INDICTMENT FILED FOR THE CRIMINAL OFFENCE OF INTERNATIONAL HUMAN TRAFFICKING

A prosecutor from the Special Department for Organized Crime, Economic Crime and Corruption of the Prosecutor’s Office of BiH filed an indictment against:

1.     Ahmet Ahmetović, born in 1965 in Gradačac, citizen of BiH, previously convicted.

2.     Irene Grapa Pantalita, born in 1986 in Negros Oriental, Philippines, settled in Gradačac, citizen of the Philippines.

The allegations against the defendants are that they, as the owners and persons authorised to represent a company in Gradačac dealing in catering activities, through social networks, by deception and for the purpose of exploitation in another country, recruited JAF, a female citizen of the Philippines, who came to Bosnia and Herzegovina with the intention of getting employed.

Immediately after her arrival, the defendants informed the injured party that she owed them several thousand BAM, in order to organise her arrival in BiH, after which the injured party had to perform various jobs in the restaurant under difficult working conditions, for at least 15 hours a day, and when they found out that the victim intended to leave and continue to work in the Republic of Croatia, they restricted the victim’s movement and carried out constant control in order to prevent her from leaving.

The indictment states that the defendants did not pay the victim in accordance with the agreement, that they kept her in constant fear and threatened her with expulsion from BiH. With the aforementioned actions they caused damage to the mental and physical health of the victim, who managed to escape to Tuzla and report to the Service for Foreigners’ Affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The defendants are accused of recruiting the victim for the purpose of exploiting her in the country in which this person does not have a place of residence and is not its citizen, and thereby they would commit the criminal offence of international human trafficking under Article 186 (1) of the Criminal Code of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The prosecution is going to prove the allegations of the indictment by calling 10 witnesses and submitting more than 80 material pieces of evidence.

The indictment was forwarded to the Court of BiH for confirmation.