Four face organ trafficking charges in Kosovo

(PRISTINA) - An EU judge in Kosovo ruled that four people, including a former health official, can be tried on organ trafficking charges, the European Union rule of law mission (EULEX), said Friday.

"The indictment is confirmed against Lufti Dervishi, Driton Jilta, Sokol Hajdini and Ilir Rrecaj with regard to the counts of unlawful exercise of medical activity and abusing official position or authority," a statement said.

The charges revolve around the Medicus Clinic in Pristina, which was shut down in 2008 after a police probe was launched when a young Turkish citizen collapsed at the airport after having a kidney removed for a transplant to an Israeli man.

Among the confirmed suspects the most prominent are former health secretary Rrecaj, who had issued a licence to the clinic although Kosovo law forbids organ transplants, and Dervishi, a prominent Pristina urologist.

Another suspect is Turkish doctor Yusuf Sonmez, dubbed the Turkish Frankenstein by Kosovo media, who was briefly held in Turkey at the request of the Kosovo authorities in January.

But, the judge of EULEX, who has been looking into the case for a few months, said "the indictment was returned" to the prosecution in order "to specify some factual details regarding two further defendants."

According to the provisional indictment victims were recruited from poor areas across Eastern Europe and Central Asia. They were promised about 15,000 euros (19,440 dollars) for their organs, while recipients would pay up to 100,000 euros each.

The EU judge also dismissed the indictment "with regard to the counts of human trafficking and organized crime," the press release, said.

But, the prosecution said it was "to appeal the ruling where the indictment was not confirmed."

The upcoming trial of the case came as a recent Council of Europe report has alleged that Kosovo prime minister Hashim Thaci and other senior commanders of the ethnic Albanian guerrillas were involved in organised crime and organ trafficking during and after the 1998-1999 war with Serbia.

"We found a number of credible, convergent indications that the organ-trafficking component... is closely related to the contemporary case of the Medicus clinic," the report by Council of Europe's special rapporteur on human rights, Dick Marty, said.

Thaci has denied the allegations, calling them a smear campaign against the guerrillas and himself.

The 3,000-member EULEX was launched in December 2008 to enforce the rule of law in Kosovo and supervise its police, customs and judiciary.

EULEX has the power to step in and take on cases that the local judiciary and police are unable to handle because of their sensitive nature.