US embassy cable - 05YEREVAN1320

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 YEREVAN 001320 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPT FOR G/TIP, DRL AND EUR/CACEN 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 07/22/2015 
TAGS: KCRM, PGOV, PREL, AM, KTIP 
SUBJECT: COURT SUSPENDS SENTENCE, TRAFFICKER WALKS 
 
 
Classified By: CDA A.F. Godfrey for reasons 1.4 (b, d). 
 
------- 
SUMMARY 
------- 
 
1. (SBU) A court in Yerevan sentenced Lusine Hakobyan, the 
Armenian organizer of a Yerevan-Dubai 
prostitution/trafficking network, to two years imprisonment. 
The judge, however, suspended the sentence and Hakobyan will 
instead serve one year of supervised probation.  Armenian 
Association of Investigative Journalists (AIJ) President Edik 
Baghdasaryan claims the General Prosecutor's Office arranged 
Hakobyan's surrender and quick release as part of a deal for 
which court officials took bribes to guarantee Hakobyan the 
reduced sentence.  Baghdasaryan claims that payments for 
reduced sentences are standard for court officials in 
trafficking-related cases.  End Summary. 
 
--------------------------------------------- --------- 
ARMENIAN COURT PROSECUTES FOR PIMPING, NOT TRAFFICKING 
--------------------------------------------- --------- 
 
2. (SBU) On July 8 at the Central Yerevan Court of First 
Instance, Judge Vazgen Lalayan sentenced Lusine Hakobyan to 
two years imprisonment and one year probation under Article 
262 of the Criminal Code for Organization of Prostitution 
(pimping).  Lalayan then suspended the prison sentence, 
asserting that because Hakobyan surrendered voluntarily and 
is the legal guardian of her minor child, she deserved 
special consideration.  Under Armenian law, judges may 
consider mitigating factors such as voluntary surrender and 
family situations during sentencing.  The judgment requires 
Hakobyan to report to police every fifteen days until her 
twelve month probation is completed. 
 
----------------------------------------- 
MEDIA COVERAGE CRITICAL OF COURT DECISION 
----------------------------------------- 
 
3. (SBU) Armenian television and print news media (Azg, 
Novoye Vremya, Aravot, Hetq and Kentron) criticized the 
decision, claiming that Hakobyan's network is still active 
and that she will return to her criminal activities. 
Investigative reporter and Association of Investigative 
Journalists (AIJ) President Edik Baghdasaryan claimed 
Hakobyan's mother, Hasmik, is also a member of the 
trafficking network, identifying and recruiting women and 
girls from poor families in Armenian villages and arranging 
their transportation to Dubai.  Baghdasaryan, says the 
Hakobyan case is a clear-cut example of trafficking, not 
pimping, and claims the court failed to stop the network. 
 
--------------------------------------------- -------- 
JOURNALIST ALLEGES OFFICIALS COMPLICIT IN TRAFFICKING 
--------------------------------------------- -------- 
 
4. (SBU) Baghdasaryan told us he believes that Aristakes 
Yeremyan, an investigator in the General Prosecutor's Office, 
arranged Hakobyan's surrender and quick release as part of a 
deal for which court officials, in exchange for money, 
guaranteed Hakobyan a reduced sentence and clean criminal 
record.  Baghdasaryan claims Armen Boshnaghyan, the lead 
prosecutor in the Hakobyan case and a member of the General 
Prosecutor's Office Special Division for Anti-Trafficking, 
approved the deal.  Though he could not substantiate his 
claims, Baghdasaryan asserts agreements between corrupt court 
officials and traffickers are common, and that Armenian 
victims he interviewed said investigators in the General 
Prosecutor's Office also asked them for bribes.  Baghdasaryan 
told us he provided GOAM Procurator General Aghvan Hovsepyan 
with the names of additional investigators he believes are 
complicit in other human trafficking cases. 
 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
COMMENT: PROSECUTOR'S OFFICE PART OF THE PROBLEM 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
 
5. (C) Testimony from victims at Hakobyan's court hearings, 
which we attended, clearly included requisite elements for 
trafficking charges.  "Witnesses" Ruzanna Mkrtchyan, Varduhi 
Shakaryan, and Kristine Stepanyan testified that Hakobyan 
recruited, transported, and exploited them for forced 
prostitution under threats of violence, retribution against 
family members, and death if they attempted to escape.  If 
their allegations were true, Hakobyan's case should have 
qualified for prosecution under Article 132 of the Armenian 
Criminal Code, the anti-trafficking provision which 
stipulates harsher penalties than the anti-pimping law. 
 
6. (C) The prosecutor's decision to apply the anti-pimping 
(rather than the anti-trafficking) code continues to raise 
questions about the General Prosecutor's Office commitment to 
the GOAM's anti-trafficking plan.  Though Baghdasaryan cannot 
provide hard evidence of his allegations of court complicity 
in this and other cases, the news media's active engagement 
may continue to pressure Armenian courts to increase 
transparency in sentencing.  Pressure may, in fact, be 
building to the point that the Procurator General decides to 
take action, although that remains to be seen. 
GODFREY