GfbV calls for punishment of those responsible

Those responsible for the harvesting of organs of executed persons in China must at last be punished. This is the demand made by the Society for Threatened Peoples (GfbV) following a statement in the government daily newspaper „China Daily” admitting for the first time that 65 percent of all transplanted organs in the People’s Republic come from executed prisoners. The Deputy Minister of Health, Huang Jiefu, admitted in yesterday’s edition (Tuesday, 25.08.2009) that executed prisoners are „definitely not the right source for organ transplants”.

„The desecration of corpses is not a trifling offence, but a scandalous violation of basic rights”, said the GfbV Asia consultant, Ulrich Delius on Wednesday in Göttingen. There are many indications to show that not only the corpses of executed prisoners are systematically misused for the organ trade, but that prisoners are killed specially „on demand” to get hold of vital parts like heart, kidneys or liver.

For years the GfbV has been accusing the Chinese authorities and medical personnel of the theft of organs. With reference to a gruesome report from Manfred Nowak, the UN rapporteur for torture, the GfbV pointed out many times in the Olympia year 2008 that probably thousands of supporters of the meditation movement Falun Gong have been murdered for organ harvesting. In an enquiry many Chinese hospitals which regularly deal with organ transplants have assured patients from abroad that one could order any organ needed at an agreed time. Many foreign patients have even admitted in interviews that they were aware that their new organs came from executed prisoners.

For years China’s authorities have defamed critics who accused government of murder for organ harvesting and of desecration of corpses, reported Delius. The reports of the systematic misuse of corpses of executed persons have been described as „a pack of lies” and all responsibility on the part of government offices has been denied. These have repudiated complaints of the relatives of executed persons that the handing over of the bodies have been refused.

At least 3250 supporters of the Falun Gong meditation movement, which has been forbidden in China for ten years, have since 1999 died in the custody of the security offices. Many thousand Falun Gong practitioners have been arrested and more than 100,000 have been sent to work camps. China regulated organ harvesting in the year 2007 with a law and forbidden any misuse. In spite of this however cases of illegal organ harvesting from hospitals keep coming to light.