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Radio France Internationale
Radio France Internationale
National
RFI

Traffickers jailed for up to four years for abusing champagne grape pickers

Three people were jailed for recruiting scores of undocumented workers, forcing them to work for long hours picking grapes to make champagne and live in squalid conditions. © Alain Julien / AFP

Three people were jailed on Monday for human trafficking after subjecting migrants from Africa to long working days and then housing them in appalling conditions during the 2023 grape harvest in the Champagne region of north-eastern France.

The main defendant, the director of a wine services company from Kyrgyzstan, was also charged with concealed work, employing foreigners without authorisation and with non-existent or insufficient remuneration.

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