High-profile human trafficking pre-trials of migrant worker victims have continued this week amid concerns about a lack of witness protection.
Witnesses, mostly victims of smuggling, provided their testimonies between Dec 24 and Dec 25 on how they got on boats and paid fees to middlemen to work in Thailand and Malaysia.
The pre-trials of these witnesses began on Tuesday and will continue until Jan 15.The actual hearings involving more than 400 witnesses will begin in March.
The suspects, currently 91 in total, included an army lieutenant-general, senior police officers, local politicians and local business figures accused of trafficking more than 100 ethnic Rohingya and Bangladeshis through illicit camps in Thailand.
Several mass graves were discovered last year near the Thai-Malaysian border, sparking an international outcry.
Following the May crackdown, smugglers began to abandon boats carrying migrants, leading to thousands of Bangladeshis and persecuted Rohingya Muslims being stranded at sea. (Courtesy of Rohingya Vision TV)
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