A woman and a man were sentenced to 9 and 10 years in prison, respectively, for making a young woman and a young man from Călărași to beg in Russia. The defendants are from the same district as the victims, IPN reports.
They knew the young woman, who worked as a day laborer and who in 2013 was 18 years old, as they were from the same village. The two took advantage of her precarious financial condition and promised her a motivating income in Russia, as a beggar. However, upon arrival in the foreign state, the defendants left her without the passport and without the money accumulated from begging. Thus, they exploited her through begging, including threats, during periods until 2020, even when the young woman had a small child.
In 2014, they met the young man, who was also exploited by begging, at a bus station in Călărași, where they proposed him to "advertise a store" in Russia, for US$1,000. Instead, he was deprived of passport and was forced to beg for three months in winter, without thick clothes, which caused him health problems, and then he was deported to Moldova.
The defendants transported the exploited young people to various cities in Russia. In order to be able to justify their acts before the Russian police, they received a certificate from a public association based in Moldova, showing that they would collect money for sick children. According to the statements, the two daily gathered between 2,000 and 4,000 Russian rubles on average.
In 2020, after facing a number of impediments, the young woman managed to return to Moldova and filed a complaint against the two.
Until the court decision becomes final, the convicted couple benefits from the presumption of innocence.
