EAnother human trafficking case judged this Tuesday, November 19, by the Libourne court. On the stand, three defendants. On the civil party side, 25 people, all Moroccan, all employed as wine workers.
The system described resembles previous cases: a wine company, Le Fronsadais viti, and foreign workers who evoke the promise of work for three years, a salary of 1,600 euros per month, a residence permit and accommodation against payment of a sum of 8,000 euros. The reality? Extended hours, up to sixty-two hours per week, work six days a week, sometimes including public holidays, deductions from wages to pay the rent for unworthy accommodation where mattresses are piled up on the floor, with a toilet for eight or ten, a shower without hot water, no room for a table, no wardrobe, no heating. Not to mention the cockroaches and the dirt.
A straw leader
It all started with a police search linked to another case, in a collective accommodation for seasonal workers. The authorities then discovered another apartment, on the floor above, also occupied by seasonal workers employed by Le Fronsadais viti. The discovery led to a new inspection by the Inspectorate of a work at 7 and 37 rue Jean-Jacques-Rousseau in February 2023. These are in the name of the one everyone calls “Mr. Alain”, described by all the civil parties as the boss of the incriminated company. Officially, he has no role in the wine service company run by his partner, who is also on the dock. However, it was he who took the workers to the vineyards, it was he who would have asked them several times to bring in family or relatives, in return for payment.
“In this type of case, when you pull the strings, you find things and there, the fishing was fruitful,” quips Élodie Blier, the vice-prosecutor. Result: “Mr. Alain” is being prosecuted for 14 counts of prevention, from human trafficking to carrying out hidden work, including fraud to obtain an allowance. She for eight counts of prevention. A third man, a Moroccan, is also being prosecuted for human trafficking. If this one, who speaks little French, seems to have sometimes served as an intermediary for four people, it is indeed the name of “Mr. Alain” which comes up tirelessly in the mouths of the victims.
“Where is the evidence?” »
The prosecution requested three years in prison with deferred committal warrant and a permanent ban on managing a business for “Mr. Alain”, two years including one suspended for his partner and a ban on managing for ten years, and one year of prison under electronic bracelet for the Moroccan defendant. For Me Arnaud Dupin, the couple's lawyer, the words of the victims are not enough. “Where is the proof of the money being paid? Where is the proof of salary deductions? Where is the proof that it was he who crowded these workers into these accommodations even though he filed a complaint in February 2023 to evict them, because there were too many of them? » The judgment has been reserved and will be delivered on December 17.
