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Marjana Valkova’s story is typical of many women trafficked for forced prostitution. She is Bulgarian and spoke with Human Rights Watch at Korydallos Women’s Prison in Athens:
"I paid a man 350 German marks (approximately U.S. $162) to go to Greece since I had no papers. Instead, he brought me to Greece and sold me to a bar. He told me he would kill me if I left. We could not leave the house. There were twelve women, all of us from fifteen to twenty years old. The place was clean. We slept with a lot of men, ten men a day. We were beaten if we tried to leave. I was beaten with a belt. I was hurt. The others, too. The police came and arrested all of us women and brought us to a small prison. We were all there. The women were from Bulgaria, Romania, Russia, not from Africa really. I stayed for four months in prison. After that I went to court. Because I did not have papers, the court gave me three months [suspended sentence and immediate deportation] and told me I could not return to Greece for five years."
Marjana was in Korydallos in November 2000 serving a two- month sentence for re-entering Greece with her husband and child before the five-year waiting period had expired. At no time during her first or second incarceration was her status as a victim of trafficking taken into consideration. As with many women who are trafficked for forced prostitution, Greek law enforcement officials were only concerned with her status as an undocumented migrant and not with any abuse she suffered at the hands of her traffickers. Marjana was a victim of trafficking the first time she entered Greece but instead of being treated as a victim of a human rights abuse, she was punished with detention and the prohibition against re-entry (...).
Source:
Human Rights Watch (July 2001),
Memorandum Of Concern - Trafficking of Migrant Women for Forced Prostitution into Greece
*) "Marjana V.” is a randomly selected name assigned to protect the woman’s identity.