|
Varduhi Zakaryan
Pimp Sentenced to Five Years
In Prison
[February 12, 2007]
On January 31 st a four-month criminal trial involving pimping and human
trafficking came to an end in the Court of First Instance of Yerevan's Shengavit
district. In 2006 Mayranush Harutyunyan, Susanna Nikoghosyan, and Ruzanna Baghdasaryan
were charged by prosecutors with violating the Article 261of the Criminal Code
of the Republic Armenia ... [full
story]
Edik Baghdasaryan
Notorious Pimp Changes Name
[January 15, 2007]
As we have reported earlier, Amalya Mnatsakayan (Nano) and Marieta Musayelyan
– both notorious pimps – took new groups of women to the United Arab Emirates
in November 2006 (See also: When
They Get Out of Jail, the Pimps Go Back to Work) ... [full
story]
Varduhi Zakaryan
Gyumri’s Human Trafficking Victims
[January 15, 2007]
“Seven of us lived in one room, where we didn't even have the most basic
facilities. We would be kept partly hungry almost all the time – there would
be days when we would eat dry bread, cabbage stems and even days when we would
go hungry ... [full
story]
Edik Baghdasaryan
Government Agencies Help Convicted Trafficker Escape
[November 13, 2006]
In February 2006, Anush Zakharyants, who was serving time at the Abovyan
criminal detention center after being convicted of trafficking, “escaped” with
collective help from the Ministry of Justice and the Prosecutor General's office... [full
story]
Edik Baghdasaryan
Dubai: Center of the Sex Trade
[June 19, 2006]
The man in national dress pictured here works for the Criminal Investigation
Department of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). On February 3, 2005, under his
supervision, pimps of various nationalities were selling women right in front
of the Inter City hotel in Dubai ... [full
story]
Varduhi Zakaryan
Light Sentences for Trafficking
Ring
[April 10, 2006]
"I didn't tell my parents I was going to Dubai-they wouldn't have let me
go-even though I thought I was going to have a normal job there. I couldn't ask
them for help once I was here [Dubai], since I was always watched when I talked
to my parents on the phone ..." [full
story]
Edik Baghdasaryan
Is the Assistant Prosecutor
a Pimp's Protector?
[April 3, 2006]
A file sent to the Office of the Prosecutor General from the Police Service
of Armenia in March 2006 contains allegations from sisters G. and S. that Yerevan
resident Gayane Darbinyan took them to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates where
they were subjected to sexual exploitation ... [full
story]
Naira Bulghadaryan
Human Traffickers Convicted
in Vanadzor
[March 27, 2006]
On March 17, Arusyak Melkumyan, a notorious Vanadzor pimp, was sentenced
to four years in prison by the Court of First Instance of Lori Marz, Judge Barik
Grigoryan presiding, on charges of human trafficking. Her partner in crime, ... [full
story]
Kristine Barseghyan
Committee Investigates Hetq Report
[March 6, 2006]
On February 23, Edik Baghdasaryan, chairman of the Investigative Journalists
of Armenia, was summoned to the Office of the Prosecutor General to provide explanations
to a committee set up to verify published findings by investigative journalists
... [full story]
Karine Kalantarian, Armenialiberty
Law-Enforcement Officials Cleared
Of Human Trafficking
[March 6, 2006]
Prosecutor-General Aghvan Hovsepian presented and endorsed on Wednesday the
findings of an official inquiry which dismiss media reports implicating Armenian
law-enforcement officials in the trafficking of women for sexual exploitation
abroad ... [full story]
Liana Sayadyan
Ukrainian Girls Exploited
in Armenia
[February 20, 2006]
In July 2005, Viktorya Lukyanenko and Tatyana Malashenko, both residents
of Ukraine, came to Yerevan to make money as strippers, although neither had
worked in striptease before ... [full story]
Edik Baghdasaryan
Another Gang of Human Traffickers
Sentenced
[January 30, 2006]
Armine (not her real name) from Hrazdan spent a year in Dubai as a sex slave
in the control of the notorious pimp Anahit Malkhasyan, or Dbr Ano, who was wanted
by Interpol ... [full story]
Edik Baghdasaryan
The Russian Embassy Is Unreachable
For Its Citizens
[January 16, 2006]
Fifty-year-old Sergey Razganyaev has been in Armenia for seven years and
is unable to return to his home city of Chelinadolsk in the Tatarstan Autonomous
Republic of the Russian Federation ... [full story]
Aghavni Yeghyazaryan
Anti-trafficking Efforts in Armenia-2
[December 26, 2005]
A number of NGOs are implementing projects aimed at raising the level of awareness
towards human trafficking (See also: Anti-trafficking
Efforts in Armenia). The Yerevan office of the Armenian Caritas charitable
NGO began its awareness campaign at the school level ... [full
story]
Aghavni Yeghyazaryan
Anti-trafficking Efforts in Armenia
[December 19, 2005]
The US State Department's 2005 Trafficking in Persons Report places Armenia
on its "Watch List" (countries that require special supervision). March 16, 2005.
