13 minutes agoIsrael arrested in Kosovo under suspicion of organ trafficking to be extradited to Russia
Periskopi(8 years ago)
(8 years ago)Moshe Harel, a 70-year-old Israeli suspected of organ trafficking in Kosovo, arrested in Cyprus, will be extradited to Russia. To him, apart from Kosovo, Russia has issued international arrest, as he allegedly exercised the same activity there, and because Cyprus does not recognise Kosovo, the Cypriot court [...]
To him, apart from Kosovo, Russia has also issued international arrest, as he allegedly exercised the same activity there, and because Cyprus does not recognise Kosovo, the Cypriot court has responded positively only to Moscow's arrest speech.
The Cypriot court decided today that sessions for extradition will be held on 21 February, as documents submitted by Russia and approved by the Ministry of Justice of Cyprus have been submitted to the court, the AFP reports, the newspaperetro.net submits.
Moshe Harel, a travel agent, was arrested at Larnaca Airport on 28 December and will remain in custody until the 21 February trial session.
He is accused of searching for people who need kidney transplantation and the lure of donors from Turkey and the former Soviet Union republics to perform transplantation in Kosovo.
Along with Kosovo, the warrant had issued Russia.
Cypriot authorities activated the Russian request, which was issued last year for criminal acts committed in 2006.
State prosecutor Marina Spiliotopoulow told the court Monday that the lawyer's office had received documents needed by Russia for the launch of the extradition process.
Hareli allegedly ran a network of organ trafficking in Russia and Kosovo from 2006 to 2010.
It has been called for almost a decade for allegedly exploiting the victims, often recruited from poor areas in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, promising $18,000 for a kidney they would donate, mainly for Israeli citizens who paid $12,000 U.S. dollars.
The donor and kidney receiver then met in Kosovo, where surgery for organ transplants was conducted.
The trafficking network came to light in 2008 after a Turkish man went alivanos at Pristina Airport as a result of health problems when he was returning home, following his kidney donation.
In 2013, a European Union-led court in Kosovo sentenced five Kosovo doctors to eight years in prison for organ trafficking.
Donors, whose organs were illegally removed, remained without adequate medical care and were treated “as waste”, prosecutors said at the time.
But the Supreme Court of Kosovo annulled the court in 2016 and ordered a new trial, which is continuing.
The incident called Harel the ring leader, who was co-operating with Turkish doctor Yusuf Ercin Sonmez, who is called by Kosovo media as the Turkish “Frankenstein”, who is still on the run, suspected of performing transplants.
