NPO Head Pleads Not Guilty Over Belarus Organ Transplants

The Yomiuri Shimbun

11:33 JST, June 30, 2023

The director of a Tokyo-based nonprofit organization, who has been indicted for arranging organ transplants in Belarus for Japanese patients in violation of the Organ Transplant Law, pleaded not guilty during the first court hearing at the Tokyo District Court on Friday.

During the hearing, Hiromichi Kikuchi, director of the Intractable Disease Patient Support Association, said, “I’ve saved close to 100 lives, but I’ve never arranged [organ transplants].”

Kikuchi’s lawyer argued that his client’s activities did not constitute “arrangements,” and emphasized that the law had not been violated.