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Justice or Coverup?: Controversial trial of soldiers sees new charges
for previously-resolved case
HUMAN RIGHTS | 12.12.12 | 10:41
Photolure
Zaruhi Postanjyan, Hayk Alumyan
By GAYANE ABRAHAMYAN
ArmeniaNow reporter
The Armenian judicial system is being tested again as the scandalous
Mataghis Case has entered a new phase after several months of
procrastination, and while oppositional Armenian National Congress MP,
former military prosecutor Gagik Jhangiryan is talking about the
`lamentable state' of human rights in the country (during a march on
Human Rights Day).
Three young men convicted and tortured during his tenure keep fighting
for justice and blaming the same Jhangiryan for `ruining their lives'.
Razmik Sargsyan, Arayik Zalyan and Musa Serobyan, all age 27, were
charged with murder in 2004, following the discovery of the bodies of
conscripts Hovsep Mkrtumyan and Roman Yeghiazaryan in a water
reservoir in Nagorno Karabakh's Mataghis village.
The first instance court sentenced them to 15 years, however a court
of appeals increased the punishment to life sentences. Unexpectedly,
the Court of Cassation, in 2006, released the convicts, marking the
first time in independent Armenia's history that the higher court
annulled an appeals court decision. The case was sent back for further
investigation.
It seemed that the case would never go back to court again, but, as
the defence attorney Hayk Alumyan says, `Unlawfulness in an unlawful
country is taken till the very end.'
Now, the men are being brought up on lesser charges for the same
crime, accused of accidental death by beating, with the maximum
punishment of 7-8 years' imprisonment. (Armenia's Criminal Code puts
the crime at up to 10 years. Prosecutors are calling for 7-8 and the
previous three years would count as time served.)
`The authorities don't want to back down on case that was fabricated
from A-Z,' the attorney told ArmeniaNow. `If they close the case
they'd have to find the real culprits, whose identities are known, but
the prosecution of that time [2004] fabricated the case, and it is now
continued by the current authorities.'
According to the victims' legal successors and the defendants' parents
the chief `script-writer' of the fabrication is former military
prosecutor Jhangiryan, who has today become a `fighter for justice,
when in fact he was the one who covered up our children's murderers'
case,' says Hovsep Mkrtumyan's father, Movsep Mkrtumyan.
The victim's legal successor Mkrtumyan is convinced that the accused
soldiers had nothing to do with the murder, but believes the court
will not be fair this time either.
`The real murderers are among the commander staff, hence they are
defended with might and main,' Mkrtumyan told ArmeniaNow.
In 2005 Zaruhi Postanjyan, now a Heritage faction MP, was the attorney
in the original case and submitted a letter sent from the then NKR
Defence Minster Seyran Ohanyan to Jhangiryan related to Mataghis
battalion commander Ivan Grigoryan. In the letter the minister was
asking to `be lenient with battalion commander Ivan Grigoryan, since
he is a national hero and regrets his deed'.
Despite the letter and other material evidence and testimonies tracing
the murder to commander Grigoryan, who was involved in the case as a
witness, the court was unable to have him present during the trial
even as such [as a witness], with an excuse that Grigoryan's location
was unknown.
Postanjyan is convinced that the case has been brought to surface
again to help the state avoid a punishment by the European Court of
Human Rights (ECHR).
Razmik Sargsyan's case was in the process at ECHR, which in 2007 sent
a list of questions to the government of Armenia, in particular
related to forcing testimony through physical abuse and torture; this
year the European Court has sent an inquiry for the second time.
If ECHR regards as a proven fact that the crucial testimony was forced
out of Sargsyan with violence and torture, the case will have to be
suspended, since the other two were accused along with him based
purely on that testimony.
`The case fell apart yet in 2006 at the court of cassation, it was so
obvious during the trial that there simply was no ground for any other
verdict; they had to annul the previous two verdicts; now, however,
everything is done not to let the real wrongdoers be punished,'
Postanjyan told ArmeniaNow.
Postanjyan is convinced that her former clients (the three defendants)
will demand compensation `for terrible torture, three years of prison
and serious damage to health' and that the `state now is avoiding
either compensation or disclosure of the guilty and the responsibility
to punish the monsters covering up this case.'
Sargsyan's parents are in despair, but keep fighting.
`Because of the beatings, the hunger strike (carried out by the
defendants in prison), my son's health has deteriorated beyond cure.
They hit him in the kidneys so much that they are seriously damaged
now, so is his spine,' says Torgom Sargsayn, father of Razmik. `We
have to see to the punishment of those who have ruined his life. They
have ruined so many others just like our son. How many innocent people
have been sent to prison, in order to cover up the real culprits. I
saved my son from under the ruins (during the 1988 Spitak earthquake]
He survived by miracle, and now I am unable to save him from their
hands.'
