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Suspect in Murder of Gyumri Man Found Guilty, Sentenced to 11 Years in Prison

Artur Martirosyan, accused of murdering Gyumri resident Artyom Adanalyan, was on Tuesday sentenced to 11 years in prison by the Shirak first instance court. The victim’s mother, Ruzanna Adanalyan, is however convinced that Martirosyan is not the sole perpetrator of her son’s murder.

According to the indictment sheet, Artur Martirosyan and Artyom Adanalyan entered into a brawl during a party at the Adanalyans’ Gyumri house on October 29, 2014, and began calling each other belittlingly “Artyomik” and “Arturik.” At some point during the argument, the case materials say, Martirosyan hit Adanalyan with a knife.

An in earlier conversation with Epress.am, Ruzanna Adanalyan had expressed her conviction that such an unserious quarrel could not have resulted in Martirosyan wanting to murder her son. “The motive is completely made up. The murder was premeditated.” The woman had further claimed that Martorosyan’s close friend Hovhannes Topchyan had also had a part in the murder.

The woman’s suspicions about Topchyan became even stronger after she found out that a few days after the murder Topchyan had left the country. Several months later, on Adanalyan’s numerous appeals, Topchyan’s apartment was searched, and fibers from the clothes of some other party members were found on his clothes.

According to the mother, there were 13 people at the party, including the victim and the accused. Subsequently, however, only 8 people were summoned to testify as witnesses. The actions of each of the witnesses, Adanalyan said, were never given any legal assessment: “Each and every one of them were asked the same set of questions and gave the same answers. Some of them have since even left Armenia. According to the official version, my son was stabbed twice, but it was obvious that the injuries were caused by two different knives, which also gives reason to suspect that [Martirosyan was not the sole perpetrator].”

The woman is convinced that her son’s murder, which, according to her, was committed by a group of people, was ordered by state official, usurer Lusine Ginosyan, whom Adanalyan has an administrative dispute with. According to the woman, Ginosyan organized her son’s murder after losing their dispute at the Appeal Court and hearing her speak on TV against her usury activities.