Two people have received lengthy prison terms for their roles in the trafficking of human organs.

Beijing's Haidian District People's Court handed down the sentences to Liu Qiangsheng, 26, from Sichuan Province, and Yang Shihai, 25, from Chongqing, on Wednesday.

The case was the first in the capital connected with the illegal sale of human organs but rulings in other human organ cases were also made later in the day.

Liu and Yang were both sentenced to four-year terms and each fined 100,000 yuan.

The court had heard that the two recruited organ donors from Henan Province and Beijing and charged a patient named Xie Weiju 150,000 yuan for a liver transplant.

Another two people found guilty in the case, Liu Ping, 25, and Liu Qiang, 26, both from Sichuan Province, were each jailed for two years and fined 50,000 yuan for recruiting and accommodating organ donors between April and May 2009.

"Human organ trafficking is a very special crime because, strictly speaking, there are no victims in the illegal operations," said Qiu Zhiying, a prosecutor with Haidian Procuratorate, during an interview with Beijing Times.

Police rounded up the group at the end of May 2009 following a tip from a donor surnamed Yang who sold 60 percent of his liver and received 25,000 yuan.

The group successfully participated in three transplants and earned more than 10,000 yuan from each transaction before its members were arrested by police. However, the local procuratorate did not file charges initially because those who received the organs denied the operations had taken place and medical evidence could not be collected.

According to their confessions, Liu Qiangsheng and Yang Shihai became involved in the illegal trade of human organs after they sold some of their own organs to pay for their parents' medical fees in 2008.

"I did it mainly for the money," Liu said in court in April. "After I sold my liver, I became very sick and could not earn money by laboring. That is why I started to work as an agent for human organ trafficking."

He claimed he never regretted selling his liver in 2008 because the 45,000 yuan he was paid covered his parents' medical fees.

The number of legal human organ donors only meets about 1 percent of demand in China and the imbalance between supply and demand has led to the emergence of the illegal human organ industry, according to Procuratorial Daily.

Hospitals have not been able to crack down on the illegal trafficking of human organs, even though donations of organs among relatives is strictly controlled and supervised by hospitals.

"Any one of the relatives involved in the organ transplantation can halt the transplant if the donation is not totally voluntary," said Li Zhouli, a director of the 309 Hospital of Chinese People's Liberation Army, in an interview with Beijing News.

"However, doctors cannot distinguish the authenticity of the identification and documents showing the relationship between a donor and a person receiving an organ."

Also on Wednesday in two separate cases, three other people were jailed in connection with human organ trafficking.

(China Daily September 16, 2010)