The Office of the Prosecutor against Organized Crime (FACDO) called 25 witnesses in the trial against four doctors and a business owner linked to an organization for the illicit extraction of organs for international traffic.
The case dates back to 2013, when the Judicial Investigation Agency (OIJ) and the Public Ministry unveiled the case that had its core in officials of the Costa Rican Social Security Fund (CCSS).
The press office of the Public Prosecutor’s Office confirmed that the trial is scheduled to begin on September 11th and will last more than three months.
The accused include doctors named Mora Palma (former chief of nephrology at Calderón Guardia Hospital), Mauro Stamati , Fonseca Guzmán and Monge Monge. In addition, a Greek business owner named Katsigiannis Karkasi is algo being prosecuted.
The case, brought to trial in early 2016, is based against an alleged organization that contacted poor people to offer them money in exchange for organs, mainly kidneys.
Fourteen victims were identified. They received payments of three to 10 million colones for offering their organs for Israeli citizens, who paid up to 80 million colones for transplants and organs received in private medical centers.