Organ Trafficking in Romania

From Jurnalul National Wed. Dec. 28, 2005.

Organ Trafficking in Romania

Our newspaper has demonstrated with proofs, that the trafficking of human organs is taking place in our country. However, the authorities are camouflaging this phenomenon by erecting a wall of silence. The truth is that this organ trafficking is being directed from the shadows by the "white coats" in the clinics and hospitals in Romania.

Investigations by our newspaper brought to light the story of a young man who donated his kidney for money to the Institute for Kidney Transplants in Cluj. In order to receive all his money, Iulian Iacov was blackmailed into finding other donors. The level of influence excersized in this and other cases, rose as high as the former Romanian ambassador to the Vatican, Iuliu Gheorghiu. Under the shield of his friendship with this clinic, he tried to offer several thousand dollars to Iulian Iacov in order to buy his silence. But it was too late. Iulian Iacov had confessed to the court and unmasked to the prosecutors who whole mechanism of organ donations in Cluj.

Only in Romania would this kind of case be virtually ignored by the authorities. Investigations into organ trafficking have entered the Twilight Zone. Dora Molnar, chief prosecutor, has not found even after three months, any reason to conduct a hearing involving these personalities from the clinic. We called this to the attention of the Prosecutor General of Romania, Ilie Botos, who refused to take the case because "his office is preoccupied with unmasking big corruption cases in Romania". The dust has settled on these files and no one is guilty, because in Romania organ trafficking exists.