VZCZCXRO5997
RR RUEHIK
DE RUEHKB #0863/01 3060932
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 020932Z NOV 09
FM AMEMBASSY BAKU
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 1973
INFO RUCNCIS/CIS COLLECTIVE
RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES
RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA 3635
RUEHVJ/AMEMBASSY SARAJEVO 0017
RUEHBW/AMEMBASSY BELGRADE
RUEHSQ/AMEMBASSY SKOPJE 0017
RHMFISS/CDR USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHINGTON DC
RUEKDIA/DIA WASHDC
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS
RUEHVEN/USMISSION USOSCE 1511

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BAKU 000863 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR EUR/CARC, EUR/PGI, DRL, G/TIP, EUR/ACE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV KDEM PHUM PREL PINR KTIP BK SR AJ
SUBJECT: AZERBAIJAN: LARGE TRAFFICKING RING OF BOSNIAN 
SERBS DISCOVERED 
 
BAKU 00000863  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY: On October 28 poloff and OSCE were 
introduced by a local NGO to a house full of victims of 
trafficking for labor exploitation.  There are about 346 
mostly Bosnian Serb men who were brought over the last six 
months to Azerbaijan to work on construction projects. 
According to their stories, a Serbian company called SerbAz 
brought them to Azerbaijan.  Their living conditions are very 
poor, and they have not been paid for five months of labor. 
Passports reportedly have been confiscated.  OSCE is leading 
the humanitarian effort to help these victims and the 
diplomatic effort to ensure the GOAJ investigates and 
prosecutes the case. END SUMMARY. 
 
¶2. (SBU) On October 28 poloff, along with representatives of 
the OSCE, was taken by a local NGO, Azerbaijan Migration 
Center, to a residence being used to house 71 victims of 
trafficking for labor exploitation.  In conversations with 
the victims, poloff learned that they are approximately 90 
percent Bosnian Serbs, although there are some Serbian and 
Macedonian citizens in the group as well. Several of the 
victims said they were from Banja Luka, but information on 
town of birth of the rest of the victims is not yet 
available.  There are four other residences being used to 
house these victims, for a total of 346 people.  There are 
approximately 150 more victims housed in Mingachevir, a city 
northwest of Baku.  The victims say there were 700 victims at 
one point, although they have started to be sent back to 
Bosnia in small groups. 
 
¶3. (SBU) Through conversations with the two de facto leaders 
of the group of victims, Sasha Krivoslje and Sinise 
Novakovic, along with supplemental information from the 
Azerbaijan Migration Center (AMC), who discovered the group 
one week ago and has been trying to help them since, poloff 
was able to put together some information about their 
situation.  They were recruited in Bosnia (Respublika Srpska, 
both leaders are from Banja Luka) by a company called SerbAz 
that promised them a sliding scale of payment of five to 
seven USD per hour to work on construction projects in 
Azerbaijan.  One of the recruiters is named Miroslav 
Vucenovic.  They paid themselves for a bus ticket to 
Belgrade, and 250 euros (370 USD) to the company for 
facilitating the trip.  They were then put on a plane from 
Belgrade to Baku, and bought tourist visas upon arrival at 
the Baku Airport.  In the airport they were met by a Bosnian 
Serb named Sasha Lipovac, who took their passports and 
dropped them off at one of the housing locations.  The 
victims seem mostly to have arrived in Azerbaijan between 
April and June. 
 
¶4. (SBU) Conditions in the house are extremely poor.  There 
are bunk beds squished into every corner of the house, with 
10 to 25 men living in each room.  There is only one bathroom 
with no hot water.  The kitchen is tiny and has no potable 
water. There is clear evidence of organization however, as 
each person's name is written on his bunk and on the small 
cabinet where he can keep his belongings.  OSCE 
representatives confirm that conditions in the other houses 
are if anything worse than the one poloff visited.  The two 
leaders have been moved to a safe house, although SerbAz 
representative Lipovac, descriebd by the victims as the "big 
criminal," found the safe house and threatened the men until 
the police and NGO representatives arrived. 
 
¶5. (SBU) The Bosnians were bused from the houses to one of 
five work sites every day.  One of the work sites may have 
been Buta Palas, a large convention center used by the GOAJ 
for official events.  In Mingachevir, the site was the 
Mingachevir Olympic Center, run by the GOAJ.  There were 
picked up at 5am, given breakfast at their work site, and 
then worked from 7am to 7pm. They were bused directly home 
from work.  They were told they needed passes from the 
company to leave their houses, and not to tlk to anyone. 
Any violations of the rules would esult in fines deducted 
from their paychecks. 
¶6. (SBU) However, the promised payment for hours worked never 
materialized.  Some victims reported receiving 100 USD for 
 
BAKU 00000863  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
their first month, only a fraction of what they were due, 
then nothing else.  The men are currently not working, 
although it is unclear when they stopped working and how that 
was decision was made.  They are all asking for compensation 
from the company and their passports and tickets back to 
Bosnia.  Every few days a group of 8 to 15 people are called 
to the SerbAz office, reportedly located in the same building 
as the Ministry of Youth and Sport.  The men are given a 
small portion of the wages due them , then driven to the 
airport and put on a plane back to Bosnia or Serbia.  AMC has 
been in contact with the NGOs "La Strada" in Bosnia and 
"ASTRA" in Belgrade, who have been able to meet some of these 
victims on their arrival in these countries and provide 
assistance.  Krivoslje was offered this deal, but he wants to 
stay in Baku until all the men are freed.  He took the money, 
but the SerbAz officer, who Krivoslje believes works at the 
Ministry of Youth and Sport, refused to give him his passport 
until they were at the airport.  Krivoslje refused this deal, 
and was threatened by the official.  After moving to a safe 
house, Krivoslje continued to be threatened, and subsequently 
decided to go to Belgrade, where he was met by ASTRA. 
 
¶7. (SBU) While Bosnia and Herzegovina has no diplomatic 
representation in Azerbaijan, the victims managed to contact 
their consul in Turkey, Brane Pecanac.  Pecanac came to 
Azerbaijan for three days (date of visit unclear) and met 
with SerbAz and the victims.  At the end of the visit, 
Pecanac told the victims that everything was fine and their 
passports were safe.  The victims are now extremely angry 
that their consul would not help them. 
 
Aid to the Victims 
------------------ 
 
¶8. (SBU) AMC has distributed a short questionnaire to all of 
the victims in order to collect basic evidence on each of 
their cases.  They have also provided some potable water and 
medical care.  Victims say that two men have already died of 
heart attacks while at the house, and a third one was very 
sick and finally sent back to Bosnia where he died six days 
later.  OSCE is beginning to provide food aid, and is taking 
the lead on diplomatic approaches to the Ministry of Foreign 
Affairs and Ministry of Internal Affairs to urge them to 
investigate and prosecute this case. 
LU