In Bukovina, four bureau employees were detained for trading in tissues from the deceased
Anatomical materials were sold to manufacturers of bioimplants, and the documents and cargo were sent by rail
In the Chernivtsi region, law enforcement uncovered a scheme for the illegal trade in anatomical materials from deceased people. According to the investigation, it was organized by officials of the regional pathoanatomical bureau. Currently four employees of the institution have been detained.
This was reported by the Telegram channel of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine, Ruslan Kravchenko.
The investigation found that participants in the scheme prepared fake documents, manipulated relatives of the deceased, and removed tissues for sale to companies that manufacture bioimplants for surgery and dentistry. These included skin, bones, tendons, corneas and other anatomical materials.
The bureau did not have a license for transplant activities. To conceal the illegal operations, they were documented as agreements on “scientific-medical cooperation.”
In some cases, materials were removed even without the relatives’ consent. Instead, they were offered free embalming or storage of the body.
Documents and biomaterials were delivered to recipients by rail in containers with a refrigerant. Law enforcement recorded the dispatch of ten boxes with tissues and corneas by train on the Chernivtsi — Odesa route.
Financial transactions were carried out using official records. At the same time, “shadow cash” was distributed monthly among the scheme participants.
Four detainees were notified of suspicion under part 5 of article 143 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine — illegal trade in human anatomical materials committed by a group of persons.
Searches were conducted in the bureau’s premises, at the residences of the suspects and in their cars.
“A human body is not a commodity, and a family‘s grief is not an opportunity for profit,” law enforcement emphasized.
The pre-trial investigation is ongoing.
Recall that in the high-profile case of Mykolaiv’s black transplantologists, one doctor will be punished.
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