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On March 20, Lori Region Court of First Instance reached a decision to reject the solicitation submitted by the Lori region Investigation department regarding the application of detention as a preventive measure against the 72-year-old Maksim Petrosyan, diagnosed with a second category disability, who was charged according to section 1 of 104 article of RA Criminal Code.

On March 22 of 2011 Lori Region Prosecutor General Karen Shahbazyan disseminated misinformation on the aforementioned resolution of the court during the meeting with journalists.

A group of advocates from Lori region express their indignation and dubiety regarding the statements presented by Prosecutor Karen Shahbazyan, because he attempted to formulate a wrong perception among the society members over the case circumstances and exert pressure on the judiciary.

1.    During the aforementioned meeting the Lori Region Prosecutor expressed his resentment over the resolution taken by the court. In conformity with section 2 of article 5 of RA Constitution, “State and local self-government bodies and public officials are competent to perform only such acts for which they are authorized by the Constitution or laws.” According to section 3 of article 6 of RA Judicial Code, “A prosecutor must respect the independence and impartiality of the court; in particular, the prosecutor may not perform acts that will cast doubt on the lawfulness of a court act, or hinder the enforcement thereof, except when exercising his right to appeal against a judicial act.” Thus, the Lori Region Prosecutor, violating the frames of his authorizations stipulated by the RA Constitution and law, inadequately criticized the court resolution instead of legally appealing the legitimacy and validity of it. By this act, he not only showed disrespect towards the court, but also attempted to exert pressure on the judiciary.

2.    In the name of the residents of Lori region, especially Vanadzor city, the Prosecutor presented concerns over Maksim Petrosyan being in freedom. Whereas, we, the advocates working in Lori region and more actively interacting with residents of the same region, are claiming exactly the opposite. People are concerned by the unjustified cruel disposition of Lori Region Investigation Department and Prosecutor’s Office to submit a solicitation regarding the application of detention as a preventive measure against the 72-year-old Maksim Petrosyan, diagnosed with a second category disability.

3. The Lori Region Prosecutor explained that the right of a suspect to “silence”, which is ensured by the constitutional and international conventions, would work against that person and assessed it as an obstacle to the preliminary investigation. Moreover, during the same meeting, the Lori Region Prosecutor violated the presumption of innocence via inappropriate language use and labeling Maksim Petrosyan as a criminal and a “killer”.

4. K. Shahbazyan also noted that the court had released a thrice- convicted person. It is worth mentioning that according to section 8 of article 86 of the RA Criminal code, termination or exemption of the conviction eliminates all legal consequences and Maksim Petrosyan’s last crime (which was unintentional) was terminated over 30-40 years ago.

During the above-mentioned meeting with journalists, the Lori Region Prosecutor attempted to assure the participants that the court had reached an unfair and ungrounded resolution by expressing its discontent regarding it.

We hope, this proclamation will induce Lori Region Prosecutor’s Office to refrain from making such time-wasting and ungrounded announcements in the future.

Advocates:

1.    Levon Goginyan
2.    Gurgen Harutyunyan
3.    Karen Tumanyan
4.    Edmon Marukyan
5.    Adelina Hakobyan
6.    Ruben Hakobyan
7.    Karine Gasparyan
8.    Anna Tamrazyan
9.    Vahan Avagyan
10.   Arayik Papikyan
11.   Haykuhi Harutyunyan
12.   Anahit Aloyan
13.   Gagik Nalbandyan
14.   Tatevik Matinyan
15.    Artak Voskanyan
16.    Hovsep Hovsepyan
17.    Aleksandr Tsatinyan
18.    Vardan Sughyan
19.    Roman Koninyan
20.    Mels Gharagyozyan
21.    Armen Chilingaryan
22.    Armenuhi Janjughazyan
23.    Armen Zakaryan

The current petition is open for other advocates to join.