Embattled Senator Ike Ekweremadu will go on trial in the United Kingdom in January for alleged organ harvesting, a judge has said.
Ekweremadu, 60, is accused with his wife, Beatrice, 56, their daughter, Sonia, 25, and a doctor of bringing a man from Nigeria to have a kidney removed.
The 21-year-old man raised the alarm after refusing to consent to the operation following preliminary tests at the Royal Free Hospital in London.
The BBC reported that the Ekweremadu family allegedly treated the man like a slave before he ran away and went to Staines police station in Surrey.
Ekweremadu is a senator for the opposition Peoples Democratic Party for Enugu State in southeast Nigeria.
The family and the doctor, Obina Obeta, 50, are accused of conspiracy to arrange the travel of another person with a view of exploitation.
The alleged offence is believed to have taken place between August 1 last year and May 5 this year.
No pleas were entered when the defendants appeared at London’s Central Criminal Court on Monday.
Ekweremadu and Obeta were remanded into custody while Beatrice and Sonia were released on conditional bail.
Judge Mark Lucraft set another hearing date for December 16 and brought forward the defendants’ trial from May to January 31.
