The three women appearing as defendants, all former employees of Sashik's Sauna in Gyumri, had been charged with pimping - An individual who, for a fee, supplies another individual with a prostitute for sexual purposes.

Two of the women had been charged and found guilty of the same crime in the past and fined 350,000 and 300,000 AMD.

Knar Malkhasyan, a woman in her 50's, used to work as an administrator at the sauna. She's one of the two with a pimping past.

She is charged with inviting Naira Lazginyan, Arevik Hambardzumyan and other prostitutes to the sauna to ply their trade. Malkhasyan is said to have offered the women separate cubicles to engage in sex with clients.

The two other defendants, Anahit Mnatsakanyan and Narine Hakobyan, are alleged to have assisted Malkhasyan in the business.

Before the trail got underway, all three defendants petitioned the court to grant a "speedy trial" and accepted the charges against them. Presiding Judge Harutyun Movsesyan sustained the motion since there were no objections from the prosecution.

Prosecutor Saloyan took the floor and stated that pimping and prostitution had sharply risen in Armenia over the past few years and urges the court to find all three defendants guilty as charged. He asked that Malkhasyan been sentenced to 2 years and six months; Mnatsakanyan – 2 years; and Hakobyan to be fined 400,000 AMD.

He then motioned the court to pardon all three under the guidelines of the general amnesty adopted by the RA National Assembly on May 5, 2011 on the occasion of Armenia's 20th year of independence.

Public Defender Aramayis Hayrapetyan stated that he fully agreed with the pardon proposal since all three women had expressed regret for their actions and that they had been compelled to do what they did based on their difficult socio-economic situation.

The three defendants, in their closing remarks, stated that they were truly sorry for their actions and pleaded for the court to pardon them. The women promised never to engage in such business again.

After a one hour recess Judge Movsesyan read out his verdict.

Malkhasyan and Mnatsakanyan were found guilty as charged and sentenced to 1.5 and 1 year respectively. Hakobyan was fined 300,000 AMD.

All three were granted amnesty,

P.S. With permission from the judge and in my capacity as a reporter, I shot some photos of the proceedings and the litigants. During the recess, one of the defendants, Anahit Mnatsakanyan, approached me and asked who I was.

When she found out that I was a reporter, Mnatsakanyan stated that I was required to have asked for permission before photographing them since they wanted to avoid any publicity.

My mind then went back a few years to an incident at the same courtroom and a group of women charged with the same crime. A local TV station had covered the sentencing and aired the case on the evening news.

A week later, the women defendants publicly thanked the court for the publicity – their client base had grown as a result.