US embassy cable - 05YEREVAN108

UNCLAS YEREVAN 000108 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SENSITIVE 
 
DEPT FOR G/TIP, DRL AND EUR/CACEN 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV, PREL, KCRM, AM, KTIP 
SUBJECT:  SIX CASES OF TRAFFICKING PROSECUTED AS 
PIMPING 
 
 
Sensitive but unclassified.  Please protect 
accordingly. 
 
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SUMMARY 
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1. (SBU) The Prosecutor General's (PG) Office provided 
detailed information on six criminal cases prosecuted 
in 2004 under Article 262 of the Armenian Criminal Code 
on the Organization of Prostitution (i.e., pimping). 
The defendants of all the cases were either recruiters, 
mediators, or pimps who sent women for prostitution to 
the United Arab Emirates (UAE); moreover, most of the 
defendants were cited in more than one case.  Aristakes 
Yeremyan, the investigator from the PG's Office, who is 
the main person to deal with the pimping cases, 
categorically denied that these cases could be 
considered trafficking with the explanation that in all 
those cases women knew in advance that they would work 
as prostitutes before they left for Dubai.  While we 
are pleased that the authorities aggressively pursued 
investigation and prosecution in these cases, we remain 
frustrated by their reluctance to applying the new 
trafficking statute.  End Summary. 
 
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NUMBERS AND BACKGROUNDS OF THE TRAFFICKERS 
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2. (SBU) The six cases together involved thirteen 
recruiters in Armenia and ten pimps in Dubai.  The 
cases also mentioned the names of at least 80 women, 
who were sent to the UAE for prostitution, some of whom 
are still there.  Some of these women were involved in 
the investigation of the cases as witnesses.  Most of 
the pimps and recruiters are women whose age ranges 
from early 30s to late 40s, half of them have previous 
convictions (generally on charges of pimping), most of 
them are unemployed with modest educations and come 
from the regions of Armenia, a few of them worked as 
prostitutes before becoming pimps or recruiters. 
 
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TRANSPORTATION ROUTE 
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3. (SBU) The transportation route was the same for all 
the cases.  The recruiters first sent the women to 
Moscow, where they stayed for several days in rented 
apartments with a group of Armenian men who obtained 
false documents for them. 
 
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THE COURT CONVICTIONS 
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4. (SBU) The court has already made decisions on four 
of those cases; the court hearings on the remaining two 
are still in progress.  Three recruiters, one pimp and 
two mediators (who worked in Moscow) received prison 
sentences ranging from six to eighteen months.  One 
pimp and two recruiters paid fines ranging from USD 400 
to 800. 
 
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WHY PROSECUTORS DON'T APPLY THE TRAFFICKING ARTICLE 
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5. (SBU) The Armenian public, the press, and the 
Prosecutor General's office still generally hold the 
opinion that women who go abroad, knowing in advance 
that they will work as prostitutes, are not victims of 
trafficking.  They regard the entire recruitment and 
transportation process merely as organized prostitution 
and not trafficking.  According to Armenian 
legislation, however, and in accordance with 
international norms, it does not matter whether the 
women knew that they would work as prostitutes or not. 
The GOAM, and in particular the Prosecutor's office, 
needs to move beyond this attitude in order to 
successfully criminalize and combat trafficking in 
persons. 
EVANS