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Cambodian police hunt Romanian on 'slave trade' charge

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August 17, 2000
Web posted at: 11:27 a.m. HKT (0327 GMT)

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (Reuters) -- Cambodian police said on Wednesday they were hunting a Romanian woman charged in absentia with human trafficking after seven Eastern European women were rescued from a hotel where they say they were held as sex slaves.

"We charged her this morning with human trafficking, and we are continuing the investigation," said Phnom Penh municipal court chief prosecutor Ouk Savuth.

Military police said they have been searching since Sunday for the woman, 30-year-old Norica Topirceanu. Officials had earlier given her name as Topirceanu Norica.

The seven women, aged between 18 and 24, said they arrived in Phnom Penh on July 25 after being promised jobs as dancers by a Romanian company but found they were going to work as hostesses and prostitutes.

One of the women, Claudia, 23, told Reuters they were imprisoned in a hotel during the day and bused to another hotel's nightclub every evening to entertain high-level officials.

"We never had sex," she said. "The customers paid for us to go out and have sex, but we refused and their money was given back."

Human rights officials in Phnom Penh tipped off police to the women's whereabouts on Sunday, after being contacted by relatives in Romania.

A human rights official said on Wednesday that the women would return to their home countries of Romania and Moldova soon.

Copyright 2000 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

ASIANOW


RELATED STORIES:
Cambodia's growing experiment with unionism
August 13, 2000
Cambodian publishers meet government, petition over press freedom
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Cambodia to appeal Khmer Rouge officer acquittal
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RELATED SITES:
CIA -- The World Factbook 1999 -- Cambodia
Lonely Planet - Destination Cambodia


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