Epress.am News from Armenia
The cases of Yerevan mayor's advisor Arayik Qotanjyan's son, Samvel Qotanjyan, and Hayk Kyureghyan, the man who fired shots outside a Yerevan courthouse, are significantly different from each other, thus keeping Kyureghyan in detention and releasing Qotanjyan are justified, said RA General Prosecutor Gevorg Kostanyan today, responding to an Epress.am correspondent's question on the differing treatment of the two men.
"The case with the shots at Kanaker-Zeytun [district of Yerevan] was launched under Section 1 of the article on hooliganism. Already after Hayk Kyureghyan’s shots outside the Kentron Court, we launched a criminal case under Section 4 of the hooliganism article. Why? Because the second case is about a more serious expression of hooliganism; that is, we have hooliganism with the use of force and the use of a weapon. The difference is quite obvious: Section 1 of hooliganism [article] provides for up to 1 year imprisonment, while Section 4 provides for 4–8 years in prison. That is, these are diametrically opposed cases," he said.
Recall, on June 6, Samvel Kotanjyan fired several shots from a 9mm Makarov pistol in the Kanaker-Zeytun district of Yerevan, but no measure of restraint was applied to him — he was released upon the signatures of two guarantors.
On June 12, at the start of the trial against Shant Harutyunyan and 13 other men arrested with him last November, Kyureghyan climbed onto one of the cars parked outside the courthouse and began to shoot in the direction of police with what he claimed was an air pistol, without causing any serious harm to law enforcement officials.
Kyureghyan is in pre-trial detention, and he is banned family visits. Meanwhile, a group of civil society members monitoring conditions in Armenian prisons and detention centers found bruises on Kyureghyan's arms.