The Prosecutor General of the Republic of Armenia creates a new department to
fight human trafficking. March 30, 2004 ... [full story]
Onnik Krikorian
Documentary Film Highlights Trafficking
of Children From Armenia
[December 19, 2005]
Lusine was just 16 years old when she was trafficked from Armenia to the United
Arab Emirates. A year earlier she had married against the wishes of her parents,
but found herself on the streets when she could no longer tolerate the beatings
she received from her husband ... [full story]
Edik Baghdasaryan
Armenian Prostitutes
in Turkey
[December 5, 2005]
A few months ago, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan stated in a
speech that Turkey hosts around 40,000 Armenian citizens. What are so many Armenians
doing in different locations within Turkey? They are mainly in trade, working
in the service industry, or, painful as it is to admit it, involved in the sex
business ... [full story]
Edik Baghdasaryan
The Court is Soft on Human
Trafficking
[November 21, 2005]
On November 11th in Echmiadzin, the Court of First Instance of Armavir announced
its ruling in a case involving trafficking in women. That day, Judge Tigran Petrosyan
gave three of the defendants in the case very light sentences, based on Article
64 of the Criminal Code, which is to be used only if there are mitigating circumstances,
for example, when a defendant has assisted in solving a crime ... [full
story]
Samvel Poghosyan
A Light Sentence for Selling a Human
Being
[November 7, 2005]
"I found out in Dubai that I wouldn't be working in a store, I'd be a prostitute
instead. On Marine's orders, I visited several clients of different nationalities
in the Al Harmud Hotel and had sex with them. I was in an impossible situation,
because Marine had my passport, I didn't know anyone in Dubai, didn't know the
language, and didn't have any money to survive " ... [full
story]
Varduhi Zakaryan
Ex Policeman Convicted
of Human Trafficking
[October 24, 2005]
The Court of First Instance of Yerevan's Kentron and Nork-Marash District
has sentenced former police officer Alik Gasparyan to five years and six months
in prison, in accordance with Article 132 of the Armenian Criminal Code. (See
also: The Promise
of a Fairy Tale Life Draws Women to Dubai). During the preliminary invrstigation,
Gasparyan had stated that he was guilty on all charges ... [full
story]
Varduhi Zakaryan
The Promise of a Fairy Tale Life
Draws Women to Dubai
[October 17, 2005]
"I went to Dubai to work as a waitress. They promised me a high salary, and
I really needed the money. I have four children, and I've been divorced for four
years now. When I arrived in Dubai, I understood that I had been tricked. They
beat me, forced me to go out on the street and find clients. I told them that
I wouldn't a prostitute and that they should send me back home ... [full
story]
Varduhi Zakaryan
Armenia Has Become a Transit Point
in the Sex Trade
[October 3, 2005]
"My son has to go to school in September, my mother is terminally ill and
she needs medication. I really needed money and nobody would help me. My sisters
and brothers are married and have their own problems. And finding a job in Uzbekistan
is practically impossible." ... [full story]
A Dubai Pimp Is Dead
[September 19, 2005]
Last week, Anahit Malkhasyan (nicknamed Debr Ano), a Dubai pimp originally
from Echmiadzin, was killed in a car accident on the Dubai-Sharja highway. Malkhasyan
was driving a rented Honda ... [full story]
Edik Baghdasaryan, Aghavni Yeghiazaryan
Why Pimps Don't Get Punished,
Part III
[September 5, 2005]
Siranush Musayelyan, recruiter. From the village of Lusagyugh, near Echmiadzin.
