Appeals Court Rejects Appeal Of Family Picked Up By Police On Day Of

APPEALS COURT REJECTS APPEAL OF FAMILY PICKED UP BY POLICE ON DAY OF PUTIN’S VISIT TO ARMENIA

07.16.2014 14:36 epress.am

Armenia’s Court of Appeal today dismissed Etchmiadzin residents
Ashot Khudoyan and Heghine Makaryan’s appeal to overrule the ruling
of a lower court which refused to launch criminal proceedings against
police for removing the couple and their children from their place of
protest across the street from the presidential palace on December 2,
2013, the day of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to Armenia.

The appeals court, basically, agreed with the ruling of the lower
instance court, regardless of the plaintiffs’ attorney, Helsinki
Citizens Assembly Vanadzor Office representative Tatevik Siradeghyan’s
remark that the Special Investigation Service (SIS) was clearly
biased. According to her, prior to rejecting the demand to launch
criminal proceedings against the police, SIS investigator H.

Harutyunyan took into account only police officers’ testimonies and
paid no attention to the plaintiffs’ remarks of the plaintiffs, as
well as those of another protestor, Emma Sahakyan, who was present
at the scene of the incident.

Also ignored were media reports, including news articles in which
an Ombudsman’s Office employee states that Khudoyan was subjected
to violence.

Emma Sahakyan and Heghine Makaryan, in particular, said that 15
police officers in plainclothes, through the use of force, removed
Ashot Khudoyan from outside the presidential palace then came back
for his wife and children. Police officers left behind the couple’s
youngest child (a baby), later sending someone to come pick him up.

According to the appeal, SIS investigator Harutyunyan also didn’t take
into account any testimony related to the injuries Khudoyan sustained
and was satisfied only by the results of the medical examination,
which, however, was carried out about 2 months after the incident when,
for example, Khudoyan’s head wound had healed.

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