Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
05YEREVAN2232
2005-12-28 12:57:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Embassy Yerevan
Cable title:  

TRAFFICKING: DOING BETTER ON PROSECUTION AND

Tags:  PGOV PREL KCRM AM KTIP 
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This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 YEREVAN 002232 

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

DEPT FOR G/TIP, DRL AND EUR/CACEN

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PREL KCRM AM KTIP
SUBJECT: TRAFFICKING: DOING BETTER ON PROSECUTION AND
PUNISHMENT

REF: YEREVAN 2051

(U) Sensitive but unclassified. Please protect
accordingly.

-------
SUMMARY
-------

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 YEREVAN 002232

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE

DEPT FOR G/TIP, DRL AND EUR/CACEN

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PREL KCRM AM KTIP
SUBJECT: TRAFFICKING: DOING BETTER ON PROSECUTION AND
PUNISHMENT

REF: YEREVAN 2051

(U) Sensitive but unclassified. Please protect
accordingly.

--------------
SUMMARY
--------------


1. (SBU) A strictly pro-governmental newspaper
reflected a positive shift in the approach towards the
issue of trafficking that has occurred in the
Prosecutor's office in recent months. In November the
Prosecutor's office registered the first case of
domestic trafficking in Armenia. Also in November the
court ruled on two trafficking cases, sentencing the
defendants to prison terms ranging from two years to
four years and ten months. The Prosecutor's office has
appealed the verdict of one of these cases, considering
it too lenient. Several more cases charging violation
of Criminal Code Article 132 on Trafficking are still
in progress. The Prosecutor's office has finished the
investigation of the Ukrainian trafficking case
(reftel) and sent the case to the court with an
indictment on charges of Article 132. End Summary.

--------------
FIRST DOMESTIC TRAFFICKING CASE
--------------


2. (SBU) On November 30 the local pro-government
newspaper "Hayots Ashkhar" reported on the first case
of domestic trafficking registered in Armenia. The
Prosecutor General's Office initiated the case on
November 9, 2005, on charges of Article 132.2
(Trafficking with aggravating circumstances) of the
Criminal Code against Vahe Aleksanyan, who had forced
the victim Ani Mkrtchyan into prostitution. Ani
Mkrtchyan went to the police for help after two years
of physical abuse and threats. The court started
hearing this case on December 12.

--------------
PRO-GOVERNMENT MEDIA TALKS TIP
--------------


3. (SBU) "Hayots Ashkhar" is the only print outlet that
gets routine access to the criminal case materials from
the Prosecutor General's Office and it presents those
cases with the Prosecutor General's interpretations.
Up until this past summer, Hayots Ashkhar portrayed
trafficking as absent in Armenia, and claimed that the
trafficking issue was raised by NGOs solely to receive
grant money. Currently this newspaper, reflecting the
shift of opinion within the Prosecutor's office,
reports on any case that is remotely connected with

prostitution as trafficking.

--------------
COURT CONTINUES TO IMPOSE LIGHT SENTENCES
--------------


4. (SBU) On November 11 the first instance court of
Etchmiadzin (a small town near Yerevan) imposed prison
sentences on a group of traffickers who were
transporting women via Moscow to Dubai to engage in
prostitution. The case involved two victims, Shashinga
Mkrtchyan and Ruzanna Kyureghyan, to whom the
traffickers had promised jobs as a waitress and a
nanny. In Dubai the victims were forced to engage in
prostitution for more than a year and were eventually
caught and deported by local authorities. Three of the
defendants, Simon Nersisyan, Patvakan Malkhasyan and
Tamara Makarovo, were sentenced to two years of
imprisonment each, and Nanasil Arakelyan to four years
and ten months. This group had worked for Anahit
Malkhasyan, an infamous pimp in Dubai, who died
recently in a car accident. The boyfriend of Anahit
Malkhasyan, Avetis Kiziryan, together with his
accomplice Gayane Mirzoyan (currently wanted on
outstanding Armenian criminal warrants) have also been
charged with trafficking (Article 132) under a separate
criminal case currently in progress.


5. (SBU) The Prosecutor's office agreed with the
Association of the Investigative Journalists (AIJ) who
monitored the trial that the sentences were too
lenient; Armen Boshnaghyan from the Anti-Trafficking
Special Unit of the Prosecutor's office told us that
they have already asked the court of appeals to review
the punishments and make them tougher.
--------------
DESTINATION COUNTRY - TURKEY
--------------

6. (SBU) On November 24 the first instance court in
Vanadzor (third largest city in Armenia) sentenced
Ruzanna Movsisyan to four years of imprisonment on
trafficking charges. The defendant was an Armenian
prostitute who worked in Konya, Turkey. Her Turkish
bosses, Murat and Arzu, allegedly used her to recruit
Armenian women for the Turkish sex market. Movsisyan
lured an acquaintance from Vanadzor with a promise of a
high-paying job, getting her to travel to Turkey (by
bus). The victim was forced to engage in prostitution
for 20 days in order to repay the debt and was released
only after promising to recruit additional women for
the traffickers.


7. (SBU) In the summer of 2005 the Prosecutor's office
opened another case under Article 132 in which the
destination country was Turkey; the case was postponed,
however, until the trafficker, Eliza Mkrtchyan, could
be found. According to a recent study conducted by the
Audio Visual Reporters NGO there are "numerous" women
from Vanadzor who travel to Turkey by buses everyday
and eventually become victims of trafficking.
According to preliminary observations of AIJ there are
currently more Armenian women in Turkey involved in the
sex trade than in Dubai.

--------------
UKRAINIAN TIP CASE - UPDATE
--------------


8. (SBU) In early December the Prosecutor's office
finished the investigation of the case that involved
Ukrainian victims (reftel) that were trafficked to
Armenia. On December 6 the GPO sent the case against
the defendant Sos Meliksetyan to the court on charges
of Article 132 with aggravating circumstances. Hope
and Help NGO which sheltered the Ukrainian victims flew
them back to Kiev on December 4. We expect a final
verdict in this case in January 2006.

GODFREY