Today the 25-year-old victim A.A was questioned in the case of 39-year-old Heriknaz, who is accused in trafficking.
She told that the defendant and her family were close friends. In childhood the victim lived in the orphanage and later moved to Artsakh with her mother. During the years in the orphanage the defendant and her sisters often visited A.A., and she called her “aunts”.
When she was 19, she told Bavakan, who is the Defendants sister that she wanted to leave the village and find job. Bavakan offered to send her to Moscow to work as a waitress at Hasmik (the close relatives called Heriknaz by the name Hasmik).
And on the assumption of the fact that she did not have money, Hasmik sent the sum to cover the costs for the ticket, visa and other necessary expenditures. In Autumn 2009 she moved to Bavakan’s house in Hrazdan. In the morning on 7 January 2010, she went to the airport to leave for Moscow as she thought.
Before getting into the aircraft in the waiting hall she noticed that the plane was flying to Dubai and not to Moscow. Unsure what to do, however she got into the plane. There were some other girls in the plane with her as well. When they went to the toilet, she went there with them and asked which of the documents that she had with her was the most important. The girls told her that if she would not have the visa she will not be allowed to enter the Emirates.
A. ripped the visa and threw it into the can. Already from the airport in Dubai she phoned to Bavakan and said that she had lost the visa. Then Hasmik phoned her and said not to be afraid and that everything would be OK. A bit later Hasmik send her some money by bank transfer to buy a phone and to be able to eat. According to the victim it was some 100 USD.
B. Later in the airport she was explained that persons under 25 years of age are not allowed to enter their country and she was sent back to Armenia.
When asked whether she was not aware that no visa was required for leaving to Moscow, and that the text on the visa was written in a foreign language, the victim answered that she had not studied any other foreign language but Russian at school and in addition as she lived in the village she did not know anything about the developments in the world.
When asked if she would know that she was going for prostitution, would she agree to that, the victim strictly answered “No!” She also said that later, after she returned form from Dubai she asked Hasmik what they would do in Dubai, Hasmik answered “We should have gonе for the night and return in the morning.” After that A. had cut all relations with Hasmik and her sister.
The prosecutor asked whether she was sure that she had spoken just with Hasmik on the phone, the victim replied, “How can’t I recognize the voice of a person whom I had called aunty in the duration of 13 years?”
When the defense party asked why she hadn’t told all that to the police 3 years before, the victim answered that he would never tell that if Bavakan wouldn’t have taken the money for the travel to Dubai from her mother.
The advocate filed a motion to invite other witnesses to the court for questioning as well. Among them the defendant’s sister Bavakan, who currently is serving her sentence in “Abovyan” penitentiary. She was sentenced to 11 years in prison.
It is due to not that Heriknaz, who lived in Dubai and was involved in prostitution, had joined with her elder sister Bavakan, who lived in Armenia and the head of the criminal group involved in trafficking of the people Nelly Nersisyan, who lived in United Arab Emirates.
Nelly Nersisyan personally headed the activities of the criminal group, coordinated the process of obtaining entry visas for the recruited persons, their transportation to Dubai and met them in the Emirates. Heriknaz and Bavakan carried out the recruitment of the women , their transportation to Dubai and hiding activities.
Note: The suspect or the accused of the alleged offense is deemed innocent unless his or her innocence is proved by virtue of the effective court verdict in the manner prescribed by the Criminal Procedure Code of the Republic of Armenia.
