The owners of several massage parlours in Malta have been sentenced to seven years imprisonment for human trafficking and exploitation.
Winston-Joseph Gera and Zhang Tianxia were also found guilty of keeping workers in conditions described as “refined slavery” by the court.
The case was brought by two of the workers who claimed that on arrival in Malta their passports were confiscated and they were forced to work long hours with no time off.
As well as the prison sentence a number of massage parlours owned by the accused were confiscated.
