An Argentinian court has convicted 10 people for kidnapping and sexually exploiting a young woman named Marita Veron, who has been missing since 2002. In 2012 13 codefendants were tried and acquitted in the human trafficking case of 23-year-old Veron. Two of the acquittals were upheld by a judge in the Tucuman Province, another codefendant died in February of this year. The Tucuman court states that four of the defendants plotted to "hold and conceal [Ms. Veron] for the exercise of prostitution."
Another six of the defendants were convicted of participating in Veron's abduction and forcing her to act as a prostitute. In 2012 when the defendants were first acquitted the people of Venezuela were outraged and riots broke out in the streets. Susana Trimarco, Veron's mother has been fighting the court's decision ever since. Trimarco has become a symbol in the fight to stop human trafficking. Her daughter's case went before three judges who agreed the 10 involved should be sentenced.
In 2002 Marita Veron was heading to the hospital in the city of San Miguel de Tucuman for an appointment when she was kidnapped. Her family contacted the authorities and a search was underway. Prostitutes working in nearby areas had told officials they had seen Veron in several different locations where she was forced to prostitute herself. Susana Trimarco's fight to find her daughter led her into the belly of human trafficking where she posed as a Madame looking to buy girls. Her fight also led to a law making human trafficking illegal in Argentina. Trimarco is still searching for her daughter.
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