SCAPEGOAT?: DEFENSE ATTORNEY, ACTIVISTS SAY MAN CONVICTED IN BALLOON EXPLOSIONS CASE WASN’T RESPONSIBLE ALONE
By Gayane Abrahamyan
ArmeniaNow
18.10.12 | 13:28
Civil activists as well as the attorney of a man who has been
convicted for violating health and safety regulations in last May’s
balloon explosions in Yerevan say the 54-year-old who has a sick
nine-year-old son under his care has been chosen as a “scapegoat”
in the high-profile case involving the ruling party.
A court in Yerevan on Wednesday sentenced Serob Bozoyan, the only
defendant in the case, to one year in prison for “manufacturing
and selling” unsafe balloons that caused multiple injuries at a
pre-election rally of the Republican Party of Armenia (RPA) in the
Armenian capital’s central Republic Square on May 4.
The prosecution said Bozoyan had filled hundreds of balloons with
inflammable gas and sold them to organizers of the mass event. The
balloons ignited through an accident, causing a massive firewall
in which more than 150 people, most of them young RPA supporters,
suffered burns and had to be hospitalized. Some of them had to undergo
plastic surgery afterwards.
Some, however, have pointed an accusatory finger at the RPA-affiliated
organizers of the event that included a speech by President Serzh
Sargsyan, the leader of the party, and a concert by Armenian pop
singers. Thousands of ordinary citizens attended the rally that night.
Earlier, Bozoyan pleaded guilty as charged and asked for a speedy
trial that rules out the maximum punishment foreseen for a given type
of crime. He faced up to five years in prison under the count of the
criminal code.
Still, Bozoyan’s defender says the court disregarded the circumstance
that the organizers of the RPA rally had been warned about the possible
dangerous consequences of using balloons filled with inflammable gas.
“In his testimony my client several times mentioned – and it is also
recorded in the indictment – that he had warned beforehand that
filling balloons with such gas was dangerous and also explained
how they should be used. A total of 770,000 drams (about $1,900)
were paid for filling 7,000 balloons, which for that payment could
be done only with methane, as helium would have cost much more, and
Bozoyan warned about that,” attorney Karen Manucharyan told ArmeniaNow.
Bozoyan did not reveal who ordered the balloons and the prosecutor
Hakob Martirosyan, replying to a question posed by media as to why
the customer was not subject to responsibility, said that “a customer
in any way cannot be viewed as the subject of crime.”
“It does not matter who made the order, the Criminal Code provides
for a specific entity or employer for this type of crime, which may
be an individual, in this particular case it was Bozoyan,” explained
the prosecutor.
But the prosecutor’s words do not seem convincing enough to some of
the young people who got injured in the accident. An 18-year-old
woman who asked ArmeniaNow not to disclose her name said that for
her it is more important that the organizers be punished for their
criminal negligence.
“I’ve lost my face [in the accident]. I am ashamed to go out. Not the
poor man who is taking care of a sick boy and needed to earn money for
that should be held responsible for the crime, but the one who saved
money by ordering unsafe products, especially that he knew that it
was dangerous to use,” the young woman, who had to stop her studies
for a year because of the burns, told ArmeniaNow.
Head of the RPA youth wing, MP Karen Avagyan was initially mentioned
in the press as a possible organizer of the event. Avagyan, however,
denies any connection with the organization of the event.
“I have repeatedly said that I did not act as the organizer of this
event, this was done by the RPA organizing group. By linking my
name to it some have wanted to gain certain dividends,” Avagyan told
ArmeniaNow, stressing that he does not believe Bozoyan’s statement
that he had previously warned the buyer about the risks involved.
“I don’t think there is anyone in the Republican Party who, being
aware of the danger, would have taken such a step. There would be no
balloons, as simple as that,” he said.
But the young student tells ArmeniaNow that their guides were
repeatedly warning them to keep the balloons up and not to light
cigarettes and smoke nearby. “Now I understand that it means they
had been warned,” she says.
Former Interior Minister and Mayor of Yerevan Suren Abrahamyan believes
that the highest official responsible for the whole campaign should
have been subject to at least moral and political responsibility.
Meanwhile, Hovik Abrahamyan (no relation to the ex-interior minister),
who then acted as RPA campaign manager, instead of “bearing the
responsibility” got the post of the speaker in the new Armenian
legislature several days after the accident involving the balloon
explosions.
“Of course, in a normal country the general organizer, and in this
case the campaign manager, would have to bear moral and political
responsibility (at least resigning), and the immediate organizer should
also have been subjected to legal responsibility. But what we have is,
as always, the other way round – promotion instead of punishment,”
said Abrahamyan.
From: Baghdasarian