The Lapland District Court has ruled in favor of Thai berry pickers exploited in Finland, sentencing two executives of the berry company Kiantama to prison for aggravated human trafficking, writes Yle.fi
CEO Vernu Vasunta received a three-and-a-half-year prison sentence for 62 counts of aggravated human trafficking, while the company’s Thai coordinator, Kalyakorn “Durian” Phongphit, was handed a three-year sentence. The crimes were committed in 2022.
The court found that Thai berry pickers had been trapped in debt before even starting work, having been overcharged for flights, visas, and food. Once in Finland, they faced conditions that the court concluded amounted to human trafficking.
In addition to the prison sentences, the executives were ordered to pay more than 600,000 euros in compensation for the financial losses and suffering of the workers, and 279,000 euros in damages. The company itself must pay a 100,000 euro fine.
The case marks a significant victory for the Thai pickers, whose testimony revealed how they were systematically exploited while harvesting berries in Finland.
The verdict will probably be appealed, says Vaunta’s attorney, Tomi Tanskanen, to Yle.fi
[…] this year, a Finnish court also ruled in favour of exploited Thai berry pickers, granting reparations in a separate but similar […]