Kosovans ‘part of organ trade’

A PROSECUTOR charged in court yesterday that seven Kosovans on trial in Pristina were part of an elaborate international network that traded in the organs of people living in extreme poverty.

European Union prosecutor Jonathan Ratel told the crowded Pristina District Court that the men, including a former senior Health Ministry official, promised poor people from Moldova, Kazakhstan, Russia and Turkey up to €14,500 for their organs.

Those who received the organs paid between €80,000-100,000 for them, Ratel said. The victims, however, were never paid, he said.