The Court of Prishtina has reopened the case against three persons accused of human organ trafficking.
The owner of the Medicus clinic Lutfi Dervishi, his son Arban Dervishi, and chief anesthesiologist Sokol Hajdini are accused of performing illegal kidney transplants since 2008.
The court previously decided to sentence Lutfi and Arban Dervishi both to 8 year imprisonment, while Hajdini received 5 years. The High Court, however, canceled the original verdict and sent the case back to a lower court.
Only Lutfi Dervishi and Hajdini were present in the courtroom; Arban Dervishi has escaped the country. His lawyer declared that he only wanted to show up in court if he could be tried while under house arrest. The court refused this request and decided to treat the case of Arban Dervishi separate from the other two accused. Chief judge Francesca Fischer declared:
It is important that no indicted person is allowed to negotiate with the court about such questions.
The current court case will proceed with only Lutfi Dervishi and Hajdini.
The Medicus clinic has also been mentioned in a Council of Europe report, which claims that members of the Kosovo Liberation Army have sold organs of prisoners of war during the war of 1999.
