No proceedings held this morning, the panel of judges at the Beja Court began hearing the final arguments, starting with the Public Prosecutor’s Office (MP).
This case is part of the so-called “Operation Mirror,” conducted by the Judiciary Police in November 2023, addressing the alleged exploitation of dozens of immigrant workers on agricultural estates in Alentejo.
A total of 20 defendants, including 13 individuals and seven companies, have been indicted for the trial, which began on October 20 and is taking place at the facilities of the Baixo Alentejo Intermunicipal Community (CIMBAL) in Beja.
The case involves 30 counts of human trafficking, aiding illegal immigration, criminal conspiracy to aid illegal immigration, and money laundering, among others.
In the final arguments, the public prosecutor argued that insufficient evidence was presented against two of the defendants, a Spaniard and a Romanian, requesting their acquittal, as well as that of the companies they owned.
Of the eight individuals the Public Prosecutor deemed should be convicted, six are from Romania, one from Moldova, and the other from Portugal.
During her statement, the prosecutor noted that the future memory testimonies of the victims were spontaneous and consistent, whereas the defendants’ statements during the initial judicial interrogation—who did not speak at the trial—were contradictory and evasive.
The proceedings proved the allegations, as indicated by documentary evidence, such as text messages, phone conversations, and forensic reports, among other materials, the prosecutor stated.
According to the prosecutor, the defendants committed crimes that generate “repugnant feelings” and acted with “direct intent,” continuously, in a concerted and organized manner, creating companies to give the appearance of legality to their criminal activities, from which they obtained economic benefits.
The victims were brought to Portugal and remained illegal, under threat and with their documents kept by the defendants, even going “hungry and being forced to beg,” she said, questioning: “If this isn’t human trafficking, what is it?”
Throughout the trial, some defendants “left the process” to “be tried separately,” indicated one of the lawyers, Pedro Pestana, without specifying how many.
The case involves nearly a dozen lawyers, with this part of the final arguments already underway and set to continue in the afternoon.
According to the MP, the defendant identified as the leader of the alleged criminal network reportedly, since at least 2019, devised a plan to entice people from Romania, Moldova, Colombia, Morocco, and Peru, among other countries, to work in agriculture in Portugal, in various areas of Alentejo and Lisbon, and in Spain.
For this, according to the MP, he established professional relationships with agricultural operations to deploy the labor he recruited, with the presumed involvement of family members and acquaintances in this organizational structure.
For the MP, the alleged criminal activity continued until 2023, with the network aiming to “achieve maximum profit regardless of the working conditions and payment of these foreign citizens,” who supposedly had to comply with everything ordered, under threat of being assaulted by the defendants.
