3 Soldiers Accused of Beating Senior Officer: Witnesses Say Testimonies were Embellished

The next hearing in the case of the three conscripts serving in the Mehrab military unit accused of assaulting their superior was held today in the Court of General Jurisdiction of Tavush Marz. According to the indictment, brothers Karlen and Artak Sargsyan, and Manuk Margaryan beat Lieutenant David Mkrtchyan. The accused argue that Mkrtchyan hit first, after which Karlen struck back, while the other two attempted to break up the fight.

Speaking to Epress.am, the Sargsyans' attorney, Ani Torosyan, said that the following witnesses testified in court: deputy commander of the military unit Rodin Poghosyan, and rank-and-file soldiers Garik Zakaryan and Gegham Margaryan. All the witnesses said in court that their preliminary testimonies taken from them were not those heard in court today.

Poghosyan was particularly angry by the fact that the investigator recorded something that bears no relation to what he said. "Bring that investigator here," he demanded. The witness confirmed that he only heard David Mkrtchyan telling others that he did not beat the conscripts. 

However, in Poghosyan's preliminary testimony heard in court, the incident is described in great detail; meanwhile, Poghosyan insists that he did not witness the incident. 

Gagik Zakaryan also told the court that the pre-trial testimony he gave was not to such a great extent as it was presented in court.  

In court, he said that he only saw the officer arguing with someone in the hallway, and he did not even know with whom he was arguing. 

The other witness, Gegham Margaryan, said he testified at the behest of the military police officer. According to the published pre-trial testimony, Margaryan said that he saw one of the accused, Manuk, holding the officer while one of the brothers beat him. 

Previously, another witness in the case, rank-and-file Armen Nazaryan, said that he was pressured and beaten in order to extract a testimony from him.