A report to be presented pertaining to the crime of the prosecutor imposing pressure on those questioned with regard to inciting a soldier’s suicide
13:23, December 25, 2017 | News, Own news | Right to Life, Rights of Soldiers/Recruits | Armed Forces
On December 22, 2017 at the General Jurisdiction Court of Syunik Province in the RA, the examination of the evidence continued in regard to the case of inciting soldier Gevorg Khachatryan’s suicide, and defendant H. Muradyan was questioned.
The latter pleaded not guilty of the crime he was charged with and declared that the prosecutor who conducted the proceedings threatened him. The Parties addressed questions to the defendant, following which the representative of the Aggrieved Party, T. Siradeghyan, lawyer at HCA Vanadzor Representative Office in Yerevan, filed a petition to publicize the defendant’s pre-examination testimonies as there were substantial differences between them and the testimonies given during the proceedings. The motion was upheld, and after publicizing the testimonies, the defendant insisted on the testimonies given during the proceedings.
At the court session the representative of the legal successor filed a petition to publicize Gevorg Khachatryan’s father’s and uncle’s pre-examination testimony. However, this petition was rejected. Then, the interrogation protocols of the expert who made conclusions on the face-to-face interrogations and posthumous psychometric forensic examination.
In response to the judge’s question on having any petitions or positions with regard to the examined evidence, defendant S. Khachatryan informed that the aggrieved persons’, witnesses’ and defendants’ testimonies on being pressured were aimed at submitting a report to the RA General Prosecutor’s Office. On this ground, S. Khachatryan requested not to end the stage of examining the evidence and to adjourn the court session.
The Aggrieved Party joined the petition submitted, mentioning that it was necessary to give a legal assessment to both the prosecutors’ actions and the credibility of the testimonies by those aggrieved and the witnesses.
The Defense objected to the petition, mentioning that the matter could be resolved by summoning the prosecutor on the case as a witness. However, the Court considered S. Khachatryan’s petition as grounded, and the court session was adjourned to January 31, 2018.