Violation of Criminal Procedure: Police Calls Its Own Interns as Witnesses

There are serious violations in the case of the accused Gor Barnausov and Aram Zarafyan, who have been in police custody for several months, said Barnausov's attorney, Alvard Mnatsakanyan, after yesterday's court hearing. 

Barnausov and Zarafyan are accused of a felony (group assault); meanwhile, they claim that on Mar. 1, 2013, they hit victim Armen Petrosyan once each, 3–5 minutes apart. Petrosyan in court likewise said that the accused beat him separately, and that he was drunk, swore at them, and currently doesn't have anything against them.

Helsinki Association for Human Rights observer Arman Veziryan informed Epress.am that, upon Mnatsakanyan's request, witnesses in the case Arsen Mkrtumyan and Alisa Nalchajyan appeared in court yesterday. After they were examined, it turned out that while engaged as witnesses in the case they were also interns at Shengavit Police Division, which, as noted by Mnatsakanyan, is a flagrant violation of criminal procedure, since, according to Article 81 of the RA Criminal Procedure Code, "a witness is any adult citizen of the Republic of Armenia with no personal interest in the criminal case, invited by the criminal prosecuting body to participate in the implementation of investigative proceedings…"

Note, one of the witnesses, Alisa Nalchajyan, is now an investigator.