Eleven members of an Albanian prostitution network, based in Toulouse and dismantled in January 2019, were sentenced on Friday March 11 to terms ranging from three to six years in prison by the Toulouse court.
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The defendants derived their income from the prostitution of around twenty young women in a business area north of the city, between 2018 and 2019. The prostitutes, who brought them a total of up to 20,000 euros per month, were all from the same district of Tirana.
At the hearing, the defendants, from the Albanian Roma community, and some already convicted of similar acts, denied everything, claiming to have no connection with the case.
The nine men and two women were found guilty in particular of "
aggravated procuring
", "
trafficking in human beings
" and "
criminal association
".
The two women accomplices sometimes recovered part of the winnings.
The men took the rest of the cash or sent money orders to Albania.
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Before their detention, the defendants lived in squats in Toulouse.
This trial of Albanian prostitution in Toulouse, disturbed by the language barrier despite the presence of translators, began on Thursday.
The public prosecutor had requested three to eight years in prison.
For nine of the eleven defendants, the sentences handed down are accompanied by bans from French territory.