Nicknamed "Dr. Frankenstein", Yusuf Sonmez, Turkish doctor wanted for his alleged involvement in organ trafficking in Kosovo, was arrested in Istanbul, confirmed Wednesday, January 12 Police Mission and Justice of the European Union (EULEX ) in Pristina. "The arrest took place under an international arrest warrant issued by the District Court of Pristina and in connection with the case Medicus," said Kristiina Herodes, spokeswoman for EULEX in Pristina, adding that EULEX prosecutors working on the issue in close cooperation with Turkish authorities.Yusuf Sönmez Erçin, on the run for several years, was arrested Tuesday night by police in a villa on the Asian side of Istanbul. The surgeon should appear Wednesday before a city court. He is accused of trafficking in illegal organ transplants and in Kosovo and Azerbaijan, said the Turkish daily Milliyet.
His lawyer, Huseyin Sevim, quoted by Turkish newspapers, said his client was being questioned "because of allegations made in Kosovo." EULEX Kosovo will decide within a fortnight on the possible indictment of seven people suspected of involvement in a network of trafficking in human organs.
An international panel, chaired by the German judge Klaus Jung, ended in early January the preliminary hearings on the case of clinical Medicus, Pristina, who practiced the transfer of organs. The hotel was closed in 2008 after an investigation lasting several months. According to the indictment, donors were recruited from disadvantaged areas of Eastern Europe and Central Asia and they have pledged about 15 000 euro for a kidney, while recipients paid up to 100 sometimes 000.
The Turkish surgeon is a repeat offender: he was arrested several times in Turkey for illegal kidney transplants and questionable practices, but escaped prison in 2005, taking advantage of an amnesty came into force the same year. He was sentenced in absentia to eight years in prison in 2008, according to the Turkish press.
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