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The human rights organization has appealed to the RA Court of Cassation

Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly-Vanadzor NGO appealed to the RA Court of Cassation, demanding that they reverse the decision of the RA Criminal Court of Appeals and send the case to the same court for re-examination.

The human rights organization appealed the May 3, 2011 decision of Vaghinak Martirosyan, the investigator of the Lori Region Investigative Division of the Main Investigation Bureau of the RA Police, to reject the initiation of the criminal case.

The rejection of the Court of Common Jurisdiction was followed by the rejection of the Court of Appeals.

On February 15, 2011, around 5:00 p.m., the police closed a 1 km section on the Vanadzor-Yerevan road, and stopped traffic for an hour, from the intersection of Vanadzor-Stepanavan towards the entry to Vanadzor.

Artur Sakunts, the head of the human rights organization, insists that Anubakh Hambaryan, Head of the Lori Region Police Department, Sergo Avetisyan, Head of Vanadzor Police Department, Meruzhan Karapetyan, former Commander of the 5thOfficer Squadron of the 2ndOfficer  Battalion of  the  RA Traffic Police, and several police officers obstructed the entry to the city for owners of vehicles with Georgian registration plates, drivers from Vanadzor and Gyumri and deprived them of their constitutional right of free movement and participation in peaceful assemblies, demonstrations, and marches.

The disputed decision in response to the February 17th crime statement, filed with the RA Prosecutor General’s Office by Artur Sakunts, was belatedly received on May 3, 2011.

In the process of preparing the materials, Vaghinak Martirosyan, Senior Investigator of Lori Region Investigative Division, concluded that on February 15, 2011, at approximately 5:00 p.m., an employer of “Lori RMC” CJSC was performing a scheduled cleanup of snow on Vanadzor-Spitak Highway. The Autograder engine malfunctioned at around 5:00 p.m. on the 1st km of the highway and stopped traffic lane of the highway, thus making the road impassable and obstructing the traffic of cars travelling on the highway, including those with Georgian registration numbers. Learning about the traffic jam, employees of the 1st Officer Platoon the 5th Officer Squadron of the Traffic Police visited the area. Being unable to tow the Autograder away from the road, they used trucksto open up another route through the snowed area. At approximately 6:00 p.m. the driver of the Autograder repaired it, after which the road was free and traffic resumed.

However, theThe head of the human rights organization states that the investigative body did not consider several existing facts objectively during the preparation of the materials and based the decision to reject the initiation of the case only on the testimony of the police officers.

‘By deciding not to initiate a case, the investigative body illegally concealed or protected the violators transferring the blame onto the Autograder engine malfunction; however, there are audio recordings where you can clearly hear the sound of the engine,’ says Sakunts.

HCAV Lawyer, Arayik Zalyan adds that the Court of Appeals violated several articles of the Criminal Procedure Code. “The prepared materialsand theevidence presented with the crime statement were not evaluated objectively,” he says.

The decision of the Court of Common Jurisdiction, according to the lawyer, did not have a justification section.

“As a result, the right of the organization to a fair court examination, guaranteed by the European Convention on the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and the RA Constitution and Criminal Procedure Code, was violated,” concluded lawyer Zalyan.

Source: Aravot Daily
www.aravot.am