Switzerland Imprisonment for sadistic pimps Judgment brought down in the case against human traffickers from Hungary

December 2, 2010

Newspaper	Neue Züricher Zeitung
Country	Switzerland
Type	daily
External link

Comment: The article describes a court case in Switzerland that was just finished, condemning the main defendant to 10 years in prison, the second one to 6 years, and two further accomplice for 2 years in prison for trafficking Hungarian women to Switzerland and exploiting them in Zurich’s sex market. All of them were fined to pay compensation for damages to the victims. Altogether 14 women testified in court, and while not all charges stood, the main offender was sentenced for human trafficking, promoting prostitution, rape, abortion, threats, coercion and assault. The traffickers also worked with a woman, who was both exploited by them and was controlling the other women – but she was acquitted in court.

This is not the first time we have reported on this case. Most proceedings were done over the Summer of 2010 – at which time it was publicized in Swissinfo. While this earlier article talks about some of the underlying causes of the increased trafficking between Hungary and Switzerland (open borders, sex work being legal in Zurich and the sheer profitability of this “business”), the current article describes the sentences and discusses why they were finally lighter than expected: some of the witness testimonies were not clear enough, could not be admitted in court or that some of the crimes did not take place in Switzerland but in Hungary. There is no mention in the article of some of the victims being minors, although other articles – on the same phenomenon – mention that many are under 18.

Unfortunately the article contributes to the stereotyping of Roma: it specifically mentions that the perpetrators of the case were Roma, and it juxtaposes this case with another, similar one, in which the perpetrator – it points out – is a Hungarian but not Roma man, without any explanation how their ethnic origin has anything to do with the case.

Comments: Judit Almasi Senior HR project coordinator, Terre des hommes – Child Relief