Court extends remand of suspected 'organ brokers'

[okarol]

Court extends remand of suspected 'organ brokers'

w w w . h a a r e t z . c o m
Last update - 01:31 24/07/2007

By Eli Ashkenazi

The Nazareth Magistrate's Court yesterday extended the remand of nine people whom police suspect of involvement in the illegal organ trade. One suspect, Ella Zeis, is a 54-year-old doctor. Police believe her husband, Michael, who is also a doctor, extracted kidneys from dozens of organ sellers in Ukraine.

According to police, the suspects arranged for people interested in selling their organs to be flown to Ukraine, where one of the seller's kidneys was removed and then transplanted in the body of the buyer. Police say the sellers received $35,000 per kidney. Zeis and eight other suspects were arrested Sunday.

Zeis' defense attorney, Eran Avital, denied that his client was involved in organ trading. "There was no offense. Nothing happened. The police are trying to involve my client in this case, but they have nothing to go on," he said.

Attorney Lizi Freund, who represents another suspect, said her client and the rest of the suspects did not commit a crime. "There was no human trafficking. There is no law prohibiting organ donation, even for money. The same goes for Ukraine."

Police began investigating the case a few weeks ago after a woman in her thirties from the north of the country complained to the police that she had not received payment for selling her kidney. The complainant told police she had answered an ad for kidney donors, and then traveled to Ukraine for the operation. The police sent an undercover agent who posed as a seller. His investigation concluded that the suspects allegedly advertised their network in the local Russian and Arab press.
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[livecam]

Talk about nervousness.  I can't imagine going through with a deal like that as the recipient.  My kidney arrived the right way and I was still scared s...less about going under and whether I was gonna wake up more of a vegetable than I already am. 

[whitehorse]

"Attorney Lizi Freund, who represents another suspect, said her client and the rest of the suspects did not commit a crime. "There was no human trafficking. There is no law prohibiting organ donation, even for money. The same goes for Ukraine."
 According to the lawyer, there is no crime here. Mr. livecam fears "whether he was gonna wake up more of a vegetable than he already is". if he thinks he is a vegetable, I'm not going to argue with him.But, then he should not go to the Ukraine even if he can get a live donor transplant by an Israeli Transplant Surgeon. From what I hear those Israeli Surgeons are among the best and a live donor can last along time.
   So , it sounds legal and better than a long wait here. Too bad its shut down. Its an other screw job to patients needing a transplant. Probably dirt cheap in the Ukraine.
By the way, what does this have to do with Turkey ?