EurasiaNet Eurasia Insight - Police In Kazakh East Free Two Uzbek Women From Sexual Slavery

EURASIA INSIGHT

POLICE IN KAZAKH EAST FREE TWO UZBEK WOMEN FROM SEXUAL SLAVERY
9/25/07
A EurasiaNet Partner Post from BBC Monitoring

Excerpt from report by Interfax-Kazakhstan news agency

Ust-Kamenogorsk, 24 September: Officers of the migration police in East Kazakhstan Region (EKR) have freed two Uzbek female citizens who had been subjected to sexual exploitation, the Interfax-Kazakhstan news agency today learnt at the press service of the EKR’s interior department.

The press service said the two women, 27 and 42, had arrived in Ridder (town in the EKR) from Almaty at the invitation of a Turkish citizen, who permanently lives in East Kazakhstan Region and who offered them work as a cook in a local cafe. While providing the job the recruiter took their documents away, the press service noted.

Soon after the job placement, the cafe owner made the women provide services of a sexual nature for cafe visitors, the press service said.

Currently, one of the freed women has been sent to her homeland. The documents of the second Uzbek citizen have not been found yet and her identity is being established. The identity of the Turkish citizen is also being established.

[Passage omitted: a criminal investigation into the cafe owner has been opened]

Editor�s Note: Source: Interfax-Kazakhstan news agency, Almaty, in Russian 0952 gmt 24 Sep 07

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