The State Prosecutor's Office of North Macedonia announced today that it has opened a case regarding media reports about documents from the Jeffrey Epstein case that claim that brain samples from people from North Macedonia were allegedly transported to the United States for scientific research purposes.
The prosecution says it has formed the case to examine all indications of the possible existence of elements of a criminal offense prosecuted ex officio, "taking into account the nature of media allegations relating to the processing, freezing and international transport of human tissue, as well as possible questions about compliance with legal and ethical standards for experiments with human tissue and samples."
The case has been submitted to the Prosecutor's Office for Organized Crime and Corruption, which is to take measures to collect official information from competent authorities, institutions and health institutions in order to determine possible illegal handling of human tissue and biomaterial, omissions or abuses in obtaining permits and consents.
North Macedonia's Health Minister Azir Aliu has requested that data on sending brain parts to the American University of Columbia for scientific research be analyzed.
He announced that a working group would analyze whether protocols were followed and emphasized that the Ministry of Health was not responsible for the investigation, since it was a research project that began in 1996.
"I don't think we should rush with information about the type of possible abuse, because personally, if you ask me, as a person, not as a minister and as a Ministry, I assess that there is a very small possibility of abuse in this case, because it is a research project of two countries - the other is the USA, which has very clearly defined protocols for biological material," said Aliu.
The former director of the Institute of Forensic Medicine in Skopje said on Monday, February 2, that 10 to 15 human brains, mostly suicides, were shipped to the US annually as part of research conducted at Columbia University on suicide and schizophrenia.
Duma emphasized that it was "scientific research work, conducted according to all international standards, through official channels and with respected procedures for the transport of brains of deceased persons from Macedonia to the USA" and that everything was done with the permission of the families and with the approval of the ethics committee.
According to the latest documents released by the US Department of Justice from the investigation into the late financier and sex offender and pimp Brian Epstein, a Macedonian professor at Columbia University mediated the procurement of brains from Macedonia for experiments at several American universities.
The documents, as reported by the media in North Macedonia, state that there were around 1.000 brains, including the brains of people who committed suicide.
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