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Cambodia delivers first verdict on human organ trafficking

Xinhua, March 27, 2015 Adjust font size:

The Phnom Penh Municipal Court on Friday convicted three Cambodians of kidney trafficking and sentenced them between 10 and 15 years in jail, the first time the country delivered a verdict on human organ trafficking.

According to the verdict read by Presiding Judge Keo Mony, Yem Asisal, 29, was sentenced to 15 years in jail, as her two male accomplices -- Yem Phalla, 49, and Pheng Sabay, 22 -- were sentenced to 10 years in jail each.

They are ordered to provide compensation of 7,000 U.S. dollars to each of two victims.

"They were found guilty of people trafficking for the purpose of organ removal," said the verdict, which was issued before Yem Asisal, as her two accomplices are on the run.

Police arrested Yem Asisal in July in suspicion of trafficking at least five Cambodians to get their kidneys in Thailand.

The three convicts cajoled those victims into selling their kidneys and sent them to Thai hospitals for kidney removal surgeries, according to the police. They also forged documents for the victims to present to hospitals where the surgeries were performed. Endi