An investigation was opened this Friday for “human trafficking” against seven people suspected of having employed, in “unworthy” conditions, dozens of people in the Bordeaux vineyards.
The seven suspects arrested Tuesday in three municipalities in eastern Gironde, including Saint-Emilion, were charged with “trafficking in human beings by an organized gang”, “concealing a crime” and “subjecting vulnerable people to conditions of unworthy work and accommodation”, indicated the Libourne (Gironde) public prosecutor’s office, which requested their placement in pre-trial detention.
“Insignificant salary” and “unworthy accommodation conditions”
According to the judicial authority, this network recruited workers from Romania, transported them to Gironde and employed them in the vineyards for “a paltry salary”. Since September 2022, “several dozen victims”, including a 14-year-old minor and all of Romanian nationality, have filed a complaint, denouncing in particular “unworthy accommodation conditions, bullying and various deprivations”.
The number of complaints from “exploited people” in the wine industry is “increasing in recent years”, underlined the Libourne public prosecutor’s office. In the spring, in Gironde, three people were sentenced for “trafficking” in Moroccan wine workers.
In Champagne (North-East), in September, two investigations for “trafficking in human beings” were opened and collective accommodation for grape pickers, deemed “unsanitary” and “unworthy”, were closed by the authorities.