Bid to tighten noose on sex traffickers
Athens prosecutors yesterday stepped up a campaign against sex-trafficking gangs ahead of the Olympics, when a boom is expected in the illegal sex industry. Senior prosecutor Dimitris Papangelopoulos instructed two prosecutors to handle the herculean task by ensuring that all the provisions of a two-year-old law against sex-trafficking are fully implemented. One of the provisions is that clients who know that the prostitutes they have sex with are being held against their will can receive jail terms of up to six months. The two prosecutors will cooperate with the Doctors of the World humanitarian group, which has set up a hostel for women who have fallen victim to sex traffickers. On June 15, an 18-year-old Lithuanian suffered severe injuries after jumping from a hotel balcony in northern Greece to escape a gang that had forced her into prostitution.
