Russia: gold palmed during the hand-passes, and a fee for the rite requested afterwards

Proceedings

1. 2019-07-11 · conviction and sentence at first instance

   Sovetsky District Court of Bryansk, Bryansk Oblast, Russia (Советский районный суд г. Брянска). The defendant, anonymised in the published judgment as ФИО1 and in places as ФИО2, was convicted of fraud causing significant damage to a citizen under ч.2 ст.159 of the Criminal Code for an offence committed on 20 April 2019 at about 15:30 in Bryansk. The court found she approached a woman she did not know in the street, told her falsely that a curse was upon her and offered to perform a rite to remove it; that the victim, misled, handed over 50 roubles, two 585-standard gold rings weighing 1.5g and 1.24g worth 3,000 and 2,500 roubles, and 585-standard gold earrings worth 4,500 roubles; that the defendant, making passes with her hands and pretending to remove the curse, concealed the items in her pocket; and that she then asked for a further 200 roubles for the service, which the victim also gave. The total taken was 250 roubles in cash and gold worth 10,000 roubles. She was sentenced to two years' deprivation of liberty, suspended under ст.73 with a two-year probationary period and obligations to register monthly and not to change residence without notice.

Documented coercion mechanisms

• an unsolicited street diagnosis of a curse, followed immediately by the offer of a rite
• the victim's money and gold required for the rite itself, so that handing them over was a step in the procedure
• the items concealed in the defendant's pocket while she made passes with her hands «делая вид что снимает «порчу»» — pretending to remove the curse
• a further 200 roubles requested as payment for the service after the gold had already been taken, which left the victim believing the rite had been performed and paid for