BAHRAIN’S highest court has ordered a retrial in the case of two women convicted of human trafficking.
The Cassation Court pointed out a procedural flaw in the initial hearing of the Russian defendants sentenced to 10 years and three years in prison for luring a 19-year-old girl to Bahrain with the promise of a fashion model job and then forcing her into the sex trade.
A new set of judges who were not involved in the original hearing will hear the defence arguments at the retrial in the High Criminal Court.
Last year, the two women, known by their pseudonyms ‘Albina’ and ‘Elina’, were convicted of forcing the Russian girl into the sex work, depriving her of her freedom and living off her earnings.
In April 2023, the High Criminal Court sentenced Albina, aged 32, in absentia to 10 years behind bars, and 33-year-old Elina to three years in jail. It also ruled that both should be deported after completing their jail term.
In addition, both were fined BD2,000 and ordered to pay the costs of repatriating their victim.
Though Albina attempted to object to the verdict in the first instance court (High Criminal Court), the judges refused to hear her objection as she was at large at the time.
In October 2023, the two defendants appealed the ruling at the Supreme Criminal Appeals Court, but the ruling was upheld.
Finally, last month, the Cassation Court ruled to return the case to the court that issued it, after finding that technical errors occurred during the previous stages of the trial.
According to judges, this required the past verdicts to be thrown out and for a trial to begin anew. Albina finally appeared in court earlier this week.
Meanwhile, the Public Prosecution is fiercely opposing the second chance the duo has been given, and called on the court to convict them once again and penalise them to the fullest extent of the law.
“The evidence we have presented speaks for itself and will surely prove the great sin that the defendants have committed,” read the prosecution memorandum.
“Each piece of evidence set forth in front of you is more damning than the one before it, and are strong grounds for conviction.”
The teenage victim told prosecutors that she had responded to a fashion model job listing on social media and arrived Bahrain with Albina, the GDN previously reported.
She said she was received at the airport by Elina, who welcomed her and took her to her lodgings, but was later surprised when Albina told her that she had to work as a prostitute.
She added that she was told she would have to pay the duo $2,500 (BD940) as immigration expenses, and that they threatened to report her to the police on drug charges if she did not comply.
Even though the April 2023 verdict was issued in the first circuit of the High Criminal Court, the case is again being heard in the same court.
However, all the judges presiding over the first circuit have changed since then, which makes it permissible for the retrial to be conducted in the same court.
The session was adjourned to August 12 for review.
zainab@gdnmedia.bh
&uuid=(email))