Russia: the smallest taking in the archive — three earrings and 101 roubles, under a curse-removal pretext

Proceedings

1. 2017-08-15 · conviction and sentence at first instance

   Dzerzhinsky District Court of Novosibirsk, Novosibirsk Oblast, Russia (Дзержинский районный суд г. Новосибирска). The defendant, anonymised in the published judgment as ФИО3, was convicted of open theft — robbery — under ч.1 ст.161 of the Criminal Code. The court found that on 11 July 2017 at about 11:50, in the street in the Dzerzhinsky district, she saw gold earrings in the ears of a woman she did not know and formed the intent to take them; that under the pretext of removing a curse she took from the victim's hands three 585-standard gold earrings worth 3,000 roubles in total and 101 roubles in cash, which the victim voluntarily handed to her and which she put in the pocket of the housecoat she was wearing; and that, realising her actions were obvious to the victim and open in character, she left the scene with them. She was sentenced to six months' deprivation of liberty, suspended under ст.73 with a six-month probationary period and obligations to register with the supervising body immediately on the judgment taking effect and not to change her residence without permission.

Documented coercion mechanisms

• an entirely opportunistic street approach: the court found the intent arose on seeing the gold earrings the victim was wearing
• the curse-removal pretext used to obtain the items directly from the victim's hands, the judgment recording them as «добровольно переданные» — voluntarily handed over
• the taking continued openly once it was apparent to the victim, which is what made the offence robbery rather than fraud