EU prosecutor adds charges in Kosovo organs case

(AP)—A European Union prosecutor has added charges to an indictment against 7 Kosovars suspected in an illegal kidney transplantation scheme.

The case is one of the most prominent of several organ trafficking scandals to hit the Balkans in recent years. The suspects, including a former senior Ministry of Health official, are alleged to have profited some $1 million from the scheme between 2008 and 2009.

Prosecutor Jonathan Ratel says in the indictment filed Friday and obtained by The Associated Press that suspects extracted kidneys from poor donors, including Turks and Russians, lured by financial promises. At least 48 kidney transplants allegedly took place, with recipients paying up to $100,000.

The expanded indictment adds grievous bodily harm, fraud, and falsification of documents on top of earlier charges that include human trafficking.

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