Berry picker testifies as human trafficking trial resumes in Lapland

After gathering 3,500 kg of berries, at the end of the season the picker was paid a total of 115 euros, according to the worker’s testimony.

A criminal trial related to dozens of counts of aggravated human trafficking by leaders of a berry picking company resumed on Tuesday at Lapland District Court.

The defendants in the case include the CEO of berry firm Kiantama, Vernu Vasunta and the company’s Thai business partner Kalyakorn “Durian” Phongpit. They stand accused of 62 counts of aggravated human trafficking and both have denied guilt.

A total of 32 berry pickers are scheduled to testify in the trial remotely, either from Finland or Thailand.

During testimony on Tuesday, one of the firm’s berry pickers described the operation’s conditions.

“I was always homesick at mealtimes. We were given two salmon heads, two chicken legs or two eggs with each meal. I lost ten kilos during the picking season,” the worker testified.

The berry picker said that other workers at the camp lost weight due to the situation.

“At first there were only chubby people and at the end [of the season) there were only skinny ones,” the worker testified.

The worker also testified that the pickers had to eat meals cold in the forest, saying that the food was of poor quality and there wasn’t enough of it. The worker also claimed that the chicken and rice they were offered was sometimes raw.

Yle has not published the names of the workers involved in the case, due to privacy concerns.

According to the prosecutor, the company’s CEO and its business partner brought the Thai berry pickers to Finland to use them in forced labour under inhumane conditions. The prosecution has called for the defendants to serve jail sentences of three to four years.

“We were only told to ‘sign, sign’.”

Testimony heard on Tuesday included details about the workers’ employment contracts as well as the conditions at berry picking camps.

The worker told the court that the defendants did not offer the prospective berry pickers an opportunity to read the contracts before they were signed in Thailand.

“We were only told to ‘sign, sign’. We didn’t have a chance to read the pages of the contract. There were so many. I saw that others had signed, so I did too,” the picker testified.

According to the contract, the pickers effectively agreed to pick berries for 90 euros per day, every day. In practice, this meant filling around ten 10-litre buckets of bilberries (wild blueberries), or 21 pails of lingonberries, every day.

The job contract also stipulated that the pickers agree to be responsible for themselves as well as other pickers in their group. Additionally, the contract stated that if the workers did not pick enough to pay for their daily trips to picking sites, they would need to pay back such expenses.

“We didn’t have the chance to ask questions about the contract. There were so many people there, it was busy and we were told to put our names on the papers and pass them on,” the worker testified.

The worker also said that it was difficult to understand how it could be possible to not be paid despite having carried out the difficult work.

“I remember we were warned about [the dangers] of poisonous snakes and bears in Finland that we needed to be careful about. We were told that berry picking is diffícult, and that if we work hard, we could earn good money. I thought I would be able to earn 100,000 baht (around 2,700 euros),” the picker testified.

However, at the end of the season the company paid the picker 115 euros, after the worker picked a total of around 3,500 kg of berries, according to the worker’s testimony.

“I felt very exhausted. I thought that if I worked, I would be able to take some money home. I wouldn’t have come if I’d know I’d get so little money,” the worker told the court.

The worker who testified on Tuesday was first interviewed by police in the autumn of 2022 during a preliminary investigation into the case.

32 workers to testify

According to the defendants’ attorneys, there are conflicts between the workers’ statements during the police’s probe and those made in court. In replies to several questions, the berry picker said it was not possible to accurately remember things that took place more than two years ago.

While there are a total of 62 interested parties in the case — the berry pickers — just over half of them will end up testifying, with a day of the hearings devoted to each one.

According to special prosecutor Maarit Kuivala, generally the goal is to have all interested parties testify. However, in this case the number of those heard will be limited, mainly due to costs and other challenges.

“Several points can also be submitted as written evidence, but in any case, cost issues have played a central role,” Kuivala told Yle in an email.

According to Kuivala, the workers that will testify in this case were chosen so that interested parties from each of the company’s berry picking camps will be heard by the court.

The trial began in September and the case is expected to continue until the end of March 2024.

Related stories from around the North: 

Canada: Health services reduced in 6 Nunavut communities amid staff shortages, CBC News

Finland: Berry firm execs face human trafficking charges in Lapland court, Yle News

Greenland: Greenland to reduce services amidst staffing shortages in health care system, Eye on the Arctic

Russia: Critical workforce shortage grips Russia’s North, The Independent Barents Observer