They had exploited several of their Moroccan compatriots working in vineyards in Gironde. A father and his son were convicted on Tuesday of human trafficking.
The Libourne criminal court sentenced the father, aged 59, to one year in prison fitted with an electronic bracelet, in particular for human trafficking and subjecting dependent people to substandard housing. His son, aged 28, was sentenced to six months in prison, also in the form of house arrest.
“Uberization of the sector”
The two Moroccan nationals, who will have to compensate the civil parties, were also sentenced to a ban on French territory for ten and five years respectively. Their company will have to pay a fine of 50,000 euros.
Denouncing an “Uberization of the sector” and the symbol of a “system”, the prosecution had requested two years in prison, one of which was closed against the fifty-year-old, and a one-year prison sentence for the son, ” who obeyed his father” according to the public prosecutor.
During the hearing in mid-October, half a dozen victims, previously mechanics, workers, employees or fishmongers, gave similar stories. All recruited in Morocco to work as seasonal agricultural workers in France, they explained that they had been promised a long-term residence permit, a stable job paid at 1,500 euros per month and accommodation. In return, these young workers paid the two men some 12,000 euros.
Hectic pace of work
On the stand, the first to file a complaint, in September 2022, one of these workers described cramped accommodation where eight people were crammed together, with dirty mattresses on the floor and showers with cold water. In addition, he denounced a frantic pace of work in the vineyards, with 15 minutes of lunch break and no remuneration for 18 days worked.
The defense dismissed the accusations of unworthy accommodation and assured that “no element” could prove that the victims had paid the 12,000 euros, pleading for release.
In recent similar cases, service providers and a manager of a Libourne company were sentenced before the courts of Bordeaux and Libourne, which is due to judge another trafficking case on November 19.
