Russia: four years for a member of a three-role curse-removal crew — a recruiter, a corroborator and a lookout, working elderly women

Proceedings

1. 2020-07-07 · conviction and sentence at first instance

   Sayanogorsk City Court, Republic of Khakassia, Russia (Саяногорский городской суд Республики Хакасия). The defendant, anonymised in the published judgment as ФИО4, was convicted of two counts of fraud by deception committed by a group by prior conspiracy — one causing significant damage to a citizen under part 2 of article 159 of the Criminal Code, one on a large scale under part 3 — and sentenced to one year and two years respectively, aggregated under part 3 of article 69 to two years six months. A suspended sentence from the Nazarovo City Court of Krasnoyarsk Krai was revoked under part 5 of article 74 and its unserved portion partially added under article 70, making four years' deprivation of liberty in a general-regime correctional colony. She remained in custody. The court set out an agreed three-way division of roles: one participant was to find an elderly woman and offer her help in removing a curse and in healing; the defendant was to join the conversation to convince the victim that this help genuinely worked, then accompany her to where she would hand over her valuables, continuing until that point to press the need for treatment and to assure her the valuables would stay with her; and a third was to keep watch and distract any bystanders. The cases against the other two participants were severed into separate proceedings.

Documented coercion mechanisms

• an offer of curse removal and healing made to an elderly woman selected in the street
• a planted corroborator whose role was to persuade the victim that the healing was effective
• sustained persuasion that treatment was necessary, maintained until the victim's valuables had been handed over
• a third participant acting as lookout to keep the encounter undisturbed