HELSINKI, Sept. 5 (Xinhua) -- The Lapland District Court has sentenced Vernu Vasunta, CEO of Finnish berry company Kiantama, to three and a half years in prison and banned him from business activities until 2029 for 62 counts of aggravated human trafficking involving dozens of Thai workers, Finnish broadcaster Yle reported Friday.
His associate, Thai national Kalyakorn Phongphit, received a three-year sentence on the same charges.
Together with the two defendants, Kiantama, one of Finland's largest berry companies, was ordered to pay over 600,000 euros (702,000 U.S. dollars) in compensation to the workers, along with legal and trial costs.
According to the court, Thai berry pickers recruited for the 2022 harvest were misled about their income prospects and living conditions. Once in Finland, they faced exploitative arrangements amounting to forced labor. Each picker collected 2,400-4,000 kg of berries during a 10-week season, but most earned only a few hundred euros after deductions for travel, food, accommodation and vehicles.
The ruling noted that workers' passports were often collected by camp supervisors, while many had signed debt agreements before arrival, leaving them financially and logistically dependent on the company. They were also not informed of their right to sell berries independently.
Lawyers for the defendants said they intend to appeal. The unanimous verdict has also renewed scrutiny of Finland's seasonal labor system and the vulnerability of foreign workers in the berry industry, said Yle.
The situation of foreign berry pickers has long drawn public concern in Finland. After years of scandals and police investigations that resulted in trafficking charges against berry companies, a reform was introduced in 2024 requiring foreign workers to receive formal employment contracts and salaries.
In 2022, the Finnish Supreme Court sentenced a berry company owner to one year and 10 months in prison in one of the country's first trafficking cases against berry purchasers.
Finland's wild berry industry is rooted in the country's "everyman's right," which allows anyone to pick berries without landowners' permission, except near private homes. Until 2005, companies sourced mainly from Finnish pickers, but with locals increasingly unwilling to do the demanding work, the industry now relies heavily on foreign labor. (1 euro = 1.17 U.S. dollar)
