A protected witness took the stand Wednesday in the trial of seven people accused of organ trafficking, seen as a major test for the EU mission mandated to enforce the rule of law in Kosovo.

The witness from Belarus, identified only with initials A.K., had been one of the victims in the so-called Medicus case, named after the Pristina clinic where the alleged crimes took place.

"He testified how he had come (to Pristina) from Istanbul and how his kidney had been removed," defence lawyer Fazli Balaj told reporters after the court's session.

Balaj quoted the witness as saying that he had received only a part "of the money he was promised."

The second day of the trial was closed to the public and the media, with even some 20 relatives of the seven defendants, who gathered at the court entrance heavily guarded by police, refused entry.

"The Medicus case is one of the most important cases that the (European Union rule of law mission) EULEX has dealt with," the EU mission's spokesman Blerim Krasniqi said.

The defendants are charged with human trafficking, organised crime, unlawful exercise of medical activity and abuse of official position or authority, he added.

The seven suspects, six of whom are doctors, went on trial on Tuesday before a panel of judges composed of two European magistrates and one local judge. All seven have pleaded not guilty.

Recruits
According to the indictment, the victims of organ trafficking were recruited from poor Eastern European and Central Asian countries.

They were promised about 15,000 euros ($19,440) for their organs, while recipients would pay up to 100,000 euros each.

The most prominent defendants, who according to the indictment formed "an organised criminal group", are Kosovo's former health secretary Ilir Rrecaj and Lutfi Dervishi, a prominent urologist.

Rrecaj is accused of having issued a licence for the Medicus clinic even though Kosovo law forbids organ transplants. Dervishi is alleged to have set up the whole organ transplant network.

Other suspects in the Medicus case include Turkish doctor Yusuf Sonmez, said to have performed organ removal surgeries, and Moshe Harel, an Israeli accused of having matched donors with recipients.

Last month in Istanbul, Turkish public prosecutors indicted Sonmez and Harel over the case and requested a 171-year prison sentence for each.

The Medicus clinic was raided and closed by police in 2008 after a probe was launched when a young Turkish man collapsed at Pristina airport after donating a kidney to an Israeli man.

This trial is not directly related to allegations of organ trafficking made in a Council of Europe report against Kosovo prime minister Hashim Thaci and other senior commanders of the ethnic Albanian guerrillas during and after the 1998-1999 war with Serbia.

But EULEX has also opened a probe into that report and recently appointed US prosecutor John Clint Williamson to run the investigation.

In Albania, Xavier de Marnhac, head of the European Union mission in Kosovo (EULEX), said an EU-appointed prosecutor will soon visit Albania, without identifying Williamson.

"It is in the interest of all the region that this investigation comes to a clear conclusion and is able to provide an end to that story," said De Marnhac after his meeting with Albania's Foreign Minister Edmond Haxhinasto.

False allegations
Haxhinasto said Albania was "interested in a deep and conclusive investigation," adding that Tirana was "sure that it will prove the falsity of allegations and we want that such a chapter is closed once and for all."

In Kosovo, local observers noted EULEX's persistence in getting to the heart of the Medicus case.

"So far EULEX has demonstrated it is extremely serious in treating all the details of the case," journalist and legal specialist Vehbi Kajtazi said.

"This case is considered as the one of the biggest cases linked to international illegal trafficking in which Kosovo is involved," he added.

The 3,000-member EULEX mission was launched as the biggest European civil operation ever just months after Kosovo declared independence from Serbia.

It is mandated to enforce the rule of law and supervise Kosovo's police, customs and judiciary.

EU judges and prosecutors have the power to step in and take on cases that the local judiciary is unable to handle because they are too sensitive.

(Source:AFP)