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Man killed beggar for his organs
24/07/2007 09:18 - (SA)
Beijing - A man in northern China has been sentenced to death for killing a homeless, mentally ill beggar and selling his organs to a group of doctors, state media said on Tuesday.
After seeing internet reports that hospitals had a shortage of organs, Wang Chaoyang abducted the beggar last November in the town of Longzhou in Hebei province, the Beijing Times reported, quoting local police.
Wang then contacted several doctors in the area, promising to sell them fresh organs from "a prisoner sentenced to death by a local court".
Wang then administered a lethal injection to kill the beggar, identified as Tong Gefei, just before the doctors were to arrive to pick up the organs.
However, as an unnamed doctor was removing Tong's organs, he suddenly reached out a hand, grabbing the doctor's arm before dying, the paper said.
The doctors nevertheless proceeded with removing Tong's kidneys, liver, spleen and stomach, paying Wang 15 000 yuan (R13 500) for them.
Police arrested Wang the next day and charged him with murder.
Organ harvesting not illegal at time
The doctors involved, however, will not be prosecuted because organ harvesting was not illegal at the time, it said, while one doctor has offered Tong's relatives 65 000 yuan in compensation, the paper reported.
China formally banned trading in human organs earlier this year amid allegations from international human rights groups that a black market for organs harvested from executed prisoners without consent was thriving.
Hospitals have also been regularly accused of secretly taking organs from road accident victims and other dead patients without telling family members.
Tong's relatives said he had exhibited signs of mental illness since adolescence and suffered a breakdown after his parents died in 2002, leaving the family home to beg on the streets.
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