TRAFFICKER SENTENCED IN FIRST CASE OF ARMENIA

UNCLAS YEREVAN 000056 SIPDIS SENSITIVE DEPT FOR G/TIP, DRL AND EUR/CACEN E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PREL KCRM AM KTIP HSTC SUBJECT: TRAFFICKER SENTENCED IN FIRST CASE OF ARMENIA AS DESTINATION REFS: A) 05 YEREVAN 2232 B) 05 YEREVAN 2051 Sensitive but unclassified. Please protect accordingly. ¶1. (SBU) On January 8, the first instance court of Artashat sentenced Sos Meliksetyan, charged under the trafficking statute (Article 132) with aggravating circumstances (reftels),to two years of corrective labor. Under this verdict Meliksetyan, who exploited three women and a minor girl from Ukraine in his night club, will not go to prison, but instead will pay 15 percent of his salary to the state budget for the period of two years. Prosecutor Boshnaghyan told us he was satisfied with the sentence, which he had requested, and explained that the leniency was the result of the confusing circumstances of the case; according to him, it was not clear whether the case was sexual or labor trafficking. The Hope and Help NGO, which sheltered the victims (reftels),was deeply dissatisfied with the verdict. (Note: The punishment falls within the legal norms of Article 132. End Note.) -------------- COMMENT: SMALL STEP FORWARD -------------- ¶2. (SBU) Hope and Help told us that the victims' testimony in the case was very confusing and contradictory at times, and had undermined the case. According to Hope and Help, however, while sexual trafficking might have been hard to prove, labor trafficking was absolutely proven. While the NGO community and we would have preferred a more stringent sentence, the government's willingness to prosecute this case under the trafficking statute, the first case prosecuted with Armenia as a destination country, as a small but significant step forward. EVANS