Ukrainian Investigator Fired for Expanding Probe into Newborns Killed for Stem Cell, Organ Harvesting

By Gudrun Schultz
LifeSiteNews.com
Dec. 21, 2006

KIEV, Ukraine, December 20, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) - An investigator into Ukrainian allegations of newborn baby murders for stem cell and organ harvesting says she was fired from the case after calling for an inquiry into all maternity hospitals in the country.

Irina Bogomolova, from the chief prosecutor’s office in Kiev, said she believes she was removed in order to prevent the magnitude of the trade in babies’ body parts from being exposed, the Telegraph reported on Sunday.

"I was sacked for political reasons. I demanded an investigation into all maternity wings in hospitals across Ukraine and I was relieved of duty after making that demand,” Bogomolova said. "A trade in stem cells exists here... I suspect there is a lot of bribery going on, right up to highest levels.

The Council of Europe is to begin an investigation February in the Ukraine, into charges that newborn babies, and preterm babies, have been killed in hospitals to provide stem cells and internal organs for the black market trade in experimental medical and cosmetic procedures. An earlier inquiry in 2004 by the Council was dropped for lack of evidence.

Mothers came forward with claims that they gave birth to live infants who were then immediately taken away from them.

"Pregnant women, especially from rural areas, are very vulnerable targets as they will obviously believe whatever the doctors tell them,” said Bogomolova. “It's easy to take their babies from them and tell them they died or were born dead due to complications."

Increasing reports of the sale of unborn and newborn babies’ bodies for cosmetic and “health” treatments have been emerging from the Ukraine over the past few years.

The BBC recently obtained a video, released to the Council of Europe, showing the bodies of 30 newborns taken from a hospital burial site who appear to have been dismembered for organ and stem cell harvesting.

The video shows the exhumation proceedings of the bodies following a 2003 campaign to expose the deaths, led by the All-Ukrainian Federation of Families with Many Children. The organization claims at least 300 newborn babies have gone missing from hospitals under similar circumstances.