Russia: two women approached inside a children's hospital and persuaded to hand over their jewellery to lift a curse

Proceedings

1. 2019-12-30 · conviction and sentence at first instance

   Bezhitsky District Court of Bryansk, Bryansk Oblast, Russia (Бежицкий районный суд г. Брянска). The defendant, anonymised in the published judgment as ФИО1, was convicted on two counts of fraud causing significant damage to a citizen under ч.2 ст.159 of the Criminal Code. The court found that on each occasion she was inside Bryansk City Children's Hospital No. 1 and, under the pretext of removing a curse, persuaded a woman to hand over her jewellery with no intention of returning it. From the first victim she took a gold wedding ring worth 2,700 roubles, a gem-set gold earring worth 2,826 roubles, a gold chain worth 6,372 roubles and two gem-set gold rings worth 3,942 and 4,482 roubles — 20,322 roubles in total. From the second she took gem-set gold earrings worth 4,734 roubles, three gem-set gold rings worth 2,304, 3,384 and 2,862 roubles and a chain bracelet worth 4,410 roubles — 17,694 roubles in total. She received one year four months on each count, aggregated by partial addition under ч.2 ст.69 to one year six months' deprivation of liberty in a colony-settlement. The case was decided in the special procedure under chapter 40 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, the defendant having admitted guilt in full and consented to the classification of her conduct; procedural costs were met from the federal budget for that reason.

Documented coercion mechanisms

• the approach made inside a children's hospital, where each victim was present in connection with a child
• the removal of a curse used as the basis for surrendering jewellery, which the court found she took «не имея при этом намерений на их возврат» — with no intention of returning it
• the items taken being personal gold worn or carried by the victim, including a wedding ring, rather than money the victim had to go and fetch