The current trial in Gyumri at the Shirak Region Court of Common
Jurisdiction, is in its final stages and expected to conclude December
14. Human rights activists are expected to stage protests leading up
to the court decision. The three defendants have not been detained.
for previously-resolved case
HUMAN RIGHTS | 12.12.12 | 10:41
Photolure
Zaruhi Postanjyan, Hayk Alumyan
By GAYANE ABRAHAMYAN
ArmeniaNow reporter
The Armenian judicial system is being tested again as the scandalous
Mataghis Case has entered a new phase after several months of
procrastination, and while oppositional Armenian National Congress MP,
former military prosecutor Gagik Jhangiryan is talking about the
`lamentable state' of human rights in the country (during a march on
Human Rights Day).
Three young men convicted and tortured during his tenure keep fighting
for justice and blaming the same Jhangiryan for `ruining their lives'.
Razmik Sargsyan, Arayik Zalyan and Musa Serobyan, all age 27, were
charged with murder in 2004, following the discovery of the bodies of
conscripts Hovsep Mkrtumyan and Roman Yeghiazaryan in a water
reservoir in Nagorno Karabakh's Mataghis village.
The first instance court sentenced them to 15 years, however a court
of appeals increased the punishment to life sentences. Unexpectedly,
the Court of Cassation, in 2006, released the convicts, marking the
first time in independent Armenia's history that the higher court
annulled an appeals court decision. The case was sent back for further
investigation.
It seemed that the case would never go back to court again, but, as
the defence attorney Hayk Alumyan says, `Unlawfulness in an unlawful
country is taken till the very end.'
Now, the men are being brought up on lesser charges for the same
crime, accused of accidental death by beating, with the maximum
punishment of 7-8 years' imprisonment. (Armenia's Criminal Code puts
the crime at up to 10 years. Prosecutors are calling for 7-8 and the
previous three years would count as time served.)
`The authorities don't want to back down on case that was fabricated
from A-Z,' the attorney told ArmeniaNow. `If they close the case
they'd have to find the real culprits, whose identities are known, but
the prosecution of that time [2004] fabricated the case, and it is now
continued by the current authorities.'
According to the victims' legal successors and the defendants' parents
the chief `script-writer' of the fabrication is former military
prosecutor Jhangiryan, who has today become a `fighter for justice,
when in fact he was the one who covered up our children's murderers'
case,' says Hovsep Mkrtumyan's father, Movsep Mkrtumyan.
The victim's legal successor Mkrtumyan is convinced that the accused
soldiers had nothing to do with the murder, but believes the court
will not be fair this time either.
`The real murderers are among the commander staff, hence they are
defended with might and main,' Mkrtumyan told ArmeniaNow.
In 2005 Zaruhi Postanjyan, now a Heritage faction MP, was the attorney
in the original case and submitted a letter sent from the then NKR
Defence Minster Seyran Ohanyan to Jhangiryan related to Mataghis
battalion commander Ivan Grigoryan. In the letter the minister was
asking to `be lenient with battalion commander Ivan Grigoryan, since
he is a national hero and regrets his deed'.
Despite the letter and other material evidence and testimonies tracing
the murder to commander Grigoryan, who was involved in the case as a
witness, the court was unable to have him present during the trial
even as such [as a witness], with an excuse that Grigoryan's location
was unknown.
Postanjyan is convinced that the case has been brought to surface
again to help the state avoid a punishment by the European Court of
Human Rights (ECHR).
Razmik Sargsyan's case was in the process at ECHR, which in 2007 sent
a list of questions to the government of Armenia, in particular
related to forcing testimony through physical abuse and torture; this
year the European Court has sent an inquiry for the second time.
If ECHR regards as a proven fact that the crucial testimony was forced
out of Sargsyan with violence and torture, the case will have to be
suspended, since the other two were accused along with him based
purely on that testimony.
`The case fell apart yet in 2006 at the court of cassation, it was so
obvious during the trial that there simply was no ground for any other
verdict; they had to annul the previous two verdicts; now, however,
everything is done not to let the real wrongdoers be punished,'
Postanjyan told ArmeniaNow.
Postanjyan is convinced that her former clients (the three defendants)
will demand compensation `for terrible torture, three years of prison
and serious damage to health' and that the `state now is avoiding
either compensation or disclosure of the guilty and the responsibility
to punish the monsters covering up this case.'
Sargsyan's parents are in despair, but keep fighting.
`Because of the beatings, the hunger strike (carried out by the
defendants in prison), my son's health has deteriorated beyond cure.
They hit him in the kidneys so much that they are seriously damaged
now, so is his spine,' says Torgom Sargsayn, father of Razmik. `We
have to see to the punishment of those who have ruined his life. They
have ruined so many others just like our son. How many innocent people
have been sent to prison, in order to cover up the real culprits. I
saved my son from under the ruins (during the 1988 Spitak earthquake]
He survived by miracle, and now I am unable to save him from their
hands.'
The current trial in Gyumri at the Shirak Region Court of Common
Jurisdiction, is in its final stages and expected to conclude December
14. Human rights activists are expected to stage protests leading up
to the court decision. The three defendants have not been detained.