ARMENIA CONVICTS MORE TRAFFICKERS

UNCLAS YEREVAN 000139 SIPDIS SENSITIVE DEPT FOR G/TIP, DRL AND EUR/CACEN E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PREL KCRM AM KTIP HSTC SUBJECT: ARMENIA CONVICTS MORE TRAFFICKERS Sensitive but unclassified. Please protect accordingly. -------------- TRAFFICKERS PUNISHED -------------- ¶1. (SBU) On January 12 the first instance court of Kotayk Region sentenced Gayane Mirzoyan and Avetis Kiziriyan to four and a half years of prison under charges of Trafficking in Persons (TIP). The defendants worked for a notorious pimp in Dubai, Anahit Malkhasyan, who died in a car accident on October 3, ¶2005. The two victims of the case, Karine Tovmasyan and Rita Nasoyan, were forced to work as prostitutes for Malkhasyan for more than a year before the police caught and deported them. The defendants had recruited the victims (neighbors of Gayane Mirzoyan) by promising them high-paying jobs, and had transported them to Dubai via Moscow. -------------- UPDATED STATISTICS -------------- ¶2. (SBU) According to the Prosecutor General's office, in 2005 20 persons were charged with the Trafficking statute (Article 132 of the Criminal Code) in 13 criminal cases. The courts have ruled on nine of these cases; one is pending trial; the remaining three are still under investigation. EVANS