Promoters On Prostitution Charges

Four women reported to be booking agents are to appear in a Lithuanian court on prostitution charges, according to reports in local papers including the Baltic Times.

Daiva Mondeikiene, founder of concert and event agency Harmonijos Pasaulis, which roughly translates as "world of harmony," and three members of staff – Nadezhda Nitiuk, Edita Gabaliene and Julija Tislenko – are alleged to have run a racket that supplied prostitutes for wealthy Arabs.

All four suspects have been freed but have had to provide written guarantees to not leave the country. The case will be heard at Klaipeda’s district court on a date to be scheduled. Some European newswires are reporting that the women are expected to enter differing pleas.

The Vilnius-based women are said to have built up a network of contacts from sending Lithuanian performers to work in hotels and restaurants in the UAE.

According to BT, investigators believe Gabaliene was selecting women in Lithuania for the sex work, while Nitiuk and Tislenk worked as escorts on the trips.

The case was investigated by the Criminal Police Office and General Prosecution Services.

It’s estimated that about 280 women were involved in the prostitution ring, though the case deals with a smaller number as investigations into other offenses are still ongoing.

It’s alleged that from 2001 to 2005, the suspects induced girls to travel to the United Arab Emirates, England, France, Monaco and the Seychelles by promising them modeling jobs.

Some of the women were then involved in prostitution. A total of 19 such incidents were investigated. Some of the women are believed to have been under the age of sexual consent at the time of the alleged offenses.

A General Prosecution Service statement says that enough data was obtained during the pretrial investigation to allow the prosecutors to charge Mondeikene with organizing groups for the purpose of profit, allocating roles to accomplices in the trade and organizing prostitution, i.e. trafficking women abroad, including underaged girls, by deceit or with their consent.

The indictment also states that other members of the group kept in contact with foreign clients, wrote e-mails to them, sent pictures of the girls, provided their personal contacts and selected the girls to be involved in prostitution.