Why case materials are not available to mother of deceased serviceman
18:05, April 22, 2014 | News, Other news | Rights of Soldiers/Recruits | Armed Forces
At this stage, the case of Hayk Movsisyan deceased on Nobember 28, 2012 in the Shushi penitentiary in the Nagorno-KarabakhRepublic is again in court. The representatives of Heghine Petrosyan, Hayk Movsisyan’s mother, Artur Sakunts and Arayik Zalyan submitted an application to the Court of General Jurisdiction of Kentron and Nork-Marash administrative districts of Yerevan demanding to recognize Heghine Petrosyan as a party to litigation on the criminal case № 62202513 and oblige the preliminary investigation agency to provide the latter with copies of the materials of the dismissed criminal case.
On November 20, 2012, the First Instance Court of General Jurisdiction of the Syunik Marz (Region) found the soldier Hayk Movsisyan guilty of committing an action under Article 363(2) of the RA Criminal Case, i.e. evading his military service, and sentenced him to 3 years of imprisonment. At the time of announcement of the verdict, Hayk Movsisyan was in Shushi prison and should be moved to Armenia later to serve his sentence. However, on November 28, 2012, he was found dead at the Shushi penitentiary intuition. According to the official version, Hayk Movsisyan committed a suicide by hanging himself, but his mother, Heghine Petrosyan argues that her son was murdered. She claimed that she had seen traces of violence on her son’s body and even had taken a picture of them.
Upon arriving to Armenia form Moscow, in June, 2011 Hayk Movsisyan was recognized fit for the military service by the Republican Draft Board and called up for service. During his service at a military unit in the NKR, he was marked for his nervous behavior and even cut the veins and was sent to hospital. 2 months after his conscription, on August 2, he was considered unfit for military service on the basis of a serious neurological disease and was discharged. And a day later, on August 3, Hayk Movsisyan was charged with evading military service.
After his death, the Special Investigation Department of the NKR General Prosecutor’s Office initiated a criminal case on inciting a suicide, which was, however, dismissed on the grounds of lack of any element of crime in actions of both penal system officers, and inmates of the investigatory isolation ward, defendants and convicts. Afterwards, to give a legal assessment of officials’ actions on the criminal case of Hayk Movsisyan, the case was appealed before the RA Special Investigation Service on ground of official negligence, and the Service initiated the criminal case № 62202513. On April 16, 2013, the Administrative Court of Appeal upheld the appeal of the RA Public Prosecutor and acquitted the deceased Hayk Movsisyan.
”On April 16, the General Prosecutor’s Office filed an action before the Court of Appeal. The Court of Appeal ruled to acquit Hayk Movsisyan posthumously. Later on the Special Investigation Service initiated a criminal case on the death of Hayk Movsisyan, formulated the guilt as professional negligence, and on May 3, the former Head of the Special Investigation Service, Andranik Mirzoyan was dismissed. On May 16, the Deputy General Prosecutor, Aram Tamrazyan, signed and brought the ruling of the Court of Appeal before the Court of Cassation. It appears that the Public Prosecutor’s Office on the one hand submits the ruling of the first instance court to the Court of Appeal, and on the other appeals against the ruling of the Court of Appeal,” said Artur Sakunts, the Chairman of the Helsinki Citizen’s Assembly Vanadzor and legal representative of Hayk Movsisiyan’s mother.
The human rights advocate keeps arguing that the dismissal of the former Head of the Special Investigation Service, Andranik Mirzoyan was caused by this case. According to him, Mirzoyan launched investigation into violations by the officials of the Special Investigation Service of his times, but probably failed to duly inform Serzh Sargsyan on it.
”The Special Investigation Service has initially moved the criminal case of Hayk Movsisyan to a legal framework where we can presently appeal the case before courts of law, i.e. have legal proceedings initiated. After changing the Head of the Special Investigation Service, the criminal case was dismissed. That is to say, the present Head of the Special Investigation Service, Shahinyan obeys the instructions of the presidential staff,” mentioned Sakunts.
He also blames the present Prosecutor General Gevorg Kostanyan, who used to be the Military Prosecutor General, for concealing this case. “The former Military Prosecutor General Gevorg Kostanyan was to directly control the duly investigation of Hayk Movsisyan’s case”, – said the human rights advocate.
Despite prior notice, the representatives of the Special Investigation Service and the General Prosecutor’s Office do not attend the court hearings at the current consideration stage of the application by Artur Sankunts and Arayik Zalyan at the Court of General Jurisdiction of Kentron and Nork-Marash administrative districts of Yerevan. Hayk Movsisyan’s mother, Heghine Petrosyan and her representatives Artur Sakunts and Arayik Zalyan have submitted a number of applications and motions to various courts of law to recognize Heghine Petrosyan as the legal successor to the aggrieved party. Yet, all such applications are rejected.
“It is our aim that Heghine Petrosyan is recognized the legal successor to the aggrieved party. Without any status, Hayk Movsisyan’ mother loses the possibility to claim details on the investigation of her son’s case and protect her own rights, i.e. all the legal remedies intended to protect the rights of a person. The unlawful actions by the Special Investigation Service forfeited Hayk Movsisyan’s mother all such remedies, and she is now unable to protect her son’s rights. This aims to conceal the case since a grave crime was committed resulting in the death of a human being. Furthermore, the objective investigation of the death facts was also concealed. Thus, there are trends to conceal the crime and relieve the criminals of their responsibility,” mentioned Artur Sakunts.
On December 18, 2013, Heghine Petrosyan’s representatives Artur Sakunts and Arayik Zalyan filed motions to the Special Investigation Service investigator M. Babayan and the General Prosecutor’s Office to recognize Hayk Movsisyan as the aggrieved party and Heghine Petrosyan – as the legal successor to the aggrieved party. In response to the motions, the agencies in question stated that the criminal case was dismissed. The further claims to provide the materials of the dismissed criminal case and the ruling on dismissing the case were also denied.
Lragir.am submitted a written enquiry to the General Prosecutor’s Office on recognizing Hayk Movsisyan as the aggrieved party and Heghine Petrosyan – as the legal successor to the aggrieved party. The enquiry was later readdressed to the Special Investigation Service. In response to the enquiry, the Service stated as follows: “The application of Heghine Petrosyan’s representatives A. Sakunts and A. Zalyan dated December 18, 2013 to recognize Hayk Movsisyan as the aggrieved party and Heghine Petrosyan – as the legal successor to the aggrieved party was not considered at the RA Special Investigation Service since the criminal case serving ground for the application had been dismissed before its submittal by ruling of December 10, 2013. It should be also mentioned that the representatives of H. Petrosyan duly appealed the actions of the agency responsible for the proceedings before the Court of General Jurisdiction of Kentron and Nork-Marash administrative Districts of Yerevan where the complaint is presently under consideration.”
The article was written within the HCA Vanadzor Project on Improving Mechanisms of Control over the RA Special Investigation Service, General Prosecutor’s Office and National Security Service as a Guarantee for Prevention of Human Rights Violations in Armenia’.
Source: www.lragir.am