The Vietnamese-born owner of a restaurant in the western city of Pietarsaari is suspected of using a compatriot to do slave labour. Local prosecutors are accusing the owner of human trafficking.
The man had been granted a residence permit in Finland on the basis of marriage. The prosecutor says that the marriage was a sham, undertaken for the purpose of getting the man into the country.
When the man arrived in Finland in 2004, the relative forced him immediately to work in a restaurant. The man was compelled to work 12-hour days, seven days a week for very little money.
The prosecutor is also pressing charges of assault, deprivation of liberty, and illegal threats.
Authorities in Pietarsaari are also looking into a wider case in which four foreign-born residents are suspected of human trafficking and aggravated blackmail.
Police say that the case involves years of blackmail against employees, and embezzlement of their money.
