WITNESS IN ARTAK NAZARYAN CASE DIDN’T AGREE TO SIGNING ANY PRE-TRIAL STATEMENTS
epress.am
03.21.2012
Two witnesses were examined in a Tavush regional court on Tuesday
in the case of rifle platoon commander Artak Nazaryan, who died
on a military base on Jul. 27, 2010 – Artak Hovhannisyan, who said
that he wasn’t involved in the investigation, and Rafayel Evoyan,
who described incidents that had nothing to do with his pre-trial
testimony. This news was conveyed to Epress.am by Helsinki Association
for Human Rights representative Ruben Martirosyan (pictured, right),
who is also representing the victim’s legal successor in the case.
“Artak Hovhannisyan refused to sign off on six statements in the
criminal case. In one of these it says he was an assistant; in another
it says that he participated in handing over Artak Nazaryan’s things,
his mobile phone; and in another, it says that he participated in
handing over the mobile phones of other soldiers. But as he said in
the court, he didn’t participate in any aspect of the investigation,
he doesn’t know what the investigator wrote about, and he doesn’t
know the investigator who wrote up those reports,” said Martirosyan.
As described by the human rights lawyer, the other witness, Rafayel
Evoyan, testified that he described something else, but investigator
Levon Poghosyan told him, “Write that you’ve read it, sign it and go
to the service.”
The witness said in court that which is written in his pre-trial
statement is untrue and those are not his words.
According to Martirosyan, state prosecutor Harutyun Harutyunyan,
in response, said the witness was under pre-trial detention for
three months and is becoming criminal-like, explaining this is why
he’s lying.
In court, the witness, Rafayel Evoyan, also said the victim had killed
himself. When asked how he knows this, Evoyan said the investigator,
Levon Poghosyan, told him, while showing him photos of the corpse
and saying Artak Nazaryan committed suicide.
Taking all this as a basis, the victim’s party made a motion for the
judge to withdraw on the grounds that he is not impartial. Judge Samvel
Mardanyan will state his ruling on the motion at the next court date,
set for Mar. 27 at 12 pm.