Kotayk Resident Engaged in Labor Trafficking of 3 Women and 1 Child

The preliminary investigation into a case concerning the trafficking of four individuals, including one child, by a 38-year-old resident of the Kotayk region has been completed. This was reported by the Investigative Committee of Armenia.

As a result of extensive investigative and procedural actions undertaken by the main department for the investigation of especially important cases of the Investigative Committee, it was established that the 38-year-old man exploited the vulnerability of three women from the Ararat region, including a mother and daughter, by offering them work as milkmaids at his farm located in the Garni community without clarifying the terms of compensation.

Hoping for a monthly payment of at least 5,000 AMD for milking one cow, the women accepted the man’s offer. One of the women, along with her young child, moved to reside in a stone structure on the farm from 2018, while the mother and daughter, with their minor children, lived there from January 2023. This accommodation lacked basic living conditions.

The 38-year-old man promised to provide necessary food from his own store, insisting they would settle their wages against the cost of the groceries purchased, which were to be paid for in cash.

However, due to persistent dissatisfaction related to their working conditions, the man resorted to violence against the women, striking them with his hands and feet, as well as with iron tools meant for cleaning the barn. He threatened them with violence and forced them to perform various tasks, including feeding livestock and cleaning the barn.

For four years of work as a milkmaid and other coerced tasks, the 38-year-old man paid one woman only 30,000 AMD, failing to provide any settlement for her work or the groceries. Additionally, he recorded against her name debts from goods taken from the store by another person who had worked at the farm for years. Consequently, over the years, the woman accumulated a debt of 2,004,740 AMD at the store.

The mother and daughter received a total of only 15,000 AMD for six months of work, again without any settlement. Thus, their debt at the store totaled 480,480 AMD. The man exploited this uncertainty to maintain the women in a state of exploitation.

Moreover, with the same intention of child trafficking, he demanded that a nine-year-old child, already exploited since January 2023, wake up every day around 07:00 starting in February 2023, assisting the farming operations alongside the 14-year-old son of the milkmaid. Until June 7, the nine-year-old was also taken out in rainy and cold weather to the fields, two kilometers away from the farm, to help manage the livestock until late afternoon and return them to the barn in the evening.

The victims only managed to escape their exploitative situation after the mother and daughter contacted the police, using a mobile card that the daughter had hidden from the man, who had taken her phone card.

Based on the evidence gathered, the 38-year-old resident of Kotayk has been charged under Article 188, Part 1 (two episodes) and Article 189, Part 2, Point 1 of the Criminal Code of Armenia. He has been remanded in custody as a measure of restraint.

The preliminary investigation has been completed, and the materials of the criminal case have been sent to the prosecutor with a request for approval and further submission to court.