Pickpocketing in Armenia

“Dear passengers, be careful with your personal belongings. The company is not responsible for lost personal items.” This warning can be seen in almost all taxis in Yerevan, but extra caution does not always help passengers hang onto their wallets. According to the police, cases of pickpocketing have become more frequent in Armenia, most of which occur on transport.

If in 2020, 390 cases of pickpocketing were recorded in Yerevan; in 2021 their number decreased to 287, then in 2022 it increased sharply to 468 incidents.

According to the new criminal code of Armenia, pickpocketing is considered a more serious crime and the punishments therefore will now be harsher.

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Ofelia Simonyan tells how her purse was stolen a few months ago on a Yerevan bus. She says that people sometimes notice a person committing theft, but don’t stop them because they are afraid.

“When I entered the bus, there was already a lot of people. My purse was in my backpack. The guy came in after me, asked me to give him a seat and ended up standing right behind my backpack. This made me suspicious, but I thought that no one would dare steal in front of so many people. After a few stops, the guy got out.

I had noticed that he was with a friend. After they both left, the woman next to me said very quietly that my purse had been stolen. I asked the woman to get off the bus with me and show me who stole it, but she refused, only pointing him out at a distance. I got out of the bus, quickly approached him, demanded that he return my purse, although I think he had already given it to his “partner”. Naturally, he began to make excuses: “Sister, I have nothing.” I took a picture of him and immediately called the police.”

During 2022, only 11 out of 468 cases of pickpocketing that occurred in Yerevan were solved. Moreover, 310 of them were committed in public transport.

There are fewer cases of pickpocketing in the regions. Over the past year, 23 cases were registered, 13 of them – again in fixed-route taxis.

“Under the old criminal code, pickpocketing was considered a crime of medium gravity. In order for these crimes to be investigated, the victim had to write a statement. Most often, people did not write them, mainly because the amount lost was small. People don’t want to get into legal proceedings because of a small amount. Because of this, pickpockets had a sense of impunity.

In view of all this, in the new criminal code, the state has tightened the policy of punishment. Now, in the case of the fact of pickpocketing, a criminal case is initiated, an investigation is carried out in the usual manner, all the circumstances are clarified. In contrast to the previous practice, when the presence of a complaint was mandatory, and in case of its absence, the proceedings on the case were terminated,” Gor Abrahamyan, spokesman for the investigative committee, said.

Law enforcement officials believe that this change will change the attitude of “people exhibiting criminal behavior” to pickpocketing. Now they are considered a more serious crime, and the punishment will be more severe.

Prior to amendments to the criminal code, pickpockets were threatened with a prison term of up to two years. According to the new Criminal Code, which came into force on July 1, 2022, for pickpocketing, you can end up in prison for a period of two to five years.

Although Ofelia contacted the police very quickly, and investigators were able to identify the man, months later there is still no news in this case.

She says that the police hinted to her that the case was hopeless, but she did not withdraw her complaint:

“The guy got off the bus right downtown, where cameras are installed on every corner. After examining the records, it was possible to understand whether he gave my wallet to someone else or not.”

Gor Abrahamyan, spokesman for the investigative committee, says that no matter how much was stolen, no one has the right to influence a victim to withdraw a complaint.

“In general crimes against property, especially theft, are very difficult to solve. And if the investigators do not have enough facts, they have certain difficulties. Pickpocketing is no exception,” he says.

Many people think that pickpockets and minibus drivers “work together” because thefts often occur on the same routes. But Abrahamyan says there is no evidence of that:

“We have no reason to believe that there is such a scheme. This is more of a common misconception among the public, because such incidents happen more often on the same routes. However, in those cases when the investigating authority has information that that happened, then yes, drivers are also interrogated.”

When asked if the preliminary investigation body could take the initiative, make a proposal to place cameras in minibuses in order to reduce cases of pickpocketing, the spokesman replied:

“This issue has been raised many times, not only in connection with pickpocketing. However, we have to consider that significant financial investment would be required for that, so the authorities are not doing this. As far as I know, in order to introduce total control, the mayor’s office is taking measures to install cameras on public transport.”

Cameras have already been installed in some Yerevan fixed-route taxis, but they capture only the part of the car surrounding the driver.