Three men convicted of sexual exploitation of three destitute minors

Two brothers and an accomplice were sentenced to 14 to 22 years in prison for the sexual exploitation of three destitute teenage girls in 2016-2017. The Public Prosecution Service said the victims came from central Moldova and were only 16 and 17 years old at the time and that one of them was the mother of a one-month-old child. Another teenager came from a family of seven children and in the case of the third victim, her mother was begging and her father was a day laborer, IPN reports.

The Public Prosecution Service for Organized Crime and Special Cases (PCCOCS) noted that, in addition to the precarious financial situation of the girls, the suspects took advantage of their young age and the lack of parental supervision, which made them much more exposed to the consequences of the crisis. risk of sexual exploitation. The individuals met one of the victims at a nightclub in Chisinau. The second teenager (the first victim’s boyfriend) was psychologically influenced by the defendants to provide sexual services in an apartment in the capital after meeting in a park. With the minor victim, who had a child of only one month old, they met near a hotel in the capital.

The suspects knew that the victims were younger than 18 (the age up to which sexual exploitation is more severely punished as child trafficking). The people also celebrated the 18th birthday of one of the victims. The teenage girls provided sexual services for 24 hours in different apartments rented by the defendants in the Center and Râșcani districts of Chisinau, and the clients are given the opportunity to choose from the three girls.

After a month of sexual exploitation of two of the three teenagers, until they were “promoted” in Romania by continuing their activity and with higher salaries, the three men were arrested in the autumn of 2017 by the agents of the Center for Combating Human trafficking. The men are 25, 28 and 36 years old respectively. The first two are brothers from Telenesti and the third is from Soroca. In 2018, in another decision of the Buiucani Court of Chisinau City, which was confirmed by the 2023 decision of the Court of Appeal of Chisinau, the defendants were also convicted of the sexual exploitation of other Moldovan adolescents in Timisoara.

In the fight against the phenomenon of child trafficking, PCCOCS prosecutors have sent another ten cases to court in 2024 alone, seven of which are related to sexual exploitation. In this regard, prosecutors encourage parents to maintain a close relationship with the teens, to monitor their electronic communications and relationships during the initiation process, including with real people.