Russia: gold placed in a glass of water for the rite, and taken while the victim was talking

Proceedings

1. 2019-04-17 · conviction and sentence at first instance

   Novocherkassk City Court, Rostov Oblast, Russia (Новочеркасский городской суд Ростовской 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 for an offence committed on 28 January 2019 between 16:00 and 18:00. The court found that she entered the victim's flat with her permission on the pretext of receiving help in a difficult life situation, then began performing a rite to remove a curse, for which she took the victim's gold earrings set with an emerald worth 28,000 roubles and a gold ring worth 10,000 roubles and placed them in a glass of water; and that, distracting the victim with conversation and taking advantage of a moment when her attention was elsewhere, she covertly removed the items and left. The loss was 38,000 roubles. She was sentenced to one year's deprivation of liberty to be served in a colony-settlement, to be conveyed there under escort, with time in custody credited under п.«в» ч.3.1 ст.72.

Documented coercion mechanisms

• entry obtained with the victim's permission «под предлогом получения помощи в тяжелой жизненной ситуации» — on the pretext of help with a difficult life situation
• the rite requiring the victim's own gold, which was placed in a glass of water in her presence
• the victim held in conversation while the items sat in the glass, and the gold removed at the moment her attention was elsewhere