Evgueni Mataev found guilty of pimping, assault in human trafficking case
After 18 days of deliberation, a jury at the Montreal courthouse found Evgeni Mataev guilty of two charges related to a case involving human trafficking.
Mataev was found guilty of assault and pimping, but there was a hung jury on the charge of human trafficking.
Crown prosecutor Pascal Dostelar said that it was quite possibly the longest deliberation in a jury trial in Quebec history.
A woman, whose name cannot be published because it is subject to a publication ban, testified via video that Mataev kept her as a sex slave for six months.
This was the second trial in the case, after a judge ordered a halt to the first trial. The reasons for that are also covered by a publication ban.
Mataev stood trial along with four co-defendants. Three of them were acquitted of all charges, and there was a hung jury for the fourth defendant on the charge of forcible confinement.
Dostelar said he will now consider whether to convene a third trial on the charges the jury could not agree on.
