Fifteen people appeared in court in Beijing on Wednesday accused of being involved in the trade of human organs.

The defendants, including four surgeons, are accused of making 10.34 million yuan ($1.65 million) by selling 51 kidneys to uremia patients.

Another suspect, also a doctor, died while waiting to go to trial.

The organs were all removed between March and December 2010 in either Jiangsu province's Xuzhou city or Beijing.

It is not known how many of the defendants entered pleas at Haidian district people's court on Wednesday.

A defense lawyer quoted in some reports, said some of the Xuzhou doctors claimed they did know the procedures were for illegal trade.

The alleged mastermind behind the scheme, Zhang Wei, has been accused by his co-defendants of posing as a staff member at a large Beijing hospital to entrap surgeons.

He has previously admitted that he paid donors 25,000 yuan, although one of his buyers, surnamed Wang, said he paid 220,000 yuan for a kidney.

If found guilty, all fifteen accused face a minimum of five years in prison.