Moroccan Restaurant Owner Sentenced to Prison for Human Trafficking in Rouen

After several hearings, the trial of the 62-year-old Moroccan restaurateur, accused of human trafficking, has come to an end. The sexagenarian was sentenced to one year in prison, fines of 36,000 euros, 6,000 euros for three of the employees and 9,000 euros for the other two, reports France Bleu Normandie. An arrest warrant was issued against this former manager of a bakery in Rouen and two restaurants located near Évreux. Describing the former employees as "modern slaves" of the Moroccan boss, the judges had, in July 2021, sentenced the Moroccan boss to one year in prison, but without a committal order.

This case came to light following the filing of a complaint by one of the five employees, all in their sixties - Moroccans without papers. The facts took place between 2014 and 2016. M. B., a cook at the restaurant Au Palais du Maroc in Claville in 2015, recounted his experience with his former boss who had recruited him with the promise of regularizing his situation and a salary.

"Differential treatment between regular and irregular employees, workdays of more than 15 hours, unfit accommodation, rats and even a dead mouse found on the floor of a room, access to the shower once a week ’because water is expensive’, remuneration - when there is any - well below the workload," they denounced.