Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09YEREVAN300
2009-05-06 14:17:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
Embassy Yerevan
Cable title:  

ORGANIZED TRAFFICKING GROUP BUSTED - MAIN FELON GETS

Tags:  PGOV PREL KTIP KCRM HSTC AM 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXRO7683
RR RUEHDBU RUEHLN RUEHSK RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHYE #0300/01 1261417
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 061417Z MAY 09
FM AMEMBASSY YEREVAN
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 9004
INFO RUCNCIS/CIS COLLECTIVE
RUEHLMC/MILLENNIUM CHALLENGE CORPORATION WASHINGTON DC
RUEHNO/USMISSION USNATO 0699
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 YEREVAN 000300 

SENSITIVE

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR DRL AND EUR/CARC

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PREL KTIP KCRM HSTC AM
SUBJECT: ORGANIZED TRAFFICKING GROUP BUSTED - MAIN FELON GETS
THIRTEEN YEARS

YEREVAN 00000300 001.2 OF 003


-------
SUMMARY
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UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 YEREVAN 000300

SENSITIVE

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR DRL AND EUR/CARC

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PREL KTIP KCRM HSTC AM
SUBJECT: ORGANIZED TRAFFICKING GROUP BUSTED - MAIN FELON GETS
THIRTEEN YEARS

YEREVAN 00000300 001.2 OF 003


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SUMMARY
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1. (SBU) On April 20 a Yerevan court sentenced four women on
tracking charges to sentences ranging from one to 13 years in
prison. The 13-year sentence is the highest trafficking penalty in
Armenia so far. The group was charged for trafficking women from
Yerevan to Dubai mainly via Moscow beginning from 2002, where the
"boss" - notorious pimp Anush Martirosian - forced them into
prostitution. The Judge and prosecutors demonstrated
professionalism in handling the case and sensitivity in dealing with
the victims. END SUMMARY.

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TRAFFICKING, PIMPING AND BRIBERY
--------------


2. (SBU) The trial began on February 6, 2009. The defendants -
Anush Martirosian, her two sisters Sofia Martirosian and Sonia
Gabrielian, and Mariam Martikian - were charged under various
provisions of the trafficking and/or pimping statutes, depending on
their level of involvement and activity. They were charged as an
organized group, which raised the term of possible punishments for
two of them up to the maximum 15 years imprisonment. Sonia
Gabrielian was also facing charges for an attempt to bribe one of
the victims, as she tried to persuade her to change her testimony.

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DEFENDANTS PART OF A LARGER NET
--------------


3. (SBU) According to the case materials, a group involving over 10
persons (some of whom have not been identified yet) had established
a network of well operating rings in Armenia, Moscow and Dubai, and
trafficked people to Dubai for sexual exploitation. Each person in
the group had her established function in recruiting, transporting
and exploiting the victims. One of the victims was trafficked to
Dubai as early as 2002. While the case against the four apprehended
defendants went to the court, part of the criminal case is still in
process and three other persons are wanted, among them notorious
Dubai-based Armenian "bosses" (pimps) Marietta Muradian and Gayane
Ghaltaghchian.

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FORMER PROSTITUTE TURNS INTO NOTORIOUS PIMP
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4. (SBU) The police launched the criminal case on May 21, 2008.

Anush Martirosian, based in Dubai for over 10 years, was one of the
ringleaders. She began her "career" as a prostitute, and after
gaining a stronghold in the country switched to pimping and
trafficking. She took care of the visas and transportation expenses
of the victims, and once they arrived in Dubai she took their
passports and forced them into prostitution through violence and
threats. There were three officially recognized victims in the
case; however, in reality there were more who did not want to press
charges and served only as witnesses. According to the accounts of
these victims, some were lured to Dubai by false promises of jobs as
waitresses, babysitters or dancers.

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VICTIMS' STORIES
--------------


5. (SBU) One of the victims, however, was already engaged in
prostitution in Yerevan, and the recruiters had convinced her that
in Dubai she would make much more money and assured her that her
passport would remain with her. This victim and her friend (also a
prostitute) were transferred to the Russian city of Krasnodar in
March 2007. Here the brother of a Dubai-based pimp, Gayane
Ghaltaghchian, met them and took them to a local prison to service
the inmates. After a week in Krasnodar they were sent to Dubai,
where the pimp Gayane Ghaltaghchian sold the victim to Anush
Martirosian. The victim managed to flee by getting herself arrested
and, after spending two months in prison, she was deported to
Armenia in May 2008, where she filed a complaint with the police.


