Fifteen Moroccan seasonal workers have denounced what they described as “modern-day slavery” in southern France, alleging they paid up to €12,000 to secure seasonal farm contracts and were later subjected to long hours and poor living and working conditions, France Press Agency (AFP) reported.
The workers appeared before a court in Nimes on Tuesday, where prosecutor Nathalie Welte said the alleged conditions amounted to human trafficking in the case of three of the four defendants.
Welte requested suspended prison sentences ranging from one year to 18 months, along with fines of between €50,000 and €150,000.
One of the workers, identified as Abderrahim B., told the court he paid €12,000 in cash to Moroccan recruiter Hamid B. after being promised a seasonal contract and a monthly salary of €2,500.
“I had to pay to work,” he said, according to AFP.
Investigators said the workers were recruited in Morocco by Hamid B. and his wife, Nazia K., who handled the administrative procedures.
The workers alleged they were required to work up to 13 hours a day in orchards in France’s Gard region, sometimes for as many as 60 hours a week. They said they worked without access to water, toilets or changing rooms and were subjected to insults, humiliation, bullying and degrading treatment.
Investigators said the alleged system had been operating for at least three years.
The workers also alleged that Hamid B. and his wife took their identity documents after they paid the recruitment fees. They said they were housed for €150 a month in unfurnished rooms without hot water, with some workers sleeping on the floor because there were not enough beds.
They further alleged that overtime was not properly paid and that they were required to pay additional fees if they wanted to return for another seasonal contract the following year.
Hamid B. denied the accusations, while farmer Geoffrey M. denied knowing about the workers’ living conditions or payments allegedly made to secure the contracts, according to AFP.
France’s Confederation Paysanne, which joined the case as a civil party, said the proceedings highlighted what it described as systemic violence against foreign workers and the need to combat their exploitation.
The court’s ruling was not immediately reported.
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