Russia: an accomplice arriving on cue to thank the 'healer', and novelty banknotes swapped for the victim's savings

Proceedings

1. 2019-09-15 · 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 fraud by a group acting in prior conspiracy, causing significant damage to a citizen, under ч.2 ст.159 of the Criminal Code. The court found that she and a second person, whose case was severed into separate proceedings because she is being sought, arrived at the yard of the victim's building within a two-hour window; that the defendant applied psychological pressure to convince the victim a curse had been placed on her and asserted her ability to heal; and that the second person then approached according to the agreed plan, thanked her in the victim's presence for a healing supposedly already given, and told the victim she possessed a healing gift. The victim, genuinely fearing for her health, went home accompanied and gathered 101,000 roubles in cash together with gold items — a 585-standard chain weighing 5g worth 14,000 roubles, a 585-standard cross pendant weighing 6g worth 8,400 roubles and a 585-standard Scorpio zodiac pendant weighing 2g worth 5,600 roubles, 28,000 roubles in total — and handed them over under the pretext of removing the curse. The defendant packed them into a New Year-themed plastic bag while the accomplice, to make the scene convincing, packed novelty 'Bank of Jokes' banknotes into an identical bag in the victim's presence. She was sentenced to one year's deprivation of liberty, suspended under ст.73 with a one-year probationary period, and ordered to pay the victim 129,000 roubles in compensation. An earlier judgment of the Oktyabrsky District Court was directed to be executed independently.

Documented coercion mechanisms

• roles distributed in advance, the approach made in the yard of the victim's own building
• psychological pressure applied to convince the victim a curse had been placed on her, coupled with a claim of curative power
• a corroborator arriving on cue to thank the first woman publicly for a healing supposedly already delivered and to state that she possessed a «целительский дар»
• the court's finding that the victim complied «реально опасаясь за свое здоровье» — genuinely fearing for her health
• the victim accompanied home to gather her money and gold, so that the decision to hand it over was never made alone
• a staged «магический обряд» in which the valuables were packed into a New Year gift bag while the accomplice packed novelty «Билеты банка приколов» banknotes into an identical bag in the victim's presence, so the substitution occurred in plain sight