Bern Chinese man on trial for human trafficking and prostitution
A 39-year-old man in court in Bern: the accused is accused of bringing Chinese migrant workers to Switzerland. He is said to have specifically recruited helpless women and trafficked them as sex workers.
18.11.2025, 17:42
SDA
The most important facts at a glance
- A 39-year-old Chinese man has been charged in Bern for allegedly luring Chinese women to Switzerland for sex work under false promises.
- The defendant allegedly took half of the earnings and encouraged the women to engage in dangerous practices.
- Some of the women had to pay for their own accommodation and lodging.
- The man is said to have specifically sought out women who had no language skills and were unable to cope on their own.
A 39-year-old Chinese man has to stand trial in Bern today for allegedly exploiting Chinese migrant workers as sex workers in various Swiss cities. The regional court of first instance will announce its verdict on Friday, November 21.
The court will hear ten cases in the period from 2018 to 2021 in which the man, sometimes together with another person, lured Chinese women in difficult economic and social circumstances to Switzerland as "massage girls" with false promises.
They were then forced to work here as prostitutes. In over 60 other proven cases, it was only an attempt. The accused took 50 percent of the women's income. He dictated the working conditions and in some cases also encouraged the women to engage in sex practices that were dangerous to their health and risky, the public prosecutor's office accuses him.
Today, the man admitted that the women did not have legal residence and work permits and were in Switzerland illegally. The indictment shows that he rented apartments for the women, for example via the Airbnb platform, for several days or weeks, where they then had to offer their services.
Barely there, already serving clients
In some cases, the women had to pay for the apartments and their meals themselves. A few days before the women arrived, the man placed advertisements on relevant internet platforms. The accused picked the women up at the train station, took them to the apartment and there they immediately had to serve the first customers.
There were allegedly up to ten clients a day. The accused emphasized in court that he only accompanied the clients to the women's apartments and then his job was done. Unlike in a brothel, the women were then free to decide at what price they wanted to work.
He admitted that he sometimes negotiated with regular customers himself. In the end, however, the decision was up to the women. He respected the women as business partners. Women who had good language skills or a legal residence permit, or those who wanted to negotiate other conditions, were turned away by the man, according to the indictment.
Targeted search for helpless women?
He specifically sought out women who he could assume would not be able to cope on their own in Switzerland. The accused negotiated with the clients without consulting the women. The sex workers could not have refused the clients. Instead, they had to report to the accused when clients came and went and whether they had paid the agreed price.
Sometimes the accused also lived in the rented apartments - according to the indictment, in order to have direct control over the women. The accused himself spoke of one case in which one of the women had been afraid to stay in the apartment alone. He then protected her.
According to the prosecution, the coronavirus pandemic made the situation even worse for the sex workers, as it was no longer possible to return home to China. Some of the women were already in Switzerland illegally or had traveled to Switzerland from another European country.
The accused needed the money he collected from the women for his livelihood and to satisfy his gambling addiction. In order to circumvent a gambling ban in the casino, he presented forged documents in China, as he admitted in court.