Argentine court finds all defendants innocent in high-profile sex slave trial

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina – Judges in Argentina have found all the defendants innocent in the high-profile case of a woman who was allegedly kidnapped and forced into prostitution a decade ago.

The 13 defendants were charged with kidnapping and forcing Marita Veron to be a prostitute in 2002.

Her mother Susana Trimarco launched a one-woman campaign to find her, and rescued hundreds of women from sex slavery along the way. She’s been honoured by the US State Department and the Argentine government, and even nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize, but she’s never found her daughter.

More than 150 witnesses testified, including a dozen former sex slaves who described brutal conditions in the brothels.

But there was no physical evidence linking the defendants to Marita Veron, and no trace of her body.

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