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PROSTITUTION

Conviction for Sweden’s ‘youngest female pimp’

A 17-year-old girl from Malmö in southern Sweden has been convicted for selling the sexual services of a 14-year-old mentally disabled girl. The 20-year-old man suspected of masterminding the pimping operation was acquitted.

Published: 4 January 2010 12:57 CET

The teen is thought to be the youngest female ever convicted for aggravated pimping in Sweden.

In addition, three other women, two aged 19 and one 18 years old, were also convicted for their role in exploiting the disabled teen.

One of the 19-year-olds was convicted of pimping and sentenced to probation and 180 hours of community service in lieu of an eight month prison sentence.

The second 19-year-old woman, who was acquitted of pimping charges, nevertheless received 200 hours of community service and a suspended sentence after being convicted of unlawful deprivation of liberty.

The 18-year-old was sentenced to 180 hours of community service for unlawful deprivation of liberty, unlawful coercion, and theft.

The court’s ruling leaves the 17-year-old teen as the only suspect found guilty of aggravated pimping in a case which shocked local prosecutors.

“I have never heard of anything like this before,” prosecutor Ulrika Rogland told the TT news agency when the 17-year-old was remanded to custody in September.

The 17-year-old admitted that she arranged for men to have sex with the disabled girl in return for payment between August and December last year. Often the 14-year-old victim would have sex with two men at the same time.

A subsequent police investigation revealed that the girl was pimped out weekly to about five customers, who paid between 500 kronor ($75) and 1,000 kronor for the girl’s sexual service, with the lion’s share of the revenue going straight into the pockets of the suspects.

In addition to the pimping charges, the 17-year-old girl was also found guilty of unlawful deprivation of liberty, unlawful coercion, robbery, and interference in a judicial matter.

As punishment for her crimes, the 17-year-old was sentenced to 10 months in a juvenile care facility.

PROSTITUTION

Spain’s top court reinstates first sex workers’ union

Spanish sex workers have the right to form their own union, the Supreme Court ruled Wednesday, overturning an earlier court decision ordering the dissolution of Spain's first such labour organisation.

Published: 2 June 2021 16:34 CEST
Spain's top court reinstates first sex workers' union
Photo: Oscar del Pozo/AFP

Known as OTRAS (or “the Sex Workers’ Organisation”), the union was discretely set up in August 2018 but was closed three months later by order of the National Court following an appeal by the government of Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez.

But following an appeal, the Supreme Court ruled in favour of OTRAS, saying that its statutes, which had triggered the initial legal challenge, were “in line with the law” and that sex workers “have the fundamental right to freedom of association and the right to form a union”.

In its November 2018 ruling, the National Court had argued that allowing the union to exist amounted to “recognising the act of procurement as lawful”.

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Contacted by AFP, the union did not wish to comment.

When it was founded, OTRAS received the green light from the labour ministry and its statutes were publicly registered in the official gazette the day before the government went into a summer recess.

But three weeks later, the government — which portrays itself as “feminist and in favour of the abolition of prostitution” according to Sanchez’s Twitter feed at the time — started legal moves against it.

In Spain, prostitution is neither legal nor illegal but it is tolerated.

Although it is not recognised as employment, there is a large number of licensed brothels throughout the country.

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