Man imprisoned for having sex with victim of human trafficking in Cyprus

In a case prosecutors heralded as a turning point for the Mediterranean island of Cyprus, a Cypriot court sentenced a man to prison on Friday for using a human trafficking victim’s sex as payment.

“This is the first time that a ‘client’ has been convicted by a Cypriot court,” the state prosecution service said.

“The convicted person was sentenced today to concurrent prison sentences of 2.5 years and three years since he was also found guilty and sentenced for the crime of rape.”

The woman who had been trafficked was a minor when her journey began, according to the evidence that was presented in court.

The Nicosia Criminal Court gave the guy who was indicted in the same case for trafficking the lady consecutive terms of five and six years in jail.

He was found guilty of pimping, financial abuse, withholding personal documents, trafficking the girl as a minor and an adult for sexual exploitation, and common assault.

The prosecution service said it was also the first time a Cypriot court had convicted a person for “trafficking a minor, with the purpose of sexual exploitation”.

For the offense of common assault, the third defendant in the case received a four-month prison sentence.

Without specifying the woman’s age or nationality at the time the traffickers began abusing her, the report claimed that the woman’s experience started while she was still a minor.

“The woman’s trafficker deprived her of the necessary means of living, pushing her towards prostitution.”

The ‘client’, as the prosecution service called him, was convicted of rape as the woman said she was forced to have unprotected intercourse with him.

“While the trafficking victim initially provided consensual sex services, in the process, these services ended up being non-consensual since it was clear from the complainant that she did not consent to unprotected vaginal intercourse,” the prosecution service said.