Overview

• Defendants face charges of human trafficking, employing foreign nationals without authorization and providing undignified housing that harmed workers’ security, health and dignity
• The accused include the director of Anavim, two associates and two companies including a Marne viticultural cooperative
• Investigators found 50 to 60 migrant harvesters from Mali, Mauritania, Senegal and Ivory Coast living in dilapidated quarters with dirty sanitation, exposed wiring and no hot water
• Workers were promised €80 a day but received no wages and reported being threatened with knives when requesting breaks
• The trial follows 2023 heatstroke deaths of four grape pickers and involves a region that annually brings in about 120,000 seasonal workers