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Sex Slaves
In this article I write about trafficking and prostitution: both about tired
of poverty women and traffickers - those who make money engaging such women
in this kind of criminal business.
Written by Svetlana Kurs for www.vitryssland.nu
Please also read artcile by Olga Birukova, Institute for War & Peace
In 2001 Aleksandr Soldatenko, the Head of the department on morals and
illicit drug turnover at the Ministry of Internal Affairs said that the
number of Belarusian women engaged in prostitution has the tendency to
increase. The clandestine nature of trafficking makes it difficult to
estimate accurately the numbers of trafficked persons.
Marlena, aged 32, has worked as a prostitute in Lithuania, Russia, Germany
and Slovenia for about 7 years. This is her story. After graduating from the
University she worked as a teacher of Music. She calculated that it would
take her 25 years to collect money for buying her own apartment under the
condition she would save every coin. She was thinking that marrying a
wealthy man could improve the situation, but no wealthy man appeared.
Marlena: - That fellow Dmitriy saw me and licked his lips. He took me to the restaurant and said: "You are as beautiful as Marlene Dietrich I will call you Marlene". Then I picked up this name. We didn't leave for Spain that day. We went to Dmitriy's place and I stayed there. It was love like heaven for a couple of days. After that there came four buffalo looking guys and raped me. No, they didn't beat me, because I did not resist. I did not know where I was, I did not speak German language, I was not familiar with German laws. I was afraid of German people, because I was told that I could be sentenced for a term in jail for prostitution. Dmitriy took away my passport at once he said it was necessary to obtain a visa. I was in such shock so I could not think. Then I was taken to a small apartment there already were two women like me. There we lived and received clients Svetlana Kurs: - Please, tell about the conditions there.
M.: I stayed there for three months. I had from 5 to 10 clients every day.
S._: Were you beaten or subjected to any kind of taunt? _.: We had a guard he stayed at the same apartment. His duty was to protect us, but he didn't bother. Our clients were different both normal men and real sadists. I was lucky, because I was just raped with a bottle a couple of times. But my neighbour's womb was torn and she was terribly bleeding. She was taken to the hospital, but never returned I havenıt heard anything about her since then. It seems to me her name was Larisa, she was from Ukraine, the city of MelitopolS S._.: How did you get out from there? _.: I got a "fiancé". It was an elderly German man, engineer. By the way, Germans also visited us there, but mostly came men from so-called Newly Independent States countries. So that German visited me many times and then redeemed me. Later I escaped from him. He wanted to marry me but I refused. S._.: Why? _.: He was so boring. He had a house and a garden and two Dolmatine dogs in the garden. The house was just wonderful but everything there was so boring. I got used to how to call it - abnormal kind of life. Also I decided not to depend on anyone, to earn my own money. I stole some money from that elderly fellow and came to Belarusian Embassy. My visa expired long before, so I was deported to Belarus. S._: Didn't you have a temptation to inform militia about Romanıs business? _.: No, I didn't dare. They have a video recording of me being raped. They also video recorded me being with clients. I don't need advertisement of this kind. How can Roman be punished for that maximum sentenced to a term in a working campS S._.: Don't you care for women who can be engaged in forced prostitution?
_.: Look, time is different now we don't live in those wild 1990-th.
S._.: But some women manage to get employed abroad as house maids and assistants. _.: Every woman has to care about her own self she has to use her brains and make decisions. I am not a hero and I am not going to do myself any harm. S._.: Where did you go after you left Germany?
_.: I read the advertisement in the newspaper and went to have an
interview. They were inviting the dancers. I knew that I was supposed "to
dance" in bed. I was transported to Romania, and then I went to Slovenia. I
worked in the bar, consumed the visitors at the tables, then picked up a
client and we went upstairs. The money I earned there was enough to buy a
single room apartment but I was arrested and brought to the custody. The
policemen found the money hidden in my vagina. I was deported from Slovenia
S._.: Your dream about your own apartment came true. How much did you pay for it? _.: As to the money paid I can give you the exact figure: 15 thousand USD including repairs. I also bought some household equipment and some clothes for myself. But you will never understand what horrors I went through and into whom I turned. I consulted the private psychologist. Don't ask me about that. S._.: Do you know anything about disappearance or murders of women? _.: Personally I haven't faced such cases. But women engaged in prostitution get beaten quite often. People who buy sex are different but among them there are many cretins. Aslo I have heard some roumors for example about two women who worked as roads prostitutes in Italy and then disappeared. Maybe they married some guys; maybe they were murdered who knows?
