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The Tribunal for Putin (T4P) global initiative was set up in response to the all-out war launched by Russia against Ukraine in February 2022.

Long sentences for human trafficking crimes in the Crimea

23.10.2007   

The Simferopol District Court has sentenced two people from the Crimea to 8 years and 5 years imprisonment for taking Ukrainian women to Russia to be “sold” into sex bondage.

The court found one of the men, a Ukrainian national who organized the human trafficking channel guilty of crimes under Article 149 § 3 and 302 § 2 of the Criminal Code* and issued an 8-year sentence.

His accomplice, a Crimean, who recruited women for sex exploitation in Russia, was sentenced to 5 years.

According to a representative of the Central Department of SBU [the Security Service] in the Crimea, the gang contained both Ukrainian and Russian nationals. Its organizer was a 42-year old Crimean who went to Moscow for work in 2000. “The potential victims were promised work as housemaids or cleans in cottages [more like country houses – translator] in the Moscow region. After arriving in Russia, however, the young women were forced to provide sexual services.”

Thus far, they have identified 30 people, including those underage, from CIS countries (10 from Ukraine) who were victims of this gang.

The investigation was initiated by the Prosecutor on the basis of material provided by a special unit on fighting corruption and organized crime of the Central Department of SBU for the Crimea.

 

*  Article 149 covers the crime of trafficking in human beings and other illegal transfer deals in respect of a human being, including being taken across the border for the purpose of sexual exploitation.  Paragraph 3 involves the same crime, but where involving an organized gang and / or underage victims. 

In this case, both were involved, and while the sentence is substantial, it is nonetheless still the smallest sentence under paragraph 3 (eight to fifteen years with the forfeiture of property).  Article 302 involves running a brothel or pimping  (although it is possible that this is a mistake, and the actual article was 303, drawing a person into prostitution). 

 

Based on information posted at:  http://human-rights.unian.net/ukr/detail/185975

 

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