Epress.am News from Armenia
Accused in the May 12, 2010 murder of 23-year-old Khachik Mkrtchyan and sentenced to 14 years in prison Vram Baghdasaryan’s (pictured) attorneys have discovered and made public a document which proves that their client is innocent. This news was conveyed by Yerevan-based Helsinki Association for Human Rights President Mikail Danielyan and attorney Gayane Khachatryan, speaking to reporters in the Armenian capital today.
Recall, there were six accused in this case, one of which was the nephew of former Arabkir district mayor Hovhannes Shahinyan, Arsen Aharonyan. Furthermore, during investigation of this case, former head of the RA Police General Department of Criminal Intelligence Hovhannes Tamamyan, “failing to do his duties and undertake necessary measures to reveal a crime,” was dismissed from his position and arrested.
Danielyan and Khachatryan shared with the press the aforementioned document, which was given to them by Vram Baghdasaryan.
According to Danielyan, Vram said that after the murder, Hovhannes Shahinyan called him and suggested he take the blame for the murder. If he agreed to it, then they promised they would get him out of prison in 2 years.
“Shahinyan said he owes Tamamyan a great deal of money — he won’t give him the money but use it to get Vram’s affairs in order. Then he showed Vram a paper with his handwriting, Vram’s confession, which we now have. Vram didn’t sign this paper, he said let’s think about this further, went home, consulted his father, and decided not to sign it,” said Danielyan.
The human rights campaigner said when Baghdasaryan went to see Shahinyan the next day, he was able to get that piece of paper from Shahinyan’s desk, the one he refused to sign, and with that paper, he accidentally picked up another document in which it said that Tamamyan loaned Shahinyan 32,000,000 drams (approx. $83,720 USD), which was to have been repaid in 2008.
“But lo and behold, it wasn’t yet repaid in 2010; moreover, he was able to use that against Tamamyan,” he said.
It became clear, Danielyan continued, that Shahinyan was more headlong than Tamamyan and, according to the human rights activist, that the oligopoly and criminal underworld are stronger than the law.
“And when Shahinyan met with [Armenian] president [Serzh Sargsyan], he convinced him that the real murderer is Vram Baghdasaryan, and Tamamyan, accepting the money, quashed the case.
“We know [what happened after], Tamamyan was dismissed from his post and a criminal case was launched against him. He was charged with several articles of the law, one of which is in connection with this murder case. But in truth, Tamamyan didn’t commit this crime,” said Danielyan.
Speaking to Epress.am, Baghdasaryan’s attorney Gayane Khachatryan explained why Vram Baghdasaryan didn’t reveal this document sooner: her client informed them that both the court and the prosecution were biased toward him, which is why he chose to remain silent about the document.
“This document, apart from the rest, proves that Hovhannes Tamamyan had good relations with Shahinyan; consequently, he couldn’t have done anything in Vram Baghdasaryan’s favor. Perhaps he [Vram] didn’t trust his former attorney and that’s why he didn’t give it. Vram Baghdasaryan committing murder is not justified by the materials in the criminal case, and probably, Vram Baghdasaryan, hoping that the court might issue a fair ruling, believed that mentioning this fact wasn’t expedient. But since the ruling has been issued and 14 years’ punishment has been set, this is that fact that Baghdasaryan decided to disclose. We find that this is vivid proof that Tamamyan couldn’t have misrepresented any fact,” said the attorney.
The Helsinki Association informed the press that they will be sending an open letter regarding this case to Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan, expecting that he will become acquainted with their complaints and take measures for an objective investigation into this case.