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“It is mandatory to move the court proceedings of Gevorg Kotsinyan, a 19-year-old soldier who died on February 6, 2011, while in service at the Nagorno Karabakh Military Units, from Stepanakert to the Court of Common Jurisdiction of Syunik or to a different region within the territory of Armenia”.

Karen Tumanyan, representative of the victim’s successor, states that as he believes there are no guarantees or assurances for security if the case trials are held in Stepanakert.

It should be noted that on August 3, 2011, during the trial of another case of murdered soldiers, advocates Edmon Marukyan and Karen Tumanyan from Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly-Vanadzor were representing defendant Manvel Hazroyan’s interests.  When Hazroyan received the verdict of a life sentence from the court he threw a bottle of water at the Judge. After the incident “Shushi” Penitentiary officials not only beat the defendant, but also exerted violence against advocate Edmon Marukyan. The advocates were to participate in the trial of G. Kotsinyan’s case at the same court, but in order to avoid a recurrence of this incident they submitted a motion to delay the trial and move it to a Court of Common Jurisdiction in Armenia.

It is worth noting that the forensic medical examination of 19-year-old Gevorg Kotsinyan’s body, who had been called up from Vanadzor, revealed that he died from a cardiac arrest resulting from a closed, blunt trauma to the chest. According to the military unit, the incident occurred as follows: Gevorg, his hands in his pocket, approached the heater in the military unit to light a cigarette.   Four soldiers in the room who were under the influence of alcohol, reprimanded him and asked him to take his hands out of his pockets.  They then beat Kotsinyan which caused damage to his head, abdomen, spleen, and forearm, totaling in over 11 injuries to his body.  There are four suspects in this case: Privates Taron Suvaryan and Vahe Aghajanyan, Junior Sergeant Margar Davtyan, and Senior Lieutenant Armen Rafayelyan all charged with murdering Kotsinyan. According to the criminal case, Gevorg Kotsinyan was beaten to death.

A criminal case was filed pursuant to Point 2, Part 2 of Article 359 of the RA Criminal Code: “Violation of fundamental laws of the RA Criminal Code by military servicemen’s interrelations conditioned by  subordination and degradation of an individual’s dignity and honor or neglect corresponding with violations or persecutions,  carried out by a group of individuals  as well as according to Point 6 and 14, Part 2 of Article 112 of the RA Criminal Code: “Deliberately inflicting severe damage to health…, which was implemented by an individual or a group of individuals, unintentionally causing victim’s death”. Two of the accused soldiers, Vahe Aghajanyan and Taron Suvaryan were charged with the crimes by the aforementioned two articles.  During the court trial Vahe partially admitted to his guilt by noting that he had hit the victim while under the influence of alcohol. Taron also partially admitted to his guilt but stating he had not hit Gevorg in the heart area. A criminal case was initiated against Junior Sergeant Margar Davtyan for not only supporting the crime but also exceeding his authorizations (Part1 of Article 375). However, Davtyan would not accept the accusation by claiming that Vahe Aghajanyan and Taron Suvaryan hit the victim.  Senior Lieutenant Armen Rafayelyan is also charged with Part 1 of Article 375 on”Exceeding authorities and negligence during his command”, but he would only admit to allowing alcohol inside the military unit. The defendants and some of the eyewitnesses have been interrogated as of this date. It is planned to interrogate two additional important eyewitnesses on Monday: a military unit Commander and one of the “authorities” of the unit.

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