Court hears of path to prostitution

BERLIN – A former Ukrainian sex slave burst into tears as she described in a Berlin court how she was tricked into working for a call-girl gang.

The woman, 21, who faces separate charges of illegally entering Germany, described how the man accused of pimping, Borys B., 33, raped her in Poland in March 2002, locked her in a barred room, beat her and sent two strange men to have sex with her.

“I can still feel the scar on the back of my head,” said Ewa, the name she gave in court. There had been no escape from B. and she was later taken to Berlin and put to work as a prostitute. B. has been indicted for pimping and human trafficking.

“When I first met him, I was like a child and thought I would get a good job in Germany,” she said. “I never thought it would turn out like this. He treated us like so much dirt.”

The case made international headlines several months ago after police investigating Ewa’s allegations interviewed Germany’s most celebrated Jewish television personality, Michel Friedman. He subsequently gave up his show after admitting to cocaine use.

In a statement read by his attorney, B. admitted providing women to paying German customers in the knowledge that the women were illegal immigrants, but he denied knowing any were minors. He also denied they had had to work around the clock.

He and two Polish nationals aged 23 and 25 are accused of running a ring of at least 15 women who were subjugated by threats of violence and death.

DPA
Subject: German news