Epress.am News from Armenia
Court of First Instance of Shengavit Community of Yerevan Judge Nelly Baghdasaryan sentenced defendants Gor Barnausov and Armen Zarafyan accused of group assault to 5 years in prison. The prosecuting attorney asked for a sentence of 6 years each.
Barnausov and Zarafyan do not admit their guilt: they claim there can be no talk of group assault or battery. During the course of the trial, the defendants said that on Mar. 1, 2013, they hit victim Armen Petrosyan once each, 3–5 minutes apart. Petrosyan was drunk; he cursed at Barnausov, who got into an argument with him and hit him once. Zarafyan pulled Barnausov back, but Petrosyan again cursed him, after which Zarafyan returned and hit Petrosyan.
The victim admitted in court that he uttered curses and that he was drunk and doesn't remember much.
The judge, nevertheless, found the group assault accusation credible, despite the fact that the defendants' attorney Alvard Mnatsakanyan [AM] during the trial raised the issue of violations made during the investigation. In particular, Mnatsakanyan claimed that the investigator tried to obtain a testimony from the victim by putting him under psychological pressure, and despite this, the victim insisted that the defendants attacked him separately. If the court accepted this fact, then the charges would've been changed and the punishment would've been milder.