Legal issues

We learned about this from the bill of indictment of the criminal case brought forth to investigate the circumstances of Khalafyan’s death, which was been sent to the Kotayk District Court of First Instance. “There is a tear under the left arm of Vahan Khalafyan’s sweater which is a result of mechanical stretching,” states the bill of indictment. This means that at some point during the time that he was being subjected to violence, the 24 year-old young man tried to resist. This destroys the explanation proposed in the indictment that Khalafyan, after being tortured, and in a beaten state, took the knife from the shelf and stabbed himself twice. Next Tuesday the proceedings of this case will begin, and four policemen will be in the defendants’ seats.

Khalafyan was taken to the Charentsavan police station on April 13 of this year, and in the evening was taken to the hospital from the police station with fatal injuries. In connection with the criminal case which was investigated by the SIS, the head of Charentsavan’s investigation department and three policemen are charged with having subjected Khalafyan to torture. According to the SIS, the two stabs which caused Khalafyan’s death were made by Khalafyan himself after being subjected to torture. But the relatives and attorneys of the young man are sure that Khalafyan was killed by the policemen.

Yesterday, the authoritative human rights organization “Freedom House” released the annual report “Nations in Transit 2010,” which examines the democratic performance of 29 post-soviet and post-communist European countries during the last ten years. In the report, Armenia is presented as a semi-free, semi-dictatorial country. It is stated that the democratic index of Armenia has not improved, as since the events of March 1 following the presidential elections of 2008, the Armenian public is still in shock and polarized, and 15 oppositionists arrested for the events of March 1-2 are still in prison. It is noted that the 16 percent economic downturn has further deepened the atmosphere of distrust and pessimism in Armenia. The report also states that in the spheres of transparency of elections, freedom of media, free juridical structure and democratic governing, no progress has been recorded during the last ten years in Armenia. As proof, the fact that the election of Yerevan’s Council of Aldermen held on May 31, 2009 was accompanied by mass violations and falsifications, election bribes and pressures, is presented.

According to the acknowledgment, the information has been registered and will be considered in accordance with the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.

Davit Kiramijyan, one of the youngsters who were attacked by the police on May 31 by Saryan’s statue and who are currently in detention, is charged under article 258,3,1 (Hooliganism) and Sargis Gevorgyan is charged under article 316,1 (Violence against a public figure) of RA Criminal Code. Both cases are punishable from a fine to up to 5 years of imprisonment. Kiramijyan has serious health problems, but until today the RA authorities have refused to change his precautionary measure.

Yesterday, a group of young activists of the Armenian National Congress marched from “Barekamutyun” metro station to the OSCE Yerevan office that is located on Sundukyan Street. The young people stood in rows in front of the office and started chanting “Freedom to David!” after which they handed a letter to the representatives of the office, in which they demanded the OSCE to intervene in the release of David Kiramijyan, arrested on May 31. The letter was addressed to OSCE acting president, Foreign Minister of Kazakhstan Kanat Saudabayev. The letter stated the unlawful acts of the police and that David Kiramijyan had committed no crime but just exercised his right to move freely. After giving the letter to the representatives of the office, the young people with flags, speakers, pictures of David Kiramijyan and posters marched from Sundukyan street to Baghramyan Avenue, from where they went on to the ANC headquarters located on Koryun street. In the course of the march, the young people were chanting, “David, we stand with you!” “Now!”, “Free and Independent Armenia”, “Armenia without Serzh and Rob”. The participants of the march were escorted by 10 policemen, one Gazel minibus and one Ford sedan full of policemen. In the course of the march the policemen were unusually kind and circumspect; they were talking to the young people with a smile and opening the way for the march to go on without any obstacle. But their endurance completely disappeared when walking along Baghramyan Avenue the young people started chanting “Serzhik, go away!” The policemen immediately attacked the young people and started pushing them around. In spite of policemen’s expectations, the young people did not respond to the pushing and the policemen retreated in surprise. The march went on without any further incidents.