6. (SBU) According to the victims' stories, they were treated
inhumanely, and it was a common practice for the various pimps to
sell them to each other. Victims said that Martirosian would also
threaten them with a notorious local Arab nicknamed Ponytail Ali,
who was known for taking victims to the desert where they were
beaten and raped. According to one of the victims, Martirosian hit
her with a metal rod when she refused to work. This victim told
that she tried contacting the Armenian and Russian consulates for

YEREVAN 00000300 002.2 OF 003


help; however, since she had entered the country with a false
Russian passport, the consulates kept referring her to each other.
Finally the victim wrote a letter to the Department on Fighting
Organized Crime of the Armenian Police, who sent her return
documents and assisted in her return.

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PIMP MANAGES HER BUSINESS FROM YEREVAN
--------------


7. (SBU) The roles of other defendants were not as significant; they
served mainly as recruiters or mediators. In one instance in 2004
when Martirosian was in Armenia, her sister Sonia Gabrielian took
care of her "business" by supervising the girls and collecting money
from them. (Note: During the court hearings, various witnesses
testified that in 2004 Anush specifically mentioned that she was
traveling to Armenia to stand trial for pimping. Apparently she
rightly foresaw that she would not face a severe penalty. End
note.) At that time she was charged under the pimping statute and
sentenced to a fine in the amount of AMD 200,000 (about 500 dollars)
(Comment: The 2004 verdict came at a time when all trafficking and
pimping cases were led by an investigator from the Prosecutor
General's office, against whom repeated allegations of complicity
with traffickers were made. We suspect that Anush Martirosian got
off so easily at the time due to a deal made with the investigator.
However, there is no direct evidence to substantiate this. End
comment.)

--------------
WEAK DEFENSE
--------------


8. (SBU) The defense attorneys argued that Martirosian was neither a
trafficker nor a pimp; she simply rented an apartment to women who
prostituted themselves in Dubai and paid rent to Anush. However,
the defendants' accounts were inconsistent with their initial
testimony as well as the results of the face-to-face
cross-examinations with witnesses and the victims.

--------------
HIGHLY PROFESSIONAL JUDGE AND PROSECUTORS
--------------


9. (SBU) Embassy staff observed almost all the hearings. The level
of professionalism of Judge Yeva Darbinian and both prosecutors
(Artur Davtian and Samvel Margarian) was outstanding. They were
also respectful towards all parties, and especially towards the
victims. Employees of the UMCOR Shelter, a lawyer from the OSCE
Anti-TIP Resource center, and occasionally police investigators
attended the hearings. The only media outlet that covered the
hearings and published articles was the "Hetq" online news agency.


--------------
VERDICTS
--------------


10. (SBU) On April 20 the Judge announced the verdicts

All the defendants were found guilty on all charges, but are likely
to appeal.

-- Anush Martirosian was sentenced to 6, 12, 1 and 2 years in prison
under various provisions of the trafficking and pimping statutes of
the criminal code, and the Judge set the combined imprisonment term
as 13 years.

-- Sofia Martirosian was sentenced to 5 years in prison for
trafficking.

-- Mariam Martikian was sentenced to 4 years in prison for
trafficking. Her role in the case was minimal, and according to
Prosecutor's office her testimony helped during the investigation.

-- Sonia Gabrielian was sentenced to 1 year in prison for helping in
pimping and also to a fine of about USD 500 for bribing the victim.

--------------
COMMENT
--------------


11. (SBU) We judge this trial outcome a major success of our
anti-TIP advocacy efforts, as the criminal justice system is finally
starting to impose appropriate penalties on traffickers. The most
important message from the trial is that law-enforcement bodies mean
business. This case is quite similar to numerous cases that were

YEREVAN 00000300 003.2 OF 003


tried as simple trafficking or pimping before, but this time law
enforcement bodies (both the Police and the Prosecutors) correctly
prosecuted the case as an activity of an organized group. The
publicity of this case will ensure that other traffickers will think
twice about whether gaining profit through such gruesome acts is
worth 13 years in prison.

YOVANOVITCH