“Kiev police freed 120 people from labor slavery”, - Ivan Vyhivsky
During a large-scale special operation, law enforcement officers exposed a criminal group that organized in the Dnipropetrovsk region an illegal scheme of human trafficking for the purpose of labor exploitation. According to the results of 18 searches, physical evidence of their criminal activities was recovered in the premises and in the cars of the defendants. For a crime committed, offenders face up to twelve years in prison.
During the investigation of criminal proceedings initiated under Part 2 of Art. 149 (Trafficking in Human Beings) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, employees of the Migration Police Department of the Capital Head together with the investigators of the Darnytsky Police Department, special officers of the regiment No. 1 and under the procedural guidance of the Darnytsky District Prosecutor's Office exposed and detained persons organized in the territory of Kyiv and Dnipro Trafficking in human beings in the region.
Kyiv police chief Ivan Vyhivsky said that the defendants allegedly offered citizens official employment at an agro-industrial enterprise in the Dnipropetrovsk region:
“The victims were searched at the railway stations of the cities of Kiev, Dnipro and Odessa. To potential employees, “employers” promised housing, food and wages from 3000 to 4000 thousand hryvnias per month. The recruited offenders were delivered in minibuses and resettled in dilapidated houses, where there were no adequate living conditions. Workers were forced to work 12 to 16 hours in production and storage facilities and in the fields during the harvest season. Citizens received food from spoiled products, and the promised money was not paid to them at all.”
In the case of an attempt by the victims to leave the premises of the enterprise voluntarily, the attackers threatened them with the use of physical force.
“We conducted 18 searches of the residence addresses and cars of the defendants, during which money, bank cards, mobile phones, laptops, passports and drafts were seized. From labor “slavery” the police freed 120 people. The offenders were detained in accordance with Article 208 of the Criminal Procedure Code of Ukraine. These are four men and a woman, natives of Dnipropetrovsk region, 1975, 1988, 1986, 1992 and 1961 years of birth. Under the procedural guidance of the Darnytsky District Prosecutor's Office, the violators were notified of suspicion and a petition for the selection of preventive measures in the form of detention was sent to the court. They face up to twelve years in prison with or without confiscation of property,” the police general added.
Thanks to the coordinated cooperation of the Department of Migration Police of the capital, the Department for the Protection of Children's Rights and ensuring equality standards of the National Social Service of Ukraine and the International Public Organization for Assistance to Victims of Trafficking in Persons, the victims are placed in a shelter, where they are currently being provided with the necessary assistance.
Kyiv Police Communications Department
