KAZAKHSTAN: TWO SEX TRAFFICKERS GET SEVEN YEARS

UNCLAS ASTANA 001267 SIPDIS STATE FOR INL/AAE (ALTON),G/TIP (HALL),SCA/CEN (O'MARA),TASHKENT (ALLEN) SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: SNAR KCRM KCOR PREL PGOV KZ UZ SUBJECT: KAZAKHSTAN: TWO SEX TRAFFICKERS GET SEVEN YEARS ¶1. On May 4, a local procurator in Aktobe, Kazakhstan announced that two Uzbekistani traffickers working in Kazakhstan had been sentenced the previous week to seven years in prison. Post's contacts at the Ministry of Internal Affairs confirmed the convictions. ¶2. Investigating based on a tip received in November 2006, the Procurator for the Western Region Transport Police discovered that one trafficker tricked poor young women from Nukus, Uzbekistan into coming to Kazakhstan and then prostituted them. The other trafficker, a woman, was arrested in December 2006 while pimping at a railway station. After court deliberations, the two traffickers were convicted under Article 128 of the Criminal Code of Kazakhstan, trafficking in persons. ORDWAY