Editor's Note: Details added after second paragraph
Azerbaijan, Baku, Nov. 24 / Trend K.Zarbaliyeva /
The Azerbaijani Prosecutor General's Office and the Interior Ministry published the results of an investigation into the illegal transplantation of human organs today.
According to the report, Azerbaijan conducted the investigation after Ukrainian law enforcement agencies sent an appeal to Baku. The appeal stated that a group of Ukrainian citizens organized illegal kidney transplants at the Azerbaijan International University's Medical Center in 2009. The appeal stated that the kidney were taken from foreign citizens and transplanted by Ukrainian doctors.
Together with Ukrainian law enforcement agencies, the Azerbaijani Prosecutor General's Office and the Interior Ministry launched operational and investigative activities into the criminal case filed by the Ukrainian Interior Ministry.
The activities revealed that the Medical Center's management violated Azerbaijani law on human organ and tissue transplants. The investigation revealed that the individuals invited donors from Ukraine to Azerbaijan without having the proper licenses to transplant organs. They then carried out operations to transplant kidneys to foreign nationals. Ten such operations were carried out. The individuals received large funds for each operation.
The investigation was executed upon a court order. Donor and recipient medical records were seized. The investigation also revealed that the Azerbaijani Health Ministry had issued a license to the Medical Center to provide outpatient and inpatient medical services. However, the license did not include human organ or tissue transplants or operations. The ministry later suspended the license due to the Medical Center's gross violation of its terms.
The ministry has not revealed any documented evidence of illegal operations being carried out in other private or public medical institutions in Azerbaijan.
The Prosecutor General's Office filed a criminal case into the illegal transplants Article 308.2 (Abuse of Power) of the Azerbaijani Criminal Code.
An operational and investigative group consisting of members of the Prosecutor General's Office and the Interior Ministry was established to further investigate the incident. The preliminary investigation was entrusted to the Prosecutor General's Office's Heinous Crimes Investigation Department.
At the moment, operational and investigative measures are being taken to investigate the case, including the prosecution of individuals involved in the crime.