Sentenced twice before. On September 29, 2004, Marietta Musayelyan called
me and told me that she would be in Armenia in several hours. I couldn't respond,
since she immediately hung up the phone and I was amazed at her arrogance, since
she was wanted by the police and she knew it ... [full
story]
Edik Baghdasaryan
Armenians Arrested in Dubai
[September 5, 2005]
Susana Sukiasyan (a.k.a. Grpo Suso), a Dubai pimp who had been sought by
the Armenian police, was arrested in July, along with ten women who were worked
for her. According to our sources in the Dubai police force, Sukiasyan's arrest
was unconnected to her involvement in the sex trade ... [full
story]
Edik Baghdasaryan, Aghavni Yeghiazaryan
Why Pimps Don't Get Punished,
Part II
[August 8, 2005]
“And so in the beginning of 2003 the next phase of my activities began.
I called Anahit Mlkhasyan, a Dubai pimp, and got Nune Kcheyan's phone number
in Yerevan, which I can’t recall now. I called Nune, and asked her to find
girls for me and send them to Dubai, so that they would do prostitution for me
... [full story]
Edik Baghdasaryan
Judges Need Training
[August 8, 2005]
On August 3, 2005 the hearing of the case against Natella Saghatelyan, a resident
of Uzbekistan charged with violating Article 132 of the Criminal Code of Armenia
(human trafficking) continued in the Court of First Instance of the Malatia-Sebastia
District of Yerevan. The maximum punishment envisaged in Article 132 is four
to eight years in prison ... [full story]
Edik Baghdasaryan, Aghavni Yeghiazaryan
Why Pimps Don't Get Punished
[August 1, 2005]
On May 25 2005, The Court of First Instance of the Kotayk Province, Judge
Gagik Heboyan presiding, reviewed the request from the Abovyan prison and released
prisoner Marietta Musayelyan before she had completed her sentence. Muselyan
had been wanted by the police since 2003 and was sentenced to one year and six
months in prison. She served only seven months ... [full
story]
Aghavni Eghiazaryan
No Payback for the Pimp
[July 18 2005]
On July 8, the court completed its review of the case against well-known
Dubai pimp Aisha, whose real name is Lusine Hakobyan. (See also: Another
pimp in Court). Judge Vazgen Lalayan of the Court of First Instance of Yerevan’s
Nork Marash and Kentron Districts sentenced Aisha to a one-year probation. She
is now free to get back to business ... [full story]
Aghavni Eghiazaryan
Another pimp in court
[July 11, 2005]
On June 20th, in the Court of First Instance of Yerevan’s Nork Marash
and Kentron districts, with Judge Vazgen Lalayan presiding, the case of notorious
Dubai pimp Lusine Hakobyan (aka Aisha) began ... [full
story]
Edik Baghdasaryan
Even the Court Supports the Pimp
[July 4, 2005]
On May 25 th, The Court of First Instance of the Kotayk Province, Judge Gagik
Heboyan presiding, issued a decision that is a classic example of the support
pimps receive in the Armenian legal system. These pimps have been selling Armenian
women into sexual slavery in Dubai for years. But they are given a slap on the
wrist by the courts, and released as soon as possible so they can get back to
work ... [full story]
Edik Baghdasaryan, Aghavni Eghyazaryan
The government has forgotten about
them
[June 20, 2005]
"One day my sister Arus came with a girl, her name was Anna. Arus said 'She'll
be your wife.' I slept with Anna that day. She was my first girl. I haven't been
with a woman since," 24-year-old Arsen Gevorgyan told us, the second time we
met. Arsen was twenty at the time. Some time later, his sister Arus and Anna
left for Dubai with the help of a recruiter named Gayane from Bangladesh. Gayane
sold them to a pimp called Nano (aka Horse Nano), and they have been working
as prostitutes ever since ... [full story]
Edik Baghdasaryan
Dubai is Hell on Earth
[May 25, 2005]
Aisha, whose real name is Lusine Hakobyan, is one of the most notorious pimps
in Dubai . She is known among prostitutes for being cruel and slovenly. Like
most Armenian pimps she first came to Dubai as a prostitute herself, but quickly
worked her way up to boss. She got her Arabic nickname from a local man ... [full
story]
Emil Danielyan, RFE/RL
Journalist
Inquiry Implicates Armenian Officials In Dubai Trafficking
[April 27, 2005]
The Armenian authorities have done little to combat illegal trafficking of
hundreds and possibly thousands of Armenian women abroad for sexual exploitation
despite their persistent claims to the contrary, according to the findings of
a nearly year-long journalistic investigation .... [full
story]
|
