The plaintiff, represented by attorney Naomi Levenkron of the Hotline for Migrant Workers, filed a civil lawsuit against a pimp who was convicted three years ago in a criminal trial.

The woman came to Israel from the Ukraine in 2001 after she was promised work as a waitress. Once she arrived, however, the pimp who purportedly offered the waiting job confiscated her passport and forced her to work as a prostitute until she was arrested five months later.

Shortly being arrested the woman was deported and the pimp was indicted with conspiring to commit a crime, human trade for prostitution and soliciting prostitution. He confessed to the charges as part of a plea bargain and was convicted on all counts.

In her verdict, Judge Ruth Lebhar-Sharon said "a woman taken into the sex industry is no more than a marionette dancing at the mercy of her master, devoid of her freedom."

"The court cannot turn a blind eye at this despicable phenomenon that has become a country-wide problem," she said.