Finland's first sex trafficking convictions
Posted: Tue Jul 25, 2006 11:01 amEight sentenced in Finland's first sex trafficking trial
Web posted at: 7/21/2006 11:49:56
Source ; The Peninsula Online, Qatar's leading English paper
A Helsinki court yesterday sentenced six Estonians and two Finns to up to five years in prison for trafficking women for prostitution, the first such case to go to trial in Finland, Finnish news agency STT reported. Seven of the accused, six men and a woman, were found guilty of smuggling 15 Estonian women into Finland, including one who is believed to be mentally ill, and forcing them into prostitution.
The eighth person, an Estonian man, was sentenced to a year in prison for pimping. According to the prosecution, the victims were forced to sell their bodies in Helsinki and other Finnish cities between the autumn of 2005 and February 2006, receiving up to 20 clients a day in apartments or hotel rooms.
The traffickers made up to 100,000 euros (126,000 dollars), one-third of which went to the prostitutes.
According to estimates, there are between 8,000 and 15,000 prostitutes in Finland, primarily from Russia and the Baltic states, one-third of whom are believed to be victims of trafficking or pimping.
Last month the Finnish parliament voted to criminalize the purchase of sexual services from a prostitute who is a victim of human trafficking or of pimping. The crime now carries a maximum penalty of six months in prison.
Web posted at: 7/21/2006 11:49:56
Source ; The Peninsula Online, Qatar's leading English paper
A Helsinki court yesterday sentenced six Estonians and two Finns to up to five years in prison for trafficking women for prostitution, the first such case to go to trial in Finland, Finnish news agency STT reported. Seven of the accused, six men and a woman, were found guilty of smuggling 15 Estonian women into Finland, including one who is believed to be mentally ill, and forcing them into prostitution.
The eighth person, an Estonian man, was sentenced to a year in prison for pimping. According to the prosecution, the victims were forced to sell their bodies in Helsinki and other Finnish cities between the autumn of 2005 and February 2006, receiving up to 20 clients a day in apartments or hotel rooms.
The traffickers made up to 100,000 euros (126,000 dollars), one-third of which went to the prostitutes.
According to estimates, there are between 8,000 and 15,000 prostitutes in Finland, primarily from Russia and the Baltic states, one-third of whom are believed to be victims of trafficking or pimping.
Last month the Finnish parliament voted to criminalize the purchase of sexual services from a prostitute who is a victim of human trafficking or of pimping. The crime now carries a maximum penalty of six months in prison.