The trial at Lycksele district court has lasted 16 days and is one of the district court’s biggest cases.
The berry companies are accused of human trafficking and abuse in a court case, after a group of berry pickers from Åsele testified about how they lived in misery.
The carrier industry
The carrier companies put on trial in Lycksele – the prosecutor: “Extensive evidence”
Carrying company from Åsele is charged with human trafficking
– They have had their passports taken away, found themselves in a debt situation in a foreign country without knowing Swedish, hardly any English either, says prosecutor Petra Götell.
Long prison terms
The prosecutor demands that the two carrier companies be sentenced to five years in prison for human trafficking. In addition, she wants them to be prohibited from eating for seven years and to be required to pay just over four million kroner for the financial gain they made from the berry picking.
– I mean that it is a serious crime because it is an activity that was conducted on a larger scale with a large profit, says Petra Götell.
“Modern day slavery”
The nine berry pickers who are plaintiffs in the lawsuit want damages of SEK 90,000 per person.
– This can be described as modern-day slavery, I think, says their plaintiff’s assistant Hampus Bergh.
Defense: Not proven
The carrier companies’ lawyers want the charges to be dismissed because the prosecutor has not proven that their clients were guilty of human trafficking. The defense believes that it is a Thai staffing company that is responsible for the berry pickers.
– It is to them that the berry pickers are indebted. How can this then affect my client?, says lawyer Kristian Shumkov.
The verdict in the case will come on July 11.