Dream England turned into hell: a two-year nightmare had dire consequences

Rytis Dambrauskas, Karolis Klinkevičius and Aivaras Klinkevičius from Kaunas have benefited from such an inhumane slavery scheme for many years.

The trio explained by the officials escaped almost easily, the trial court believing that their repentance gave them exceptional grace. Although by law they could only be sentenced to prison, the court fined them 18,000. fines up to EUR.

However, the judges of the Lithuanian Court of Appeal who reviewed the case were much more strict: they sent the main organizer R. Dambrauskas for 5 years, K. Klinkevičius his right hand for 4 years, and A. Klinkevičius will have to serve 3 – Year of probation if you were able to recruit someone.

Looking for orphans and villagers

The men reversed the human trafficking scheme in the spring of 2013. Although stalled, they defended themselves by actually offering a job and not exploiting anything, this is denied not only by the stories of the enslaved youth, but also by the correspondence of the youths themselves. criminals.

In the messages that were sent, R. Dambrauskas and A. Kliknevičius named very precisely who to look for.

“We need people from all kinds of towns latrines, up to 30 years so that you can go a lot “, explained R. Dambrauskas during a conversation.

He made it clear that we needed to find people who were “like this poor, orphans ”. With such and similar epithets, he responded to future employees.

“I already left the orphans in Kaišiadorys, the mushrooms are both,” reports A. Kliknevičius during the following conversation before taking people abroad.

They promised their victims free travel, accommodation, and a good salary; They told different people that they would pay between £ 80 and £ 400 per week and overtime.

However, the reality was quite different: as soon as the young people who did not speak English were taken to an unknown country, the criminals confiscated their documents and ordered them to start working.

Worked tirelessly

In this case, 9 young people between 18 and 29 years old have been identified as victims. All had little education, some drowned in debt, jobless or money, but very eager to earn a living. That is why they became easy to seduce.

They had to carry over 1,000 flyers every day. If they did not, they would receive threats, psychological terror and brutal violence: beatings with wire, a belt or just fists.

They had to take the subway to go to work, but the “businessmen” did not give them money and told them to travel without a ticket.

They also did not see the money promised. As soon as they arrived, they were informed that they were already in debt for the trip and the house, so everything would be deducted from their earnings. Sometimes young people who weighed no more than 20 pounds a week were constantly hungry, exhausted, so they had to steal food from stores and shoes because those who came prevented them from walking constantly.

This two-year slavery plan became apparent only when the two victims were able to escape and reach the Lithuanian embassy. It is true that there have been attempts of this kind before, but R. Dambrauskas managed to catch the refugees and punished them by brutally beating them.

More crime has been committed

The traffickers who escaped the fines before the Court of First Instance did not enjoy freedom for a long time, since both the prosecutor and the lawyer of the victim of the Anti-Trafficking Center exploited the decision.

“The crimes in question violate not only the freedom of the individual, but also almost all human rights and freedoms enshrined in the rule of law,” the prosecutor said in her complaint.

In Lithuania, human trafficking is a serious crime for which only custodial sentences can be imposed. However, the court that imposed the fines declared that there were exceptional circumstances in the present case and that the defendants would not be sent behind bars. They have families, they have been convicted in the past, they have not committed any new crimes.

However, on appeal it turned out that not all of this was true. Pending examination of this case. R. Dambrauskas managed to break traffic rules six times.

At that time, K. Klinkevičius received a conviction for violence against his partner, and A. Klinkevičius, drunk, managed to hit a person in a crosswalk.

“The prosecutor states that the above circumstances negatively characterize those convicted as prone to violation of the law and non-compliance with public order and, contrary to what is stated in the sentence under appeal, they do not manifest their positive behavior, their desire to live and work. with honesty, their danger ”, it reads in the Office of the Prosecutor.

The appeals court judges heard such arguments and decided to send two of the three defendants to the cell.

“The victims were recruited and transported abroad for the purpose of exploiting forced labor, taking advantage of their vulnerability at an early age, the lack of employment and permanent income, the difficult financial situation and the use of deception, promising an easy job as a flyer. The convicts specifically sought out particularly socially vulnerable people in order to be able to subdue their will as easily as possible and then use it for selfish ends.

The victims depended on the convicted for their social situation, lack of language proficiency, lack of money, lack of social skills, and later for physical violence and threats from the convicted R. Dambrauskas and K. Klinkevičius, and after obtaining your identity. documents, I had no choice but to work in unacceptable inhuman conditions ”, the judges affirmed.

This verdict has already entered into force, but can still be appealed to the Supreme Court of Lithuania.

Thus, 7 victims requested compensation for the non-pecuniary damage caused to them. The court sentenced 6 of them to 2,000. EUR, one of them – 1,5 thousand. euros.

Two other young wounded wanted to forget the whole story as soon as possible and did not seek redress.