_http://english.pravda.ru/hotspots/crimes/21-03-2013/124125-modern_slavery-0/ said:
Modern slavery ineradicable
21.03.2013
Another case of slavery was uncovered in Russia. In Chelyabinsk region, two businessmen forcefully kept people and made them work at a landfill. The "slaves" were beaten, poorly fed, and sometimes they were not even given drinking water. The crime was reported to the police by the "slaves" who managed to run away. There are many similar crimes in Russia.
Another case of illegal confinement was discovered by police in Chelyabinsk region. The police was approached by two men, who claimed that for a long time they were forcibly kept at a solid waste landfill. The victims said they decided to escape after beatings and abuse. The "slaves" were forced to sort garbage from 5AM until late at night, without weekends and proper nutrition. Sometimes the workers were not even given drinking water. The prisoners slept on the floor in a shed, and often without heaters in winter.
Operatives went to the site and soon the alleged "slave drivers" were detained. "According to the investigation, from 2007 to 2012 in the city of Karabash of Chelyabinsk region, three locals used labor of citizens leading asocial way of life for their business purposes," Pravda.Ru was told by the Investigation Department of the Chelyabinsk region.
"The suspects invited citizens to work at a solid waste landfill. They took their personal documents, threatened with violence and abused the captives, forcing them to work. The victims who tried to leave the landfill were returned by the suspects to the workplace through threats of violence."
To date, seven people were found victims in the case, but the investigation suggests that there were many more "slaves," according to some estimates, up to two hundred. The people who lived in inhuman conditions could simply not survive (the investigation is yet to learn of these circumstances).
A criminal case under the article "Use of slave labor involving two or more persons, use of intimidation, violence or threats of violence, and seizure of documents certifying the identity of the victim" was initiated against the businessmen.
There are doubts that all "slaves" led anti-social lifestyle that brought them to the landfill. Some of the prisoners were decent citizens simply looking for a job. However, homeless people and migrant workers often find themselves in such situations.
In Kuban an entrepreneur and her sons turned homeless into slaves. Like in the case of the Chelyabinsk "slaves," homeless people were employed at a landfill. When the "slaves" refused to work for free, they were beaten, and some were even pressured with a garbage press. The investigation began after another landfill businessman received from his colleagues two "prisoners" for free work. One of the victims, as it turned out, was wanted by his mother, as her son went to work and she lost trace of him.
One of the largest similar crimes was committed in Moscow, where in Golyanovo volunteers freed foreign nationals who, according to human rights activists, were illegally detained in a store basement. Initially a criminal investigation was opened into illegal detention, but some time later the case was closed. The victims' lawyers made an appeal regarding the inaction of the investigators, but at the moment none of the requests had been met, and the hearings keep getting postponed. At the moment, the case is in the General Prosecutor's Office and no decisions have been made.
Anton Frolov
Pravda.Ru
