Two Balinese residents were found guilty of human trafficking by a local court in a controversy involving 13 migrant labourers sent to Turkey. The Singaraja District Court sentenced Komang Puja Rasmiasa, 33, and Anak Agung Kade Ratna Sawitri (39) to five years in prison. The sentence was less severe than the seven years the indictment’s prosecutors had requested.
Before reading out the indictment, the Public Prosecutor had considered the aggravating circumstances for Defendant Komang Puji Rasmiasa and Anak Agung Kade Ratna Sawitri, namely; The actions of the defendants did not support the program to eradicate the crime of human trafficking, as well as mitigating factors, namely; the defendants admitted guilt and regretted their actions, the defendants were polite in court, the defendants still have families to support, and the defendants never break the law before.
In addition, the two were told to pay fines of IDR 400 million ($26,961) or face an extra ten months in prison. They were required to pay the victims at least IDR 528 million (US$35,589) in compensation fees.
Presiding Judge Heriyanti ruled that if the defendants didn’t pay the compensatory settlements, they would each receive an extra ten months in prison.
Find more information about this human trafficking case here
The court found the two defendants guilty of creating fake employment letters and luring thirteen people to work in Turkey as an action of human trafficking. The victims quickly learned that they had been tricked since the scammers had sent them to Turkey on tourist visas and had booked hotels there to facilitate their passage through immigration at Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta Airport.
The victims allegedly lived in dread in Turkey because they lacked work visas and stay authorizations to a point where victims had a fear to get caught by the police and detained or even deported since none of them had a proper stay permit to work in Turkey.
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