Communist Party Halts Kidney Trafficking Trial
By Gu Qing’er
October 30, 2012
The Epoch Times
The trial for the largest organ trafficking case in China was canceled recently, on the same day that it was announced that Bo Xilai, the disgraced official, would be stripped of his position in the Communist Party’s legislature, the National People’s Congress.
The Legal Evening News reported that the 15 defendants who are suspected of involvement in the organized sale of human organs have been arraigned in the Haidian Court for trial.
At 9:30 a.m. on Oct. 26, the defendants’ families and their attorney arrived for the 10:00 a.m. hearing.
At 10:50 a.m., the defendants’ attorney was told that the trial had been canceled because one of the defendants was sick and needed treatment.
The Chinese Caijing Magazine published an article on Sept. 10 titled “Behind the Illegal Kidney Trafficking: Organs Harvested by Sanjia Hospital.” It disclosed that Zheng Wei was the kidney broker and instigator of the crime.
The case involved the illegal removal of 51 kidneys, which were sold and transplanted into patients, netting a profit of 10.3 million yuan ($1.6 million). The 15 defendants, ranging in age from 20 to 56, include organ traffickers, doctors, and the vice president of the Tongshan Second People’s Hospital in Xuzhou City, Jiangsu Province.
Zheng Wei reportedly rented a villa, attached medical facilities, and oversaw the removal of up to six kidneys per day. Chinese media said that officials and criminals conspired to create the kidney trafficking network.
Chinese media reports indicated that Zheng Wei harvested the organs of death row prisoners who had not actually given permission to have their organs removed.
Using forged permission documents, prisoners’ organs were illegally harvested at the makeshift facility and subsequently accepted by Sanjia Hospital doctors, who transplanted the organs into recipients.
The fact that the trial was canceled with little explanation on the same day that the announcement about Bo Xilai was made, caused some analysts to suspect that the decision to cancel the trial was linked to Bo’s case.
After Wang Lijun, Bo’s former associate, fled to the U. S. consulate in February, the atrocity of forced organ harvesting in China has taken on a higher profile. Sources have told The Epoch Times that Wang Lijun provided the U.S. government with documentation about the persecution of Falun Gong, and Communist Party involvement in organ harvesting from Falun Gong practitioners.
Editor’s Note: When Chongqing’s former top cop, Wang Lijun, fled for his life to the U.S. Consulate in Chengdu on Feb. 6, he set in motion a political storm that has not subsided. The battle behind the scenes turns on what stance officials take toward the persecution of Falun Gong. The faction with bloody hands—the officials former CCP head Jiang Zemin promoted in order to carry out the persecution—is seeking to avoid accountability for their crimes and to continue the campaign. Other officials are refusing to participate in the persecution any longer. Events present a clear choice to the officials and citizens of China, as well as people around the world: either support or oppose the persecution of Falun Gong. History will record the choice each person makes.