Karlsruhe, Germany – German authorities have freed a 24-year-old Kenyan man who was held slave-style at a German riding stables and was forced to hide if the police came snooping. Authorities in the southern city of Karlsruhe said the man worked seven days a week, doing menial work nine and a half hours daily for monthly pay of just 200 euros (300 dollars), which is barely one third of what Germans on welfare receive.
He arrived in Germany on an “au pair” visa in March.
The operator of the dude ranch somewhere in Baden-Wuerttemberg state is expected to face exploitation and fraud charges.
Members of a local Christian parish are accommodating the Kenyan, who complained at the church and the local authority about his work, prompting German customs agents to arrive and free him.
Customs officials said the employer withheld the man’s passport, told him to hide in a horse trailer if police came past and claimed the Kenyan would be deported if he complained to authorities.
Copyright DPA
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