The Sixth Section of the Provincial Court will judge next November 20 and 21 three men, of Romanian nationality, accused of human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation, for whom the Prosecutor's Office requests a total of 32 years in prison.
The events that will be judged next week date back to 2012 and 2013 when, as a result of an investigation by the UCRIF Central and the UCRIF of Las Palmas, it was possible to find out that "a group of people of Romanian nationality would be operating on the island who would be recruiting girls in Eastern Europe, mainly in Romania, but also in Moldova, Hungary and Bulgaria". "The group facilitated their arrival in Spain and specifically on the island of Lanzarote, taking care of their plane tickets, as well as their accommodation in apartments that the group would have previously rented, with the sole purpose of sexually exploiting them," the prosecutor's accusation states, where it is pointed out that "although some girls knew what they were going to do in Lanzarote, some of them had been deceived" and, in addition, subjected "to physical violence and continuous humiliation and threats if they did not earn the expected money."
The leader of the network, according to the Prosecutor's Office, was Gabriel B., for whom he requests eleven years in prison. He is accused of exploiting women in the Sagitario Club in Arrecife and in the Manhattan Glamour Club in Puerto del Carmen. In order to supply the clubs with girls, Gabriel B. "used recruiters", "young boys whose function was to recruit young girls in Romania, in a precarious situation and with no or uncertain economic future in their country of origin, posing as their boyfriends, offering them, once they fell in love with them, a better life in Spain".
These "boy lovers", as defined by the Public Prosecutor's Office, "avoided explaining to their boyfriends the exact work they would do in Spain, which was none other than the exercise of prostitution." "These recruiters depended on Gabriel B., who paid them for it, sending them money to Romania and also buying plane tickets for travel," according to the Prosecutor's Office. Once in Lanzarote, the recruiters "lived together with their girlfriends in apartments that had been searched for and rented by Gabriel B." "They did not work" and were "dedicated solely to controlling their girlfriends and demanding that they earn more and more money with which the defendant profited, but so did they," he adds,
According to the "orders" of Gabriel B., who was at all times treated as the boss, in addition to charging for the drinks served in the club, the girls had to charge, as a minimum and for each service, around 45 euros for 20 minutes, 60 euros for half an hour, 120 euros for an hour, and 150 for an hour out of the club, with the club always keeping more than half of what was collected", the accusation states, where it is pointed out that "the other part of the price was for the girls, but those who were subjected to the recruiters who posed as their partners had to give them the other part." In addition, although the girls had to be in the club from 9 pm to 6 am, "they had to be available at any time of the day if the club manager said so in accordance with what Gabriel B. ordered, being the only one who allowed the girls to leave the club."
As for the "boy lovers", "they did not hesitate to exert physical and psychological violence on the women they brought" and, according to the Prosecutor's Office, Gabriel B. was "aware" of this, as well as "of the way in which they had been deceived", "without doing anything to prevent it."
Convicted of attempted homicide of one of the girls
As "boy lovers" it was possible to identify the other two defendants, Alfred Valentin J. and Iulian Costica B., for whom the Prosecutor's Office requests 10 years and six months in prison. Alfred Valentin J. even has two convictions, one of four months for a crime of injury in the family environment and another of seven years for attempted homicide, to one of the girls he recruited in Romania making her believe that "she was his girlfriend", and whom "he did not hesitate to beat, beat, insult and threaten" to exercise "prostitution" in the Sagitario Club in Arrecife, once he brought her to Spain proposing to start "a life together".
As for Iulan Costica B., he met a girl "in Romania", to whom "he promised that by moving to Spain they would have a better life", to which she agreed. Once in Lanzarote, the woman began working at the Sagitario Club, "exercising prostitution." However, the defendant, "not satisfied with the amounts of money that the girl earned," "did not hesitate to demand that she work more and earn more money, since he saw through the cameras of the club" that "she did not put effort into the work." To do this, "he beat her once she arrived at the house, threatened her and humiliated her, even when she had stated that she did not want to be in the Sagitario Club anymore."
In addition to requesting prison sentences for a total of 32 years for a crime of human trafficking and one of coercive prostitution, the Prosecutor's Office also asks that Gabriel B. and Alfred Valentin J. compensate one of the girls with 9,000 euros. As for the leader of the network, he also has a criminal record, having been convicted twice for prostitution, one of minors.