Medicus: Five guilty in Kosovo human organ trade case.

An EU-led court in Kosovo has found five people guilty in connection with a human organ-trafficking ring. The five are accused of carrying out dozens of illegal transplants at the Medicus Clinic in the capital, Pristina. Meanwhile two former government officials also charged in the case have been cleared of involvement. The trade was discovered when a Turkish man collapsed after having one of his kidneys removed at the clinic. The case is being tried by Eulex, the European Union's law and order mission set up in Kosovo to handle sensitive cases.
The clinic's director, urologist Lutfi Dervishi was sentenced to eight years in prison for organised crime and human trafficking. His son, Arban, was sentenced to seven years and three months, while three other defendants received between one and three years' imprisonment.
Meanwhile Kosovo's former health secretary, Ilir Rrecaj, was acquitted on the charge for abusing official position or authority.

The special court heard that the Medicus Clinic recruited poor people from across eastern Europe and central Asia, promising them 15,000 euro (£12,600) for their organs.Donors came from Moldova, Kazakhstan, Russia and Turkey and lived in "extreme poverty or acute financial distress", the indictment said.

"They were alone, did not speak the local language, were uncertain of what they were doing and had no one to protect their interests," Judge Dean Pineles told the court on Monday.
Organ recipients, alleged to have been mainly from Israel, paid between 80,000 and 100,000 euro to receive a transplant.
Prosecutors alleged that at least 30 illegal kidney removals and transplants were carried out at the Medicus clinic in 2008.

The scandal broke when a Turkish organ donor was stopped by officers at Pristina airport, because he looked visibly in pain after having one of his kidneys removed at the clinic. The centre was closed down shortly after Kosovan and UN police officers launched their investigation.
The international trafficking case was tried by Eulex because of the involvement of two government ministers, reports BBC Balkans correspondent Guy de Launey.
Five years on from its unilateral declaration of independence from Serbia, Kosovo's own judiciary is still weak and vulnerable to external influence, our correspondent says.
Kosovo has been haunted by another alleged case of organ-trafficking dating back to the war in 1999.

In that case, which has never been proven, Kosovo Liberation Army(KLA) militants allegedly trafficked the organs of Serb captives they later killed.









www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Di8j8FCeg0  (click on the link to watch the video)

SYNONYMS:
EU-led court: "juicio dirigido por la Unión Europea"
carrying out: execute
charged: accused
trade: business
collapsed: breakdown
kidney: "riñón"
sentenced: punishment
imprisonment.: being put in prison
acquitted: pronounce not guilty
recruited: inducted
financial distress: they need money
indictment: accusation
broke: begin
launched: to involve
haunted: plagued
  
SUMMARY:
A few years ago, in Kosovo, the police arrested five people who were trafficking with human organs. The police found them after stopping a man at an airport, because he looked in pain after having his kidney removed. This organization recruited poor people from different countries promising them a lot of money for their organs. 

After the trial, some members were sentenced to some years in prison and others were acquitted and also, they closed the centre where this band made the transplants.

By Maria Lopez and Monica Mascaro.