Indonesia opens trials of 6 accused of enslaving fishermen

Source: Associated Press

Indonesia opens trials of 6 accused of enslaving fishermen
Buce Rahakbauw, Associated Press
Updated 10:40 pm, Monday, November 16, 2015

TUAL, Indonesia (AP) — An Indonesian court has begun hearing trials of five Thais and an Indonesian charged with human trafficking connected with slavery in the seafood industry.

The suspects were arrested in the remote island village of Benjina in May after the slavery was revealed by The Associated Press in a report two months earlier.

. . .

They are accused of locking up fishermen for one to six months in a prison-like cell located in the company's compound in Benjina.

An investigation by Indonesian police found that hundreds of foreign fishermen were recruited in Thailand and brought to Indonesia using fake immigration papers and seamen books and were subjected to brutal labor abuses.

Read more: http://www.chron.com/news/crime/article/Indonesia-opens-trials-of-8-accused-of-enslaving-6634835.php