A pimp who turned young women into sex slaves has walked free from court after apologising for taking part in human trafficking.
A co-defendant escaped with just two years and 11 months behind bars after apparently making a similar deal with the court.
The accused – identified only as Siyka I., 47, and Zhivko D., 58, – were tried for human trafficking and forced prostitution at the Chemnitz District Court in Germany on Monday, 5th September 2022.
The Bulgarian nationals reportedly held at least two young Hungarian women hostage in a house and offered them to customers in several apartments in the city of Chemnitz.
According to media, one of the houses where the women were forced to work had witnessed the murder of a Hungarian prostitute – identified as Noemi “Nelly” M. , 25, – who was stabbed 81 times in 2016.
Chief public prosecutor Wolfgang Klein, 62, reported that one of the women was held as a sex slave from 2016 to 2021, and said: “She had to serve up to 20 customers every day, EUR 50 (GBP 43) per 30 minutes of sex. She didn’t get any of the money.”
I. and D. reportedly set cameras all around the house and kept the victims’ IDs as a deposit, to prevent them from fleeing the country.
Klein revealed that D. even travelled to Bulgaria and bought another woman to boost his business for EUR 5,000 at the end of 2021.
He said: “She was mentally and physically handicapped, had to serve up to three clients every day. Sex with a condom cost EUR 50 (GBP 43), EUR 80 (GBP 69) without.”
Both women were not entitled to any of their earnings and were only given food, cigarettes, clothes and a mobile phone to listen to music on.
Klein said: “They were made available to many clients over a long period of time like sex slaves.”
The offenders were arrested in Bulgaria and were charged with human trafficking and forced prostitution in April 2022, after the prostitute who they held hostage for five years reported them to the police.
But despite the gravity of the charges, both managed to get away with mild sentences after admitting and apologising for their crimes.
I. was sentenced to two years of probation, while D. will serve two years and eleven months in prison because “they showed concern”, according to judge Gudrun Trautmann, aged 60.