Court convicts 26 members of prostitution ring

Vilnius City District Court has convicted 26 members of an organised group for profiting from the prostitution of others, robberies, breaches of public order and causing physical pain, LRT reported on Friday, citing the Prosecutor General’s Office.

The defendants received prison sentences of varying lengths and fines. The court also ordered the confiscation of more than 500,000 euros in cash and other property.

According to the case file, two Lithuanian citizens, a man and a woman, formed the group in Spain in early 2018 to profit from the prostitution of others. Over the following two years, 38 more Lithuanian citizens were brought into the group and assigned various roles.

Investigators established that group members recruited women abroad who agreed to provide sexual services for payment, arranged their travel to Lithuania and accommodation in different cities, placed online advertisements, found clients and collected the money. The group brought at least 247 women to Lithuania from Moldova, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Belarus and Russia.

The convicted individuals collected half of the women’s earnings and received at least 456,000 euros in illegal income in 2018 and 2019, according to the Prosecutor General’s Office.

Investigators also found grounds to believe that some group members intimidated other women providing sexual services in an effort to reduce competition and increase their profits. They allegedly posed as prospective clients to learn the exact addresses where the women worked, then threatened them. The women were subjected to physical violence and had money and other property taken from them. Knives, telescopic batons, pepper spray and electric shock devices were allegedly used for intimidation, while apartment or stairwell doors and other property were set on fire.

The group’s alleged organisers, identified as V. V. and E. G., were later detained abroad. One was extradited from Spain to Lithuania under a European arrest warrant in November 2019. The other was transferred to Lithuania in summer 2020 after being detained in Colombia and deported to the United Kingdom.

Ten people were recognised as victims in the case, and the court upheld five civil claims. Restrictions were placed on the defendants’ property to secure payment of the claims. Another 12 people were exempted from criminal liability under surety arrangements. Separate proceedings over the illegal possession of narcotic or psychotropic substances were concluded by court penal orders.

The case file comprised about 200 volumes. The pre-trial investigation was conducted by officers from the Organised Crime Investigation Board of the Vilnius County Chief Police Commissariat under the direction of a prosecutor from the Organised Crime and Corruption Investigation Department of the Prosecutor General’s Office.

The verdict may be appealed.