3 percent are graduates
Artur Davtyan, the head of the department on the crimes against human beings, made an annual report at the bar session of the Attorney General’s Office of the Republic of Armenia on December 23 and presented the condition of attorney’s supervision over the preliminary investigation of the criminal cases on trafficking and the practice of defending the charges during 9 months of 2010 and 2011. Let us mention that the summarizing analysis did not draw the public’s attention, as the public was following the latest incidents that took place in the Armed Forces of the Republic of Armenia.
The prospect of imposing stricter sanctions
According to the above-mentioned research, Armenia is a sort of base of trafficking victims, in particular women, used by the Eastern countries and in the majority of cases the crime starts in Armenia itself (gathering and transferring people) and ends abroad.
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A. Davtyan mentioned that Armenia’s progress in this area had been noted in the annual report of the US Department of State published in 2009, the republic moved from tier 3 watch list to tier 2. Armenia retained her “honorary” place in the 2010 annual report of the US Department of State. The reason for that progress is probably the fact that stricter sanctions are imposed, a prospect of 7-15 years of imprisonment.
According to the data of the Information Center for the Republic of Armenia Police, there were 13 registered cases of trafficking in the republic in 2010.
5 investigations concerning 6 people launched into facts of trafficking in 2010 were sent to the court, the procedure of one of the cases was suspended because of the search for suspects, 6 cases were sent to the court in 2011.
According to A. Davtyan, attorney’s supervision was exercised over preliminary investigation of 14 criminal cases on trafficking, 6 of which were sent in 2010, 4 were launched in 2011, two were restarted in 2011 because of finding the wanted, 2 criminal cases were split. In the reporting year 6 criminal cases on 13 persons were sent to the court, the investigation of 3 cases was suspended because of the search for suspects, one criminal case was closed, the preliminary investigation of 4 cases is in progress.
During the year 2011 persons were convicted in regard to 7 criminal cases, all of them sentenced to imprisonment, by the way, 8 persons were sentenced to 7-9-year imprisonment and 3 people to 4-7 years. In regard to two sentences the prosecutors filed an appeal, which are in progress and the defendants filed appeals in regard to all the cases, which were denied.
The applications of the Armenian side remain unanswered
According to the summary analysis, the overwhelming majority of the cases were registered in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). In the reporting period 11 out of 39 exploited victims were exploited in UAE. By the way, a memorandum on mutual legal aid was signed with UAE, however the applications for legal aid sent to the criminal investigation bodies of that country were left unanswered for a long time or were answered partially.
The cases of trafficking registered in Turkey are also not few (10 out of 39 exploited in the reporting period were exploited in Turkey), during the investigation of which the above-mentioned problems were more than obvious, given the absence of diplomatic relations with that country. The offers of the attorney’s office to cooperate in fight against crime were left unattended by the Turkish side.
A. Davtyan noted, “Trafficking is closely related to the corpus delicti of processing stolen money through a legitimate business.” By the way, the corpus delicti of people’s exploitation (Article 132 and 132.1 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Armenia) is considered in Paragraph 5, Article 190, Criminal Code of the Republic of Armenia as a corpus delicti preceding the corpus delicti of processing stolen money through a legitimate business.
One criminal case was opened in accordance with Article 190, Criminal Code of the Republic of Armenia. The trial court of Malatia-Sebastia administrative district found Amalya Matulyan guilty in accordance with that article and she was sentenced to 11-year imprisonment in aggregate. And the trial court of Kentron and Nork-Marash administrative district found Vera Alexander Kalyakina and Yelena Ilya Kalyakina, residents of the city of Volgograd of the Russian Federation, guilty only of trafficking and according to the attorney’s office, “were groundlessly acquitted” of money laundering.
By the way, the prosecutors filed an appeal, which hasn’t been considered yet.
The victims are women
During 9 months of 2010 and 2011 39 victims were detected in regard to 21 criminal cases under attorney’s supervision, all of them were women.
According to the research, victims of trafficking are usually youth who account for 58.9% of the victims.
The research shows at the same time that the overwhelming majority of trafficking victims were unemployed.
As for the educational level of victims, according to A. Davtyan’s researches, the overwhelming majority of trafficking victims (94.9%) have eight-year or secondary education.
Two people were graduates (5.1%).
38 trafficking victims (97.4%) are citizens of the Republic of Armenia, 1 victim (2.6%) a citizen of Ukraine.
23 out of 39 victims were exploited abroad and 16 in the Republic of Armenia
Referring to the age composition of the people involved in trafficking, it turned out that young and middle-aged people accounted for 63% of the accused. There are 3 people above 50. 16 out of 27 accused or 59.2% are women and 11 or 40.8% are men.
As for the educational level of the accused, according to the mentioned researches, the majority of people involved in trafficking (88.9%) have eight-year or secondary education. Only 3 out of 27 accused are graduates.
38 trafficking victims or 97.4% are citizens of the Republic of Armenia, one victim is (2.6%) a citizen of Ukraine.
4 of the mentioned persons were previously convicted.
11 persons committed the crime with preliminary agreement in 5 groups. 5 persons committed the crime in an organized group.
Prepared RUZAN MINASYAN
