Epress.am News from Armenia
The Coalition to Stop Violence Against Women in Armenia will be organizing a protest at 12 pm today outside the RA General Prosecutor’s Office in Yerevan, demanding a fair investigation into the case of Mariam Gevorgyan, 20, who was reportedly abused by her husband, David Ziroyan, and mother-in-law, Haykanush Mikaelyan.
Note, according to local news site Hetq Online, Mariam and David married in 2009, then left for St. Petersburg, where the husband’s family lived. There, Mariam was kept in the house for 10 months and repeatedly abused by David and members of his family. Hetq Online has published photos of Mariam with bodily scars and wounds reportedly caused by a fork and hot iron. Finally, Mariam was allowed to come home to Armenia in October. According to Hetq Online, Mariam, along with David’s former wife Monica, filed a complaint with the Ararat Police Department. Monica, who married David and lived in St. Petersburg with him from 2005–2008, says the same thing happened to her.
“Police in Armenia told Mariam’s family that Davit had been taken into custody in Russia but that he had pleaded innocent to the charges, arguing that many of Mariam’s wounds predated their marriage and that the rest had been self-inflicted.
“Since the charges against Davit Ziroyan only carried a maximum three years sentence, the prosecuting investigator decided to pardon him and drop the case. Davit never spent one day in jail.
“Davit’s mother Haykanoush is in the process of being extradited to Armenia,” reports Hetq Online.
Police in Armenia have informed Hetq Online that the case must be reviewed before any specific charges can be made.
Updated 3:25 pm, same day: “trial” changed to “investigation” in first paragraph to correct error.