Non-profit executive sentenced for brokering overseas organ transplants: trial brings widespread attention to illegal and forced organ harvesting.
In a landmark ruling, a Japanese court has convicted a non-profit executive of facilitating illegal overseas organ transplants for Japanese citizens.
On Nov. 28, the Tokyo District Court sentenced 63-year-old Hiromichi Kikuchi, chairman of the Association for Patients of Intractable Diseases, a non-profit organization. Kikuchi received an eight-month prison term and a fine of 1 million yen (around $6,800) for arranging organ transplants abroad for two Japanese citizens without government approval. His organization, which has been working with transplant patients for over fifteen years, is now under scrutiny.
The case, the first of its kind in Japan, has prompted widespread media coverage and heightened concerns over illegal organ transplants.
Mr. Kikuchi’s conviction shows Japan’s efforts to crack down on organ trafficking and forced organ harvesting. The transplants that led to his arrest took place in Belarus in 2022. However, the case has drawn attention to the grim reality of forced organ harvesting in China, as Mr. Kikuchi admitted that the vast majority of the transplants he has orchestrated since 2007 involved organs from China.
This verdict has sparked intense public debate in Japan, where organ harvesting is already a hotly contested topic because of widespread ethical reservations about the source of organs for transplant.
Forced Organ Harvesting
For years, investigations and reports have highlighted the practice of forced organ harvesting in China’s major hospitals, with substantial evidence supporting the claims.
On June 25, 2022, The Epoch Times Japanese edition published an exclusive interview with Ushio Sugawara, a former member of Japan’s largest “Yakuza” crime syndicate, Yamaguchi-gumi.
Mr. Sugawara, who left the underworld in 2015 to become an economic commentator, recalled an incident from 2007. At that time, he was involved in a liver transplant for a friend’s brother, arranged through an intermediary, and costing about $220,000. The liver transplant took place at Beijing’s Armed Police General Hospital.
After arriving in China, Mr. Sugawara visited his friend’s brother at the hospital the day before the scheduled surgery.
By Bin Zhao and Sean Tseng
