The 64 suspects charged with trafficking dozens of women into prostitution appeared in the Perm Regional Court on Monday, the prosecutor in the case, Alexander Utyomov, told The Moscow Times. "The case is unprecedented in terms of the number of suspects," Utyomov said by telephone.
The suspects are accused of luring 34 women, including 14 minors, among them three girls under the age of 14, into prostitution in Perm from 1999 to 2006.
"They recruited those girls by promising them money and a fancy life," Utyomov said.
They have also been charged with forming an organized crime group, Kseniya Kochetova, deputy head of the criminal cases department of the Perm Regional Court, said by telephone.
The defendants face up to eight years in prison if convicted of luring women into prostitution, up to 10 years if convicted of organizing a prostitution ring and up to 15 years if convicted of forming an organized crime group. The suspects are to be tried by jury.
The purported leaders of the prostitution ring were arrested in Perm in May 2006 in a three-hour police operation that involved 100 police officers.
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