Appeal on Founding Parliament Member Hovhannes Ghazaryan’s Case submitted to Cassation Court
14:00, February 19, 2016 | News, Own news | Founding Parliament
As already reported, on April 7, 2015, Founding Parliament Member (Lori Marz (Region) Coordinator) Hovhannes Ghazaryan’s apartment and office were searched, and afterwards he was apprehended as a witness to the RA High-Profile Cases Investigation Department without any factual and legal grounds and kept there 11 hours.
On the same day, other members of the Founding Parliament also underwent similar searches, and this suggests that the persons above, including Hovhannes Ghazaryan suffered political persecution.
To protect the rights of Hovhannes Ghazaryan, Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly Vanadzor involved lawyers A. Harutyunyan and A. Sukiasyan.
To return the items illegally confiscated from him during the search and require the copies of the court ruling on permitting the search, the Organization filed an application with the Investigation Department for High-Profile Cases. However, the Investigation Department for High-Profile Cases dismissed the application above on the pretext that the party to criminal proceedings with the procedural status of a witness had no such rights under the RA Criminal Procedure Code.
The complaint to the RA Prosecutor General’s Office on this case dated May 13, 2015 was also dismissed. Afterwards, an appeal was filed with the General Jurisdiction Court of Kentron and Nork-Marash administrative districts, Yerevan. The Court upheld the appeal partially by enabling Hovhannes Ghazaryan to exercise the rights of a suspect or accused, i.e. to get familiar with and copy the protocols of the investigative and other procedural actions where he took part. The Court also gave instructions to the relevant agency to decide on the complaint of May 13, 2015.
The Court rejected the requirements of factual recognition of violating the rights during the search in Hovhannes Ghazaryan’s apartment and office on April 4, 2015 and return of the seized items. Therefore, an appeal was filed with the Court of Appeal.
On October 19, 2015, the Court of Criminal Appeals dismissed the appeal.
On November 14, 2015, Artur Sukiasyan, representative of Hovhannes Ghazaryan, appealed the ruling above of the RA Court of Criminal Appeals dated October 19, 2015 to the Court of Cassation.