Nova Gorica Forced Prostitution Case Involves Over 400 Women, 150,000 Customers

By , 24 Jul 2019, 12:06 PM News
Nova Gorica Forced Prostitution Case Involves Over 400 Women, 150,000 Customers Wikimedia - Justinc CC-by-2.0

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STA, 24 July 2019 - The Specialised State Prosecution has filed an indictment against 18 persons in connection with a prostitution ring that was operating near Nova Gorica and was cracked by police in January. The prime suspect is said to be businessmen Sergej Racman, the former owner of the cinema chain operator Kolosej.

 

The indictment comes after the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) said in January it completed a four-year investigation into prostitution, human trafficking and drug abuse in the areas of Nova Gorica and Maribor.

According to Wednesday's report by the newspaper Večer, 413 girls, mostly from Romania, Ukraine, Albania and the former Yugoslavia, had been abused for prostitution in the Marina Sauna Club near Nova Gorica.

Between August 2014 and January this year around 150,000 men visited the club, paying an entrance fee of 60 to 85 euros. A total of EUR 21 million in illegal gains are believed to have made in the process.

The prosecution claims the ring was led by entrepreneurs Jože Kojc, Dejan Šurbek and Racman, with the latter still being at large despite having a detention warrant issued against him.

Siol.net reported that Racman is unofficially away on business abroad. He has officially been living in Slovakia since 2013. An international arrest warrant has not yet been issued.

Prostitution was decriminalised in Slovenia 2003, but only for those providing the services voluntarily, without procurement and coercion.

NBI deputy director David Antolovič told the press in January that "the suspects controlled the victims at all times and set the price of their sexual services". If they failed to obey, they were barred from the premises, he said.

The abuse of prostitution carries a prison sentence of three to 15 years, human trafficking three to 12 years and drug trafficking one to 10 years.

Other stories on this case can be found here

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