Injured Party Does Not Believe Soldier Committed Suicide, Demands New Autopsy
01.17.2014 22:43 epress.am
The injured party does not believe the soldier committed suicide. The
case of Sargis Sahakyan, 19, who died in November 2012, will be
re-examined.
At the hearing of the case of soldier Sargis Sahakyan in the Syunik
District Court of First Instance on Friday, Sahakyan’s legal
successor’s representative, Syuzanna Khcheyan, motioned for a new
autopsy, which Judge Napoleon Ohanyan granted. According to the
official report, Sahakyan committed suicide.
The aggrieved party substantiated its motion with the fact that the
previous autopsy cannot prove Sahakyan’s “suicide,” since, according
to forensics, the victim’s fingerprints were not found on the weapon
that the official report claims was used to kill himself, and there
were no traces of gunpowder under his fingernails or on his clothes.
The conclusion, according to Khcheyan, cannot be considered reliable
also because the investigator did not provide the medical examiner
with the written report and photographs of the place of the incident,
as well as the report of the examination of the body and the
corresponding photographs.
The attorney informed Epress.am that the answers provided by the those
who gave the expert conclusion did not satisfy the injured party’s
doubts; thus, a new autopsy was appointed.
According to the official report, Sargis Sahakyan committed suicide
after his fellow servicemen in the military unit cursed and humiliated
him, for not sharing the food he received from his family. Artur
Misakyan and Artashes Khachatryan, accused of inciting Sahakyan to
suicide, deny their guilt.
Both Misakyan and the 6 other witnesses named in the case have
retracted the testimonies they gave during the preliminary
investigation. They claim that they gave false testimonies because
they were subjected to violence by military police; they were held in
custody for nearly one month and forced to write that Sargis ate the
food alone, so they insulted him, which resulted in Sargis killing
himself.
Material has been prepared in the matter of putting pressure on the
witnesses and the accused, but a motion to open a criminal case on
this basis was overruled in today’s court session.