Russia: the only case in the archive where the victim ran after her — and the fraud became robbery

Proceedings

1. 2018-06-18 · conviction and sentence at first instance

   Bogorodsk City Court, Nizhny Novgorod Oblast, Russia (Богородский городской суд Нижегородской области). The defendant, anonymised in the published judgment as ФИО1, was convicted of open theft — robbery — under ч.1 ст.161 of the Criminal Code, rather than of fraud. The court found that, having no money to buy alcohol, she resolved to steal; that she travelled to the address and entered the flat through an unlocked door; that in conversation with the occupant she asked her, under the pretext of removing a curse, to bring her a jacket, gold earrings and 120 roubles for the ritual; and that she took a woman's jacket, 585-standard gold earrings and the 120 roubles and left. When the occupant realised she had gone, she ran out into the street after her demanding that she stop and return the items; the court found that the defendant, realising her conduct had been discovered and was open, fled the scene, the taking thereby becoming open rather than covert. The recorded value of the property was 5,720 roubles. The custodial term and probationary period are redacted in the published text; the sentence was suspended under ст.73 with obligations including not changing residence without notice.

Documented coercion mechanisms

• entry through an unlocked door into a flat where she was not expected
• the removal of a curse used as the basis for asking the occupant to fetch her own possessions for the rite
• the items specified as required «для проведения ритуала», so that gathering them read as participation rather than surrender
• the offence continuing openly once discovered: the court found that when the victim ran after her demanding the items back, the defendant knew her conduct was apparent and fled regardless