Indonesian jailed U.S. for slavery

Indonesian jailed U.S. for slavery

Agence France-Presse, Los Angeles, California

An Indonesian woman was jailed for nearly four years on Monday
for forcing a maid from her home country into virtual slavery in
the United States.

U.S. District Judge Christina Snyder put Mariska Trisanti
behind bars for 46 months and warned that she could face
deportation upon her release after she admitted a year ago to
holding a young woman in involuntary servitude.

As U.S. authorities crack down on human trafficking, Assistant
U.S. Attorney General for Civil Rights, Alexander Acosta, said
that holding a person in involuntary servitude was "morally
reprehensible."

"The Justice Department is committed to aggressively
investigating and prosecuting those who perpetrate this ancient
evil," he said.

Trisanti brought the victim to Los Angeles on a tourist visa
in 1997 to work for her as a nanny and housekeeper for two years,
federal prosecutors said.

But after the woman arrived, Trisanti confiscated her
passport, used threats and physical abuse to force her to work 17
hours a day, seven days a week and eventually stopped paying her
during her three-year ordeal.

In order to control her servant, the abusive employer told the
woman, who was not identified, that if the she tried to escape,
she would be arrested and put in jail.

The terrified maid finally escaped in 2000, along with another
woman, when Tresanti was away on a trip to Indonesia.

Tresanti could have faced a maximum sentence of 20 years in
jail and US$250,000 fine. Trisanti's husband, Herri Nasution, was
sentenced last year to three years of probation.