Epress.am News from Armenia
In a Tavush regional court on Tuesday in the trial of rifle platoon commander Artak Nazaryan, who died during a period of non combat on a military base on Jul. 27, 2010, Judge Samvel Mardanyan rejected the victim party's motion for the judge to withdraw on the grounds that he is not impartial.
This news was conveyed to Epress.am by Ruben Martirosyan, who is representing the victim's legal successor in the case. Martirosyan added that state prosecutor Harutyun Harutyunyan said he doesn't refute the opinion that testimonies were fraudulently exhorted from witnesses; however, he was not by the investigator's side at the time testimonies were made and was unaware any such illegal actions.
Examined in court on Mar. 27 was witness Misha Gabrielyan, who, in 2010, was the commander of the military outpost where Nazaryan served. In court, Gabrielyan said he knows nothing, but the prosecution found contradictions between his pre-trial testimony and the one he made in court, so he read the pre-trial testimony, according to which the witness said he discovered that soldiers accused of killing Nazaryan had beaten Artak Nazaryan. In court, however, the witness, Gabrielyan, refuted this, saying he said no such thing to the investigator. Gabrielyan only said that, according to his information, there was an argument and a scuffle between the soldiers accused of the crime and Nazaryan. Note, this is not the first time discrepancies were noticed between a witness' testimony in court and the one he gave before the trial.
The next court date was set for Apr. 17.