Vitebsk and Pskov to fight against slave trade together

VITEBSK, 15 July (BelTA) – The prosecutor's offices of Vitebsk Oblast and Pskov Oblast will team up to investigate and prevent trafficking related crimes, prosecutor of Vitebsk Oblast Gennady Dysko told reporters before the working meeting of members of the prosecutor’s offices of the Vitebsk and Pskov oblasts. Human trafficking is among the top concerns of Vitebsk Oblast. Over the two years and a half, the number of detected crimes has been growing. In 2009, only one human trafficking case was initiated, while in 2010 the number of such cases rose to 12, and over the six months of 2011 the figure increased to 19. The most common purpose of human trafficking is sexual exploitation. Girls are taken mostly to Moscow and Moscow Oblast. “Now we are focused on eliminating such crimes, to this end we need to step up prevention efforts, analyze the reasons and methods of these crimes and take steps to prevent them,” Gennady Dysko said. The cooperation with Pskov Oblast specialists can be very useful. Gennady Dysko expressed hope that Russian specialists will benefit from it, too. Pskov Oblast prosecutor Timur Kebekov emphasized that it is the first working meeting of representatives of prosecutor’s offices of the neighboring regions. In his opinion, this cooperation format is highly instrumental in the fight against human trafficking. Pskov Oblast is interested in sharing best practices, communicating views and information because it has not detected any crimes of this kind yet. “May be after studying the experience and achievements of our Vitebsk counterparts we will be able to ramp up efforts to detect such crimes that are of latent character,” Timur Kebekov underlined. The parties are also set to discuss other cooperation avenues, including contraband, he added.

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