Beijing: A surgeon and six other people were Thursday sent to prison in central China for their involvement in a case where a 17-year-old high school student sold his kidney for an iPhone and an iPad, Xinhua reported.
Seven of the nine defendants were sentenced for intentional injury and two others, though guilty, were exempted from criminal punishment for their minor roles in the crime, said the verdict by the court in Chenzhou city of central China's Hunan province.
He Wei, who organised the illegal kidney trade in April 2011, was sentenced to five years' imprisonment.
Song Zhongyu, the surgeon who conducted the transplant, was sentenced to three years with a reprieve of five years.
The other five were given jail terms ranging from one to four years.
The student named Wang, from Anhui province, agreed to sell one of his kidneys after the teenager met the gang through an online chatroom.
His kidney was transplanted to someone in Chenzhou in April 2011.
Wang was given 22,000 yuan (around $3,500) and he bought an iPhone and an iPad with the money.
He later confessed to his mother when suffering from renal failure after the surgery.
IANS
First Published: Thursday, November 29, 2012, 23:03