Alina, aged 22, is the daughter of the single mother. She does not remember
her father. Her mother has all her life worked hard to earn their living
and the family somehow managed to put both ends together, but last year and
a half it became extremely hard to survive. Alina's mother spent three
thirds of her salary on payment for the apartment, medicine and transport.
S._. Didnıt your mother suspect where you spend nights? _lina.: She didn't ask me. I just told her: Mum, Iıll stay at my friend Yulyaıs place, in the hostel, and left. S._.: How did you get an idea to go to Lithuania? _.: Some bandits tried to take us under their control. Several times the group of those bastards raped us. We were so scared, so when one man suggested Yulya and me to go to Lithuania we agreed at once. I knew that he was married and had a son. I also knew that he lives in Kolodischi and had sex business in Vilnius. We received tourist visas and Yuriy (that was his name) drove us in his car to Gudogay (the village on the border between Belarus and Lithuania). We crossed the border and Yuriy and the other man, Guntas, took away our passports and brought us to some apartment. Having come there we got frightened. S._.: What of? _.: That was a three room flat and there already were four Lithuanian women. All of them were drug addicts very thin and exhausted. The first night we, the newcomers, were raped and that was just the beginning. We had to receive 15 or even 20 clients a day. My "record" was 23. Men either came to our apartment or we were brought to their places. I knew one thing: if we are murdered no one will care. I started to drink alcohol. Many times Guntas suggested me to take drugs, but I refused, though he threatened me that he would inject me drugs by force. My friend Yulya tried drugs and got dependent. S._.: Were you beaten? _.: Regularly. We were beaten for hiding money, for being rude with clients and simply for nothing just for fun. S._.: How did you manage to escape?
_.: I just ran away without my documents. Wandering in Vilnius I was
shivering with fear. Then I met a fellow from Belarusian town Ostrovets who
sold mushrooms and berries in Vilnius. He said he regularly crossed the
border without the passport. He was so kind to help me to cross the border.
S._.: What if Yuriy finds you? _.: I have already met him. He laughed at me and said I would face problems in case I start telling people about him and his business. I have even been in bed with him a couple of times. S._.: Why??? _.: To show him that I have nothing against him. Now I stay in Minsk all the time. Soon I'll finish my studies and find a job. My life will change radically.
Tatyana came with a tourist visa to Israel where she hoped to find a job of
a hotel maid. In the city of Eilat unknown people took away her documents
and placed the girl in a brothel. After some time the police released
Tatyana from the brothel, but put he in jail for illigal immigration.
Tatyana stated against the traffickers, but the police couldnot protect her.
Natalya was brought up in the alcoholic family, where she was regularly beaten by her parents. She graduated from the technical school but couldn't get employed. She agreed to some suggestion to work abroad. Natalya was given false documents and transported to Germany. There she was kept in highly abusive and slavery-like conditions. She changed 4 ponces, tried to escape, but she was caught, group raped and locked in a wardrobe where she was kept for two days. Then the severely hurt and bleeding woman was again raped twice. After some time a Turkish man helped her to escape. Natalya stated against the rapists at the court trial, but they were not subjected to any kind of punishment.
As to the information agency BelaPAN in year 2002 the department on morals and illicit drug turnover started round 10 criminal cases in accordance with article "pimping". It is very difficult to bring such cases to the court, because Belarusian legislation is far from perfection. After the new Criminal Code came into force in 2001 none of the souteneurs were convicted to more than 1,5 year imprisonment. You may compare: journalists Viktor Ivashkevich, Pavel Mozheyko and Nikolay Markevich were convicted to the same term for libel in the address of the President. Recently the criminal case in accordance with Article 187 "Recruitment people for exploitation" of Criminal Code was instituted against the citizen of Grodno, who in 2001-2002 had transported, transferred and sold six women by means of deception. Now this trafficker is in the custody. He will be convicted either to a penalty or 3 or 5 years of imprisonment. The similar case (information by Belorusskaya Delovaya Gazeta dated February 27, 2003) was instituted against Ivan Velyaminov, the citizen of Molodechno, who transferred local girls to Lithuania by use of force and by means of deception. He promised them the seamstress jobs. At the end of 2002 the court convicted Velyaminov to 3 years of imprisonment.
Mass media should play an important role in this process. It is inadmissible for a descent and responsible person to speak in public or to write about prostitution in ironic, humiliating or mocking way. Prostitution is connected with human tragedies. Prostitution flourishes in a society where women do not have legal opportunities to support themselves and their families. We have to blame the society for that. |
