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On November 3, 2016, the General Jurisdiction Court of First Instance of Kentron and Nork-Marash administrative districts of Yerevan, RA, presided by Judge M. Martirosyan, examined Susanna Simonyan’s complaint against V. Dolmazyan’s, Prosecutor at Investigation Department for High-Profile Cases at the RA Prosecutor General’s Office, refusal to restore the missed deadline for appealing       decision on rejecting initiation of criminal proceedings.

The examination of the complaint was attended by S. Simonyan, her representative Tatevik Siradeghyan, lawyer at Yerevan Office of HCA Vanadzor, V. Dolmazyan, Prosecutor at Investigation Department for High-Profile Cases at the RA Prosecutor General’s Office and H. Hovhannisyan, Investigator for High-Profile Cases at RA, Special Investigation Service, responsible for the investigation.

Upon making clear that there were no challenge motions, the Court proceeded to examination of the complaint. T. Siradeghyan noted that on June 22, 2016, S. Simonyan attended an assembly in support of Zhirayr Sefilyan in front of the administrative building of the General Jurisdiction Court of First Instance of Arabkir and Kanaker-Zeytun administrative districts of Yerevan, RA, which was examining the preliminary investigation agency’s motion on choosing detention as a preventive measure for Zh. Sefilyan. However, during the assembly, S. Simonyan was arrested by police officers who used physical force against her which caused an injury in the area of her right shoulder. Based on the materials prepared after S. Simonyan’s report, on July 7, 2016, it was decided to reject initiation of criminal proceedings. S. Simonyan appealed the said decision to the RA Prosecutor General’s Office on September 1, 2016 as she had severe health problems for long and was unable therefore to exercise her right to appeal. In particular, after receiving the decision of the investigating body, on July 18, 2016, her health deteriorated rapidly, she was taken to hospital by ambulance, discharged from hospital on July 19, 2016 and prescribed drug treatment for a month. Then, not fully rehabilitated, on August 25, 2016, S. Simonyan again turned to her attending doctor and again was prescribed drug treatment. Given this, T. Siradeghyan considered groundless V. Dolmazyan’s, Prosecutor at Investigation Department for High-Profile Cases at the RA Prosecutor General’s Office, conclusion that the excuse for missing the deadline for appealing the decision on rejecting initiation of criminal proceedings might be considered reasonable if the deadline was missed for a maximum of 5 days, as in that period S. Simonyan’s health status made it impossible for her to deal with any other issue but her health. Thus, S. Simonyan’s representative requested the court to restore the missed procedural deadline for appealing the decision of H. Hovhannisyan, Investigator for High-Profile Cases at RA, Special Investigation Service, on rejecting initiation of criminal proceedings dated July 7, 2016.

V. Dolmazyan, Prosecutor at Investigation Department for High-Profile Cases at the RA Prosecutor General’s Office, presented his objections to the appeal. He noted that the medical documents attached to the appeal showed that S. Simonyan received drop infusion treatment for only 3 days, and also considering the period she stayed at hospital, the excuse for the missed procedural deadline might be considered reasonable for 5 days and therefore the deadline was not restored.

S. Simonyan also provided clarifications on the state of her health noting that on July 18, 2016 she experienced numbness of her right half and that state persisted for about 10 days and even today she has problems with her right shoulder. She also said that some medical documents were not submitted to the court.

T. Siradeghyan requested the court to give them an opportunity to submit other medical documents to the court as well. Thus, the court hearing was postponed till November 7, 2016, 9:30 am.