Epress.am News from Armenia
At the July 11 hearing at the Armavir District Court of First Instance in the bribery case, the prosecutor made a motion to "detain the victim" and get him to report a crime, defendant Sahak Harutyunyan's lawyer Inessa Petrosyan informed Epress.am.
Recall, Armenian Ministry of Justice employees Sahak Harutyunyan and Aleksander Khachatryan are accused of extorting a bribe of 400,000 AMD (a little less than $1,000 USD) from the victim. The charge was compiled based on the victim's testimony, but he later said in court that he testified against Sahak Harutyunyan at the request of investigators.
At the last court hearing, victim Babken Budaghyan said that sixth police division chief Yeghishe Petrosyan tried to get him to again testify against the defendants, threatening him that if he doesn't, they'll be arrested in another case. According to Inessa Petrosyan (no relation), the use of the phrase "detain the victim" already indicates that pressure continues to be exerted on him.
"I said that I've already appealed to the [General] Prosecutor about the victim's statement in court; I sent the recording of the court hearing. That is to say, if there's a desire to open a criminal case, then it can be done," she said.
The attorney believes it's absurd that the prosecutor also made a motion for the court to keep the general prosecutor informed that the victim testified against the investigator and the sixth police division chief. All this, according to Petrosyan, are attempts to prolong the case and again put pressure on the victim.