Belgian monks accused of human trafficking

This 2015 video is about the 18th century library of the Saint Stephen Augustinian monastery in Ghent in Belgium.

Monastic order in Ghent accused of human trafficking

Today, 09:17

The Public Prosecutor in Ghent wants to prosecute the leadership of a convent of the Augustinian Friars for human trafficking. According to the Belgian TV channel VRT, the three suspects, including the abbot, in recent years had lured twenty men from Africa and Asia to their monastery under false pretenses.

They supposedly would be trained to become priests, but they were not trained and had to work for free instead, is the charge. “They were forbidden all that time to leave the convent.” …

The three clerics are suspected not only of trafficking human beings and social fraud, but also of forgery. The twenty victims were from Benin, Togo, Ivory Coast and Vietnam. In two weeks’ time it will be decided whether the case will go to court.