A 35-year-old woman wanted in Kazakhstan for selling harvested kidneys has been arrested.
Polish authorities have arrested a 35-year-old Ukrainian woman, Ksenia P., who was convicted in Kazakhstan for organ trafficking.
According to the district prosecutor’s office in Przemysl, Ksenia P. was found guilty of illegally harvesting human tissues, specifically kidneys, from 56 individuals across several post-Soviet countries and Thailand.
Marta Petkowska, a spokeswoman for the prosecutor’s office, stated at a press conference on Tuesday that Ksenia P. was arrested after crossing the border from Ukraine by train last week, based on an Interpol red notice.
Ksenia P. was placed on the international wanted list in November 2020. Kazakhstan seeks her extradition to serve a 12-year prison sentence for crimes committed between 2017 and 2019.
Moscow has alleged that human organ trafficking is a profitable illegal activity in present-day Ukraine, facilitated by government corruption, a large pool of potential victims, and demand from unethical buyers in EU nations.
Russia alleges that the Ukrainian government has enabled this illicit trade by loosening regulations concerning transplant surgeries and organ harvesting, including donor consent requirements.
In June 2024, Ukrainian media reported that a former deputy health minister was being investigated for allegedly conspiring to harvest human organs in a Kiev hospital.
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