Sixteen members of a mostly female network of Nigerian human traffickers operating forced prostitution rings in France went on trial last week in Paris, facing their accusers as the trafficked women testified to being lied to, beaten and raped.
Plaintiffs at the High Court of Paris began giving testimony on May 14 against a group known as the “Authentic Sisters”, saying they were trafficked from Nigeria, abused and forced into prostitution. While eight women are testifying in the case, a total of 49 victims have come forward. The defendants are being tried for procuring and trafficking in human beings, crimes that carry a maximum sentence of 10 years.
“It is rare to get this many women to testify,” said a social worker for Bus De Femme, who did not want to be named for security reasons. Bus De Femme, an NGO that provides a range of health and social services to sex workers in Paris, provided pro-bono lawyers for the victims in the case.
In some cases the group’s volunteers and staff worked for years with the women to build up enough trust to convince them to testify. “These girls are often incredibly traumatised and terrified to speak out,” the social worker said. Nigerian members of Bus De Femme’s staff, some of whom are former sex workers themselves, played an integral part.
Of the 16 accused, 11 are women and five are men. Four are currently serving time in prison for previous offenses. The prosecution alleges the accused operated their prostitution network across multiple countries including France, Italy and Spain.
During the first week the judge heard testimony from four women and the preliminary defence from two alleged traffickers, Mark “Hilary” Irorere and his wife Happy Irorere, who are thought to have been the ringleaders responsible for coordinating the women’s affairs once they arrived in Europe.
Promised restaurant or nanny work
While the details of each victim’s testimony are different, important elements are common throughout, indicating there was a systematic approach to the trafficking operations. The plaintiffs, some under 18, claim that before leaving Nigeria they were promised economic opportunities in France unrelated to sex work. One plaintiff testified she was told she would be working in a new restaurant operated by one of the accused; another, that she would work as a nanny.
Before leaving Nigeria the women were taken to voodoo priests, some of whom used body scarification in a ritual to “seal” the women’s contracts with their traffickers. Other women were told they were haunted by “bad spirits” and must pay their traffickers upwards of €70,000 for protection. Plaintiffs testified that both the voodoo priests and their traffickers warned them not to tell anyone about the payments. They would face extreme punishment for talking to police, they said, and family members might be killed.
There have been numerous reports of voodoo priests being involved in Nigeria’s trafficking rings. Earlier this year Oba Ewuare ll, the traditional ruler of Nigeria’s kingdom of Benin – where 90 percent of Nigerian sex trafficking originates and where most of the plaintiffs are from – formally cursed those priests who take part, according to the New York Times. During a ceremony that all priests in the region were required to attend, he declared all people trafficked in his jurisdiction to be released from their voodoo bonds and placed a new curse on any priests continuing the practice.
The plaintiffs testified that they were given fake passports and visas, which they would pay for from the money they earned in the future. They were brought to the home of their future madame and were kept there under strict restrictions, except when they were out seeking new clients.
The women were forced to pay for expenses ranging from food to housing to various fees, totalling exorbitant amounts far in excess of what they were told upon beginning their journeys. Plaintiffs said they had no idea they would be forced t
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