Three of the alleged members were prosecuted. They would be in charge of contacting victims and coordinating their departure from the country so that they could reach Turkey, where they were subjected to improper treatment and forced to work long hours as dancers without a payment.
The testimonies of 18 victims and evidence obtained by the Attorney General’s Office revealed a human trafficking network accused of convincing young artists to travel to Turkey, holding them in that country and exploiting them for work amid cruel and improper treatment.
Three of the alleged members of the criminal organization were identified and were brought before a judge. This is about Wilmer Carabalí, Andrés Felipe Corrales Robledo and Yessica Lorena Morales Pinilla, who were charged by a prosecutor appointed to the branch office in Bogotá (Seccional Bogotá) with conspiracy to commit crimes and human trafficking, both aggravated offenses.
The investigation allowed to establish that Yessica Lorena Morales Pinilla, apparently, contacted the victims in dance academies located in Ibagué (Tolima) and offered them work in Turkey with monthly salaries of up to 600 euros. On the other hand, Wilmer Carabalí and Andrés Felipe Corrales Robledo were allegedly in charge of carrying out the paperwork in Cali (Valle del Cauca) so that the artists could travel abroad.
Two of the network’s liaisons were in charge of welcoming the young men to Turkey, where they were taken to a hotel in undignified and precarious conditions crammed into a single room, without drinking water and without food for several days. In addition, they were forced to work long hours as dancers, for which they did not receive a payment. Several of the artists who traveled had health complications and did not receive the appropriate medical assistance.
According to the judge’s decision, both men must serve a prison sentence; while Yéssica Lorena Morales Pinilla will remain linked to the investigation.
The information contained in this press release corresponds to the narration of the objective news provided by the officials in charge of carrying out criminal investigations within the Office of the Attorney General. By the time this communication is disclosed, the legal status of the people mentioned is still pending to be resolved by the competent judicial authority, always under the presumption of innocence contemplated by Article 29 of the Political Constitution and Article 7 of Law 906 of 2004.