The principal proceedings of the first human trafficking court case began in Iceland yesterday. The accused, who is an Icelandic citizen but originates from Equatorial Guinea, is also suspected of organizing drug smuggling and prostitution.
Reykjavík District Court.
The woman is facing charges for human trafficking, threats and enslavement by having tricked a girl into coming to Iceland and forced her into prostitution, ruv.is reports.
She is accused of taking the girl’s clothing and IDs and threatening to hurt or kill her if she wouldn’t do what she was told.
The woman is also charged for having profited from the prostitution of other women in 2008 and 2009 by enabling a number of men to have sex with them for a charge of ISK 20,000-25,000 (USD 161-201, EUR 100-126).
The prostitution allegedly took place in two apartments in Hafnarfjördur and two in Reykjavík, the latter of which are located on Hverfisgata and Raudarárstígur next to the downtown police station.
An Icelandic man is facing charges for having participated in the aforementioned offenses. He is accused of having received payment for advertising prostitution online and for taking pictures of the victims.
The woman is also charged for having organized the import of 400 grams of cocaine, brought to the country by drug carriers in April this year. She is also facing charges of having bitten a police officer in the back while being searched at Keflavík International Airport in February.
At request of the foreign women, who the accused is facing charges for having forced into prostitution, the court proceedings will take place behind closed doors.
In another human trafficking case, Sudurnes Police are currently working on uprooting a crime ring in Iceland, having arrested a number of people and undertaken house searches, Morgunbladid reports.
Their investigation began with the arrival of a Lithuanian woman to the country, who requested police assistance as she was afraid she would be forced into prostitution.
Five Lithuanian men are currently in custody in relation to this case and yesterday three Icelandic men and two women were arrested. “None of them have confessed to the crimes they are accused of,” substitute Sudurnes Police Chief Alda Hrönn Jóhannsdóttir told visir.is.
Jóhannsdóttir said the investigation is constantly expanding. “We are looking at everything which may be related to the alleged human trafficking and other organized criminal activity and means of communication with the men that we have in custody.”
Click here to read more about this story and here to read more about the current court case.