As expected, of the 95 registered parliamentarians, the RPA, PAP and OYK voted in favor of the draft resolution, the “Heritage” and “ARF” parties as well as independent parliamentarians Victor Dallakyan and Tigran Torosyan voted against, and Levon Khachatryan voted as neutral. Having performed their mission in the extraordinary session, the parliamentarians considered a few other draft resolutions and ended the session. The National Assembly will consider the draft resolution of the laws on Language and Public Education in the second reading, most probably in the fall session, unless they summon another extraordinary session. As of yesterday, no such decision had been made.

The fact that judges dared to reject only 5.8 percent of the petitions for detention presented to courts by the pretrial investigation services, and only 186 of 484 petitions to choose bail as a precautionary measure were granted, and the fact that only 234 of 1882 individuals arrested in 2009 had an attorney, are proof of the sad state of the justice system. As a result, the penitentiaries in Armenia are so overcrowded that the number of people in cells is twice the originally designated number, and the prisoners must take turns sleeping.

According to the amendments, instead of 15 foreign language schools, eleven schools will be permitted to open. Two of those schools will be private (in Jermuk and Dilijan), and nine will be established through inter-state agreements.

In an interview with our reporter, Kiramijyan’s attorney Melanya Arustamyan said that Khachatryan’s decision is unjustified, and that she will appeal the decision in the RA Court of Cassation. After exhausting all of the options for appeal in local courts, according to the attorney, they will present the case to the European Court. Yesterday, representatives from the Office of Human Rights Defender met with Kiramijyan in the “Nubarashen” penitentiary. The political prisoner told them that he has health problems; in particular, he noted that his nose has been bleeding periodically for the past two days. Before this, the political prisoner’s relatives had announced that Davit is having headaches, which are a result of the violence which was used against him.

The political prisoner’s attorney Lusine Sahakyan stated this in an interview with our reporter. According to the decision of the Nubarashen Penitentiary chief, Nikol Pashinyan should be kept in prison 3 years, 10 months and 29 days, starting from July 1 of 2009. Vardan Avetisyan, the head of the Department of Supervising the Enforcement of Sentences and Other Compulsory Measures of the RA General Prosecutor’s Office, had confirmed that the decision is illegal by his petition addressed to the “Nubarashen” penitentiary chief, which was rejected. “This is one of those unique cases when the Prosecutor’s office tries to remove an illegal decision and let’s hope that it will be consistent with it,” said Sahakyan.

Let us remind you that on February 14, 2010 some tens of masked policemen broke the doors and raided the headquarters of “SIL Group” under the pretence that S. Sukiasyan has kidnapped someone. S. Sukiasyan was then arrested but released two days later.

As it is known, the RA Administrative Court had refused to deliberate the “Gas Appeal” in a verbal proceeding, stating that it is impossible to have a verbal proceeding with 7230 claimants. Hovsepyan, in an interview with our reporter said that by rejecting his appeal, the Administrative Court would prove that in reality they are avoiding a public hearing and intend to conceal the appeal. Yesterday, Vahe Hovsepyan also submitted his objections against the response from the Public Services Regulatory Commission with regard to the “Gas Appeal” to the Administrative Court and once again demanded to void PSRC’s decision to increase gas prices.

The news circulating among prisoners recently is that RA authorities are inclined to stop the activities of independent interdepartmental commissions on early conditional release and replacement of the unserved part of the sentence with lighter sentence. In an interview with our reporter, RA Minister of Justice Gevorg Danielyan confirmed that the issue of the early release of the prisoners is currently being considered. “That issue has been on the agenda for a long time and members of the NA have also raised that question. It is necessary to clarify the procedure (of the early conditional release – Editor’s note) and make it more predictable for people,” said the Minister.

As is known, there is serious discontent among prisoners about early conditional release, because in considering two prisoners with the same givens, the commissions reach a positive conclusion in one case and a negative one in the other. Which, to put it mildly, is ridiculous. At any rate, according to Gevorg Danielyan, a draft resolution on this issue is now ready. However, it is not the final version and has not been officially submitted for consideration. According to Gevorg Danielyan, it is not yet clear how the issue will be resolved: will interdepartmental commissions be maintained and their functioning changed, or, will the process be totally reviewed? “The option to be used to resolve the issue will be decided during the deliberations,” said Danielyan.