Court Acquitted Museum Director Who Had Handed out Election Bribes

The Court Acquitted the Museum Director Who Had Handed out Election Bribes

September 28, 2012 19:02

Shoghik Melkonyan, the 41-year-old director of Mher Lazarian Home
Museum, was charged with handing out election bribes on the National
Assembly election day, May 6, `under the nose’ of the GALA TV Company,
in Charles Aznavour Square, from a GAZelle with 29 Õ-Õ- 719 license
plate belonging to resident of Gyumri Vazgen Sargsyan. GALA, a
Gyumri-based TV company, filmed and showed the video entitled `What is
going on here¦?’ in which one can clearly see citizens be handed out 5
thousand AMD.

Immediately after the video had been shown, the investigation
department of the Shirak region gathered evidence and denied launching
an investigation as if there was no corpus delicti.

Then an investigation was launched by the decision of Armenian
Attorney General Aghvan Vardanyan according to Article 154.2, Section
2. The investigation was carried out by the special investigation
service and it was revealed that the briber was the director of Mher
Lazarian Museum under Gyumri Town Hall.

The indictment reads, `Shoghik Melkonyan is charged with giving bribes
to 5 residents of the town of Gyumri on May 6, 2012, at around 6 p.m.
compelling them to participate in the election and vote for the
Republican Party.’

Eduard Manukyan, the president of the trial court of the Shirak
region, considering that lady hadn’t been tried before, the references
from the workplace were positive, she was in charge of two persons and
honestly regretted about her deed, decided to condemn her to 3 years
in prison, but to suspend the sentence and put her on probation for
two years. So employing Article 70 of the Armenian Criminal Code, the
court put the lady’s behavior under supervision and entrusted that
supervision on the respective local unit of the alternative sentence
enforcement department.

By the way, there was a speedy trial at the request of the accused.

Let us mention that Vahan Khachatryan, the owner of the GALA TV
Company, achieved his goal to some extent by this ` the latter said in
an interview given to that his goal was to disgrace the
bribe takers, in order that people took care of their dignity and kept
away from such a humiliating phenomenon. Actually, besides the museum
director, the bribe takers were also disgraced ` they were also
compelled to come to police stations and give evidence as witnesses in
the framework of this case.

Nune AREVSHATYAN

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress