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Lambeth slave case: Accused couple were former Maoist activists

Summary:

The couple were arrested last week.

Image:

By SWLondoner staff

The couple accused of holding three women as slaves for more than 30 years were former Maoist activists arrested by police in the 1970s.

According to national records, Aravindan Balakrishnan and his wife Chanda were key figures at the Mao Zedong Memorial Centre in Acre Lane in Brixton when it was raided by police.

The BBC reported yesterday that records of the Communist Party of England show Mr Balakrishnan was suspended from the organisation in 1974. He then set up a a splinter group in the called The Workers’ Institute of Marxism-Leninism-Mao Zedong Thought, and opened a bookshop and commune in a large building in  Acre Lane.

The views of the group were ultra-left, calling on the Red Army to come to South London and wearing Mao badges.

Three women were rescued from the couple’s home on Peckford Place a month ago, and the couple were arrested last week.

The 30-year-old Briton, a 57-year-old Irish woman and a 69-year-old Malaysian, are now in the care of a non-governmental organisation.

According to the Daily Mail, the British women wrote more than 200 letters to her neighbour over an eight-year period, describing her ‘unspeakable torment’.

Photo courtesy of freefotouk, with thanks.

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