in charge of the trial.

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October 5th, 2011
Justice System Organ Trafficking

According to the indictment, the victims were promised €15,000 compensation, and the organs were resold for up to €80,000- €100,000 to transplant seekers.

The allegations of organ trafficking ring first surfaced in 2008 when a Turkish national collapsed in a Kosovo airport as a result of the removal of his kidney.

Investigators eventually traced the surgery to the Medicus Clinic in the outskirts of Kosovo’s capital Pristina.

Among those on trial is former Secretary of Health Ilir Rrecaj, who licensed the clinic, and a prominent Pristina urologist whose son owns the clinic.

Two other suspected members of the trafficking ring, Turkish doctor Yusuf Sonmez and Israeli citizen Moshe Harel, were indicted last month in Turkey for their alleged involvement in the case.

Prosecutors say Sonmez surgically removed at least 11 organs at Medicus, while Harel was responsible for matching donors and recipients.

Medicus clinic is also linked to allegations raised by a Council of Europe report that Kosovo’s Prime Minister Hashim Thaci and his subordinates harvested organs of prisoners of war during the 1999 conflict in Kosovo.

Thaci has repeatedly denied any involvement in organ trafficking.

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