‘What Men Should Do;’ Yerevan Woman, Parents Axed by Former Husband

“Today was just a regular day at the Women's Resource Center (WRC), Armenia. We were holding our regular meetings and workshops on economic development for our beneficiaries; women survivors of domestic violence trying to take back control of their life,” Lara Aharonyan, the leader of WRC, wrote on her Facebook page Friday afternoon.

“Everyone was there, except one, T. Was missing. She couldn't make it to our regular meeting because finally her ex-husband caught her yesterday night. He forced himself in her parents' house, smashed her mother's head with an axe, and attacked both her and her father. The mother is dead, the father has wounds but feeling much better and T. is lying in intensive care on life support. Her 2 year old baby is somewhere safe at the neighbor's house. On several occasions, before all this happened, T. had called and went to the police to ask for protection from her husband who on several times had beaten her up and her parents and threatened her. 

“Police was not able to protect her like in many cases, although when you ask them, they will say, we are intervening, we are doing something, blablabla. The Shengavit court had released him once during a previous criminal trial which shows how the justice works in this country. Government is still postponing the domestic violence law. A good number of men still acting as if their wives are their properties and thinking that beating, being violent is 'what men should do.'

“People are still asking 'but what did she do to be beaten up so badly…?,' the war against women at home is making more victims than the war on the borders, yet no one is getting mobilised as much – And i can't take this anymore!” the women's rights activist concluded.

Earlier today Armenia's Investigative Committee released a statement to report that 31-year-old Yerevan resident V. Martirosyan “had an argument with former wife Taguhi Mansuryan and her parents, during which he struck them multiple times with an axe.” 64-year-old Karine Mansuryan, officials said, had died as a result, while Taguhi Mansuryan and her father, Vachagan Mansuryan, were hospitalized with major injuries. 

The law enforcement agency has instituted a criminal case under article 104.1 of Armenia's criminal code (murder) and article 112.2.1 (infliction of grievous bodily harm to two or more persons). V. Martirosyan has been arrested on suspicion of having wilfully committed the above-mentioned crimes.