Victims give Testimonies within the Frames of Serob Ter-Poghosyan Case
00:00, July 26, 2011 | Press Release | Children's rights, Right to Fair Trial
On Tuesday, one of the aggrieved parties was interrogated during the third trial of Serob Ter-Poghosyan, an American-Armenian businessman, charged with child molestation.
The accusing party Senior Prosecutor Aram Amirzadyan of the Department of Criminal Cases attached to RA General Prosecutor’s Office told the journalists that all of the ten individuals registered as the “injured party” were summoned to the court, including minors who had not attended the court sessions yet.
“When they turn up, we’ll then be more specific, at this point the interrogated victim is 19 and is serving in the army”, noted Amirzadyan.
Amirzadyan stated that today during the interrogation in the court room the victim did not understand his statements made during the preliminary investigation. “In fact, the victim is giving testimonies with same content by providing more detailed testimonies in favor of the accusing party” said Amirzadyan. By his words, the victims are the same people filmed in the tape, which was introduced as evidence in the trial. To the question what awaits those who shot the films, posed by “Azatutyun” Radio Station, Amirzadyan answered, “The films were shot by the video camera that Serob Ter-Pogosyan or one of the participants, involved in the criminal case in various statuses, had positioned at certain places”, noted the representative of the accusing party. Only two victims have been interrogated during three trial sessions. The first court trial was put off as Serob Ter-Pogosyan’s advocates needed to get familiarized with the case-related documents. Today only Givi Harutyunyan, one out of the two advocates was present during the trial, who refused to be interviewed by the journalists, explaining that the trial was behind the closed doors.
Serob Ter-Poghosyan, head of the “Metal Prince Ltd. Corporation” is charged with having sexual intercourse with minors. In case the 65-year-old American-Armenian businessman is indicted, he will be subject to 8-15 years of imprisonment. The next trial over this case will be heard tomorrow, on July 26.