Affair with ‘Some Turk’ Main Motive Behind Yerevan Woman’s Murder, Prosecution Says

In September, 2015, Yerevan resident Artak Arakelyan, 39, killed his former wife, 38-year-old Heghine Darbazyan, by stabbing her more than 30 times with a hunting knife. According to case materials, the crime was motivated by “jealousy and adultery.”

The second hearing of Arakelyan’s trial took place Wednesday at the Malatia-Sebastia district court, during which the accused admitted killing Darbazyan but showed no remorse over what he had done: “Well, I went to her and told her ‘You’re cheating on me,’ but she said nothing. I wouldn’t have killed her if she had apologized,” Arakelyan said. 

When presenting the case to the court, prosecutor Hakob Yenokyan stated that the victim had had an affair with “some Turk,” Nadik, and the accused “killed Darbazyan out of jealousy, because the victim failed to carry out conjugal duties.” Arakelyan also confirmed to the court that he was personally acquainted with this person.

Speaking to Epress.am after the hearing, Seda Safaryan, the lawyer for the victim's successor, pointed out various shortcomings in the investigation, which, however, “have been overlooked” by the prosecutor.

“The investigation is incomplete; it’s based solely on the testimony of the accused. The prosecutor should have found out who this Nadik is and not have just written ‘some Turk.’ All the more so since the accused was personally acquainted with this person. This calls the basis for the charges into question, which was on oversight by the investigation,” the lawyer noted.

The victim's sister, Kristine Darbazyan, also said that this person, Nadik, was irrelevant to the case and that he used to often phone the couple since they owed him money: “[Arakelyan] was always present when my sister talked to this Turk; if he had been jealous, he would have killed her right then and there. I don’t understand why they’re emphasizing the story with the Turk.”

Darbazyan added that the family contacted Nadik after the incident and he confirmed that he had only phoned the spouses with the purpose of getting his money back and had no personal relationship with the victim. 

“Nadik’s testimony could be valuable to the case; however, he can’t be invited to court since he is an Azerbaijani citizen living in Turkey and won’t come to Armenia for safety reasons,” lawyer Safaryan told Epress.am.