Epress.am News from Armenia
Society Without Violence, a local NGO that focuses on women’s empowerment and young girls’ awareness and education, issued an open letter yesterday to all interested parties regarding the death of a 20-year-old woman in the town of Masis, who is believed to have died at the hands of her abusive husband and mother-in-law.
The open letter reads, in full, as follows:
“As you are already informed, on October 1, 2010, in Masis town a shocking murder was committed. 20-year-old Zaruhi Petrosyan was killed by her husband and mother-in-law as a result of torture and physical violence.
“The link and video materials provided by News.am are the vivid evidence of the inhuman tortures and treatment that Zaruhi Petrosyan underwent during her lifetime, violence which brought to the death of 20-year-old young woman.
“Unfortunately, the cases of physical violence are not rare in our reality, and in some context the indifference of the society and unfair attitude towards violence victims can lead to such irreversible losses.
“As women’s rights NGO members, we call Human Rights organizations, activists, interested people, mass-media and international organizations to be observant, to highlight this case by every possible way of dissemination, to provide the publicity and transparency of the case investigation and the trial for reaching the fair judgment of 20 year-old woman’s murderers.
“Otherwise the stereotypes, that such crimes are inter-family issues, that such cases do not deserve to be in the public’s and law enforcement bodies’ attention will have more and profound roots in our society.
“With our silence we will allow such crimes to be justified and guilty people to avoid the punishment determined by law. In other words, by our silence we will have more innocent victims.
“If you are interested in the participation of the discussion on this case, please do not hesitate to contact by the following e-mail: [email protected]
“Regards,
Society Without Violence”
Note that the video which has been widely circulated in social networks is now available with English subtitles and can be viewed here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QHhYVPBk7y8
Note that, RA military prosecution’s Yeghegnadzor military prosecutor Tigran Sargsyan told News.am that Zaruhi’s husband, Yanis Sarkisovi, has been detained and charged under RA Penal Code Article 112 Section 2 Point 14 for “infliction of grave damage to health” (causing severe bodily harm). The investigation is ongoing.
Photo courtesy of News.am