Epress.am News from Armenia
On January 30th, the first court hearing was convened on the death of soldier Manuchar Manucharyan of the 24923 military base at the Arabkir Kanaker-Zeytun Universal Court of First Instance, presided by judge Levon Avetisyan. According to the preliminary investigation’s version, Manucharyan committed suicide, however his family claims that it was premeditated murder. As safesoldiers.am reports, during the hearing, the plaintiffs seeked the recusal of prosecutor Amiryan.
As a base for the recusal, they noted that the day after Manucharyan’s death (August 1, 2013) the prosecutor M. Nalbandyan gathered a description of the soldier’s clothes where various thicknesses of blood stains were found on his pants.
Until the forensic-traceological report of Manucharyan’s clothes, the investigatory entity’s experts presented an entirely different pair of pants (noted as trousers in the report). A. Avetisyan conducted the examination of the trousers:
1.“the trousers have pockets, counting from the top, the first and third pockets are missing,”
2.“the trousers are worn out and dirty,”
3.“other than two missing buttons, no other mechanical damages or traces can be found on the trousers from the examination.”
“The comparison of these two documents reveals a definite conclusion that the investigatory bodies have conducted a serious crime. Initially, they concealed the evidenced pants, in exchange brought another pair of pants from their facilities. First and foremost, the investigatory bodies had the objective with this criminal act to cover up the fact that a 5 mm diameter hole caused by a bullet was present on the right leg, which Manucharyan could not have done himself, and which definitely testifies that it was premeditated murder,” noted the plaintiffs, stressing that Manucharyan would have been unable to commit suicide while shooting himself in the back of his leg, as well as in the jaw with an automatic rifle.
Along with the motion, the plaintiffs petitioned the court to suspend the trial of the case and report the above mentioned facts to the Prosecutor General, noting that the Special Investigation Service (SIS) should conduct an examination regarding the evidence, reveal those guilty, be held liable, as well as Manucharyan’s lost pants be discovered and recognized as proof.
Presiding judge Avetisyan, after spending a long period of consultation, rejected the plaintiffs' petition and recuse. According to the law, he had a responsibility to send the plaintiffs' petition to the Prosecutor General, however he stated that he would not send it, because the plaintiffs are able to send it themselves to the Prosecutor General.
After the rejection, the plaintiffs seeked recusal against the Judge Avetisyan with the basis of article 262 of the Criminal Procedure Code which states that until a judge approves the proceedings of any criminal case, he is responsible to acquaint himself with the case material and only after that can implement a corresponding decision about approving or not approving the procedure.
While getting acquainted with the materials of the case, the judge, naturally, needs to see the evidence of the criminal act, which the plaintiffs have revealed and presented to court. The judge rejected this petition also.
“Judge Avetisyan is in a deadlock, he doesn't know how to continue the trial if the central piece of evidence turned upside-down, which proves that Manuchar Manucharyan was murdered, that all the witnesses gave false testimonies, and that today the investigatory bodies have unjustly arrested and charged two innocent soldiers,” said the plaintiffs' representative, Peaceful Dialogue NGO expert, criminologist Ruben Martirosyan after the trial hearing. The next hearing will take place on February 4 at 2PM.