The prosecutor’s office of Georgia while spearheading its fight against human trafficking charged one accused. The accused committed the offence of human trafficking under aggravating circumstances against the four persons.
It is a well-known fact that human trafficking is one of the serious social problems in Georgia. Human trafficking means forcing people to do forced labour in faraway places.
The government has introduced various measures to curb the evil, but in many areas this problem still exists even in the 21st century. Georgian law provides mechanisms for the prevention of human trafficking which is a combination of measures like organizational, legal, research, educational, informational, and socio-economic study that aim to reduce, prevent, and suppress human trafficking.
The initial inquiry has been conducted in this regard. After the investigation by the Ministry of Internal Affairs it was determined that the owner of the farms in one of the regions of Georgia for the purpose of trafficking forced the four people to work for free on his farms for some time by deception, violence and coercion. Moreover the accused also forced them to perform work at any time of the day and night abused them verbally and physically and did not allow them to go home.
After some time somehow the victims were able to escape from the farm due to unbearable conditions but the accused sent them back with physical violence and threats and forced them to work again under forced circumstances. Three victims later managed to escape from the farm area again but one person was exploited by the accused until April 4.
The detainee has been charged under Article 143 Prima Article 2 “b” and “c” of the Criminal Code of Georgia. He has also been charged under subsections “b” and “d” of part 3 (trafficking committed against more than two persons in aggravating circumstances). If the accused is proven guilty after trial there is a provision of 14 to 17 years as a punishment. Meanwhile based on the petition of the prosecutor’s office the accused has been imprisoned as a preventive measure.
