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 
------- 
 
¶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. 
 
-------------------------------- 
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. 
 
------------------------------- 
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. 
 
------------------------------------------- 
FORMER PROSTITUTE TURNS INTO NOTORIOUS PIMP 
------------------------------------------- 
 
¶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. 
 
---------------- 
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. 
 
-------------------------------------- 
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