EU charges seven with human organ racket

At LEAST seven people, including a former senior Kosovan health official, are suspected of involvement in a global trade in illegally acquired organs. .

An indictment before a Kosovan court alleges poor people were promised payment for a kidney, which was then sold on for up to €100,000 (85,000). The donors then received nothing.

The indictment is the starkest revelation of the extent of organised crime in Kosovo since it declared independence in 2008.

The organised criminal group trafficked people into Kosovo for the purpose of removing human organs for transplant, EU prosecutor Jonathan Ratel said in the indictment. Some 20 foreign nationals "were recruited with false promises of payments" in 2008, he wrote.

Victims were promised up to €14,500 (9,000), while recipients were required to pay up to ten times as much.

According to the indictment, the victims came from Moldova, Kazakhstan, Russia and Turkey and lived in "extreme poverty or acute financial distress." EU prosecutors have asked for evidence from authorities in Canada, Germany, Kazakhstan and Turkey, and want access to e-mails of two suspects on servers in the United States.

Five Kosovo nationals, including Ilir Rrecaj, a former senior health ministry official, have been charged with five counts, ranging from human trafficking to abuse of power and unauthorised medical activity. None of the suspects are in custody.

Two others - Turkish doctor Yusuf Sonmez and Moshe Harel, an Israeli citizen - are listed as wanted by Interpol. Sonmez is the subject of criminal proceedings in other countries, including Turkey, for human trafficking and removal of organs, according to the indictment.

"Both Sonmez and Harel are fugitive from justice," the indictment said.

The prosecution alleges that one of the five, Kosovo surgeon Lutfi Dervishi was the ringleader of the gang. It said he attended a medical conference in Istanbul in 2006 and asked for someone who could perform organ transplants. He was contacted by Sonmez six months later.

Dervishi and Sonmez then carried out the operations in a private medical clinic called Medicus managed by Dervishi's son, Arban, who is also indicted. Harel was involved in "identifying, recruiting and transporting victims" and "ensuring the delivery of cash payments by electronic bank transfer" prior to surgery, the indictment said.

Two other doctors, Sokol Hajdini and Driton Jilta are also indicted.A further two doctors, Israeli Zaki Shapira and Kenan Demirkol, a Turk, are identified in the 46-page document as "unindicted co-conspirators."

Kosovo law forbids the removal and transplant of organs.

The indictment has been filed in a local court, according to EU officials, adding that the prosecution can still add the names of other suspects to the indictment and details of their alleged crimes. A preliminary hearing is expected to be held by the end of the month.