-Caveat Lector-
Monday March 15 4:44 PM ET
Judge Dismisses Human Organs Case
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The absence of a key witness caused a federal
judge Monday to throw out an indictment of two men accused of
trafficking in human organs taken from executed Chinese prisoners.
The trial of Chen Yong Wang and Xing Qi Fu had originally been set for
Feb. 1, but was delayed when it was determined that an informant in
the case had left the United States and was refusing to testify.
U.S. District Judge Deborah Batts ruled Monday that defense attorneys
had shown it would violate their clients' constitutional rights to
proceed to trial without being allowed to question the witness.
Batts also criticized federal prosecutors for failing to investigate
the informant's credibility or reliability.
``The government believes that its investigation and prosecution of
this case was responsible and well-founded,'' said Herbert Haddad, a
spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's office in Manhattan. He said
prosecutors disagreed with the judge's ruling and are assessing their
options.
Defense lawyers had argued that records obtained from the government
showed that the informant had instigated the scheme and entrapped Chen
and Xing.
The defendants were indicted last year for allegedly conspiring to
acquire organs from executed Chinese prisoners to be used in
transplant operations. At the time, federal officials said the case
could provide the first evidence to support dissidents' descriptions
of the trafficking in human organs in China.
The charges grew out of an FBI sting operation based on information
from human rights advocate Harry Wu, who spent 19 years in Chinese
labor camps for criticizing the Chinese leadership.
According to court papers, Chen, who lives in the New York City
borough of Queens, worked previously as a public prosecutor in China.
Xing is a Chinese citizen also living in Queens.
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