Epress.am News from Armenia
The sister of Sargis Hakobyan, 33, accused of beating his wife and causing psychological and physical pain for 9 years, gave a contradictory testimony in court today. This was conveyed to Epress.am by Tigran Muradyan, the attorney of the accused's wife, Hasmik Khachatryan. According to him, Hakobyan's sister, Victoria Hakobyan, first said that Hasmik has always behaved properly then claimed otherwise.
According to the lawyer, the witness basically completely repeated the other sister's testimony, which was given at a previous hearing — but with one significant difference. Victoria Hakobyan claimed that her brother hit his wife only once and the reason is that he wanted to see Hasmik's phone and Hasmik erased a number from her phone. Meanwhile, at the last court hearing, the other sister, Varduhi Hakobyan, had said the reason Sargis hit his wife is because she beat their child. Victoria Hakobyan (today's witness) also confessed that Sargis always becomes aggressive during quarrels. The rest of the testimony, the lawyer called "memorized" statements.
Also testifying in court today was one of Hakobyan's relatives, Haykaz Ghazaryan, who was called to court on the basis of Hasmik Khachatryan's testimony. Hasmik had said earlier that Ghazaryan had seen her battered. The elderly man, however, claimed in court today that he has a poor memory and doesn't remember such a thing.
According to the lawyer, one of the clients of fortuneteller Varsik (who is the accused's mother), who was often in their house, gave a testimony that had no significant meaning for the case. The woman, however, said she can't provide details, since she doesn't have personal ties with the family. She admitted that she knows Hasmik to be a decent person but repeated the claim made by all of the defense's witnesses — that Hasmik beat the children.
Sargis Hakobyan's friend Arman Poghosyan, according to the lawyer, tried in every way to defend the accused, claiming there were no problems among the couple. At the same time, he said that on midnight on the day of the beating Sargis called him, and he came to reconcile the spouses. But there was no serious problem, he said. Asked why he came to Gavar from Yerevan in the middle of the night if "it was nothing serious," the witness basically couldn't respond.
Women's Support Center NGO Programs Manager Hasmik Gevorgyan told Epress.am that after the court hearing, an man who identified himself as the leader of a "social movement" began to curse at them and urged Gavar natives not to allow the "genders" (a frequent and recent misconception in Armenian society; a pejorative word synonymous with "homosexuality") to participate in the court sessions. Note, local women's rights organizations attend the court sessions and support Hasmik Khachatryan.
Photo: Hasmik Khachatryan in one of the hearings in this case