Phnom Penh municipal police arrested Frenchman Zerini Hassen, the 49-year-old proprietor of Le Cyrcee Club, on Tuesday night for operating a brothel, according to Keo Thea, deputy chief of the municipal anti-trafficking bureau.
Keo Thea said Wednesday that Hassen will be charged today with “prostitution” at the Municipal Court, based on his having employed 15 women, and complaints by two former employees.
Deputy Prosecutor Nget Sarath issued the arrest warrant for Hassen and will charge him under Article 4 and Article 5 of the anti-trafficking law, which pertain to pimping and provides a
5- to 10-year jail sentence, according to Nget Sarath’s clerk.
The clerk, who declined to be named, said that Hassen’s warrant was issued after two of Le Cyrcee Club’s female employees told police that Hassen forced them to have sex with a client against their will.
Hassen maintained that the girls were employed only as waitresses at his bar and paid $30 a month, the clerk said. He also said Hassen and his Vietnamese wife had been operating Le Cyrcee Club for more than one year, paying $800 a month for the venue in Daun Penh district’s Phsar Thmei III commune.
According to Aarti Kapoor, legal adviser for the anti-trafficking NGO Afesip, the two women arrived at her organization several weeks ago, complaining about Hassen. Afesip directed them to police. “They were forced to do things they didn’t want to do,” Kapoor said Wednesday.
She said both women were about 20-years-old and had consented to work as prostitutes, which is not a crime. Kapoor also said her organization is worried that the court will allow Hassen to go free.
(Additional reporting by Daniel Ten Kate)
