Russia: money wrapped in newspaper, placed under her back, and an instruction not to rise for an hour

Proceedings

1. 2018-11-13 · conviction and sentence at first instance

   Kichmengsko-Gorodetsky District Court, Vologda Oblast, Russia (Кичменгско-Городецкий районный суд Вологодской области). The defendant, anonymised in the published judgment as ФИО1, was convicted of theft causing significant damage to a citizen under п.«в» ч.2 ст.158 of the Criminal Code and of fraud by deception and abuse of trust causing significant damage under ч.2 ст.159. The counts concern two different householders and two different pretexts. On 5 May 2017 she told the first victim she was a social worker and asked to see her money on the basis that old banknotes were being exchanged for new; when the victim produced 115,000 roubles and went to fetch water at her request, she removed ten notes. On 4 January 2018 at about 13:00 she told the second victim that a curse was upon her and, under the pretext of removing it, asked for the money she had as being needed for the rite; when the victim handed over 74,500 roubles she wrapped it in a bundle of newspaper, persuaded the victim to lie down on the sofa, drew the notes out of the bundle unseen and placed the empty newspaper beneath the victim's back; having ostensibly performed the removal rite, she told the victim not to get up from the sofa for an hour and left with the 74,500 roubles. She received one year on the theft count and one year two months on the fraud count, aggregated by partial addition under ч.2 ст.69 to one year six months' deprivation of liberty in a general-regime correctional colony, and was remanded in custody.

Documented coercion mechanisms

• the money requested as an instrument of the rite — «которые необходимы для ритуала снятия порчи» — rather than as a payment
• the cash wrapped into a bundle of newspaper in the victim's presence, so that she saw where it had gone
• the victim persuaded to lie down on the sofa with the bundle placed beneath her back, which put the money out of her sight while appearing to keep it under her own body
• the notes withdrawn from the bundle unnoticed and the empty newspaper left in place
• a closing instruction not to get up from the sofa for an hour, which deferred discovery and secured an unhindered departure