Ukraine: a second Kremenets conviction weeks after the first — a woman calling at a village house, introducing herself as able to remove curses, and taking the householder's gold

Proceedings

1. 2017-05-04 · conviction and sentence at first instance

   Kremenets District Court, Ternopil Oblast, Ukraine (Кременецький районний суд Тернопільської області). The defendant, anonymised in the published judgment, was convicted of fraud under part 1 of article 190 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine and fined thirty tax-free minimum incomes, being 510 hryvnia. The court found that on 2 February 2017 she entered the victim's house in the village of Staryi Pochaiv, Kremenets District, and introduced herself 'as a person who tells about the future and can remove a curse by divination'; that, taking advantage of the victim's trusting character and friendly manner, she told her a curse had been laid on her and formed the intention to deceive her and so obtain her gold items; and that on 3 February she telephoned the victim, continuing to mislead her as to her true intentions.

Documented coercion mechanisms

• an unsolicited call at the victim's home
• an introduction as a person who tells the future and removes curses
• the assertion that a curse had been laid on the victim
• a follow-up telephone call continuing the deception