The investigation carried out by Russian investigators on illegal trade in human organs in the Medicus clinic in Kosovo, in which certain leaders of the former Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) took part, could have serious political consequences, a journalist and editor of the Moscow-based newspaper Kommersant, Elena Chernenko, said.

This is a process which could cause serious political consequences. If allegations by the Russian prosecutor's office were proved, then it would be clear that the territory of Kosovo had a human organs market, which has not been revealed so far for unknown reasons, and was covered by the political leaders of the unilaterally proclaimed state of Kosovo, she told Monday's edition of the Belgrade daily Blic.

The evidence material includes a testimony of two Russians, who were victims of the illegal organ trafficking, and whose left kindey was removed, and the process is monitored by the Russian Foreign Ministry, which will submit the case to EULEX after the investigation is completed.

According to information we have, the Russian victims described in detail how their kidneys were taken out, who they talked to and who they asked for help after that. The investigation proved that the same group of people operated on the whole territory of Kosovo, by order and under the protection of people from the former KLA, Chernenko told Blic.

The suspects in the Russian investigation include several former workers of the clinic Medicum, Albanian citizens, a doctor from Turkey and an Israeli, as well as Ilir Recaj, the former high official of Kosovo's Ministry of Health.

According to the investigation, the suspects deceived Serbs, Turks, Moldavians, Kazakhs, Byelorussians and Russians, offering them a large sum of money for their kidneys, i.e. around EUR 15,000 for one organ.

The victims did not get the money, although the clinic sold the organs for EUR 80,000 to 100,000 on the black market, the daily reminded.

Besides Medicus clinic, the Russian investigation also includes a Turkish doctor, Yusuf Sonmez, called Dr Frankenstein, who was sentenced to two months in prison in Turkey.