The Hearing of Tarragona will begin judging this Thursday 20 people who were part of an alleged organization that exploited and forced 26 foreign women into prostitution. The victims worked and lived in “extremely harsh” conditions in the eight brothels of the group, located in Barcelona, ​​Tarragona, Tortosa, Vilanova i la Geltrú and Sabadell.
The events date back to 2008 to 2010 and the Prosecutor’s Office accuses them of 41 prostitution crimes, one of illicit association, another against workers’ rights, a continued crime of money laundering and two more of falsification of official documents. For those most responsible, ask 15 years in prison while for the rest of the members the requests are for 13, 11, nine and six years.
The 20 accused were part of an organization structured in a pyramidal form and “strongly hierarchical”, according to the public ministry in the indictment to which ACN has had access. The group’s goal was getting rich through the exploitation of women foreigners, of legal age, who were forced to exercise prostitution.
According to the prosecutor, the women had to bes available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. He also explains that they were fined if they did not comply with the “internal regime of the club.” As an example, they were sanctioned if they refused to have sexual relations with clients, if they were not always available or if they did not comply with the 21 days stipulated for the refund of the deposit that they had to pay to be able to “work” in their premises. “They couldn’t leave the apartment during these first 21 days, and they had only one hour a day to go outside; “In the event of an emergency, they were not allowed to leave, not even after seven in the afternoon,” the letter states.
