Epress.am News from Armenia
Mayor of Karmirgyugh village in Gegharkunik province Misha Danielyan was found guilty on December 10, 2014 of embezzlement, abuse of power, assault, and forgery, however he is still holding the position of the village mayor.
Harutyun Baghdasaryan, the lawyer who represents a group of villagers who sued Danielyan, said in an interview with Epress.am that Danielyan had not spent one day in prison; he has not been arrested, when he received 5 years imprisonment by the Gegharkunik Court of First Instance, he was also granted amnesty by the court’s presiding Judge Aghvan Petrosyan. The plaintiffs were left displeased with the verdict. The lawyer motioned for a supplementary punishment to restrict Misha Danielyan’s right to hold certain positions of public office. However, the court denied the motion, which resulted in the village mayor continuing to hold his position. The plaintiffs have appealed to the Court of Appeals and the hearings will begin on February 11.
During the trial the court found that the village mayor contracted a driver, a Yerevan resident, from the village budget for 102,000 AMD (around $214); having purely mercenary motives, he auctioned off 52 estates of agricultural use, of which 47 were signed with contracts. 3 estates were contracted under his name. Another issue saw, 8 of 33 individuals included in a state project did not actually work, however, the village mayor, committed forgery and signed under their names. The court also found that the village mayor had convened an illegal council hearing, without the sufficient quorum, and decided to allocate 500,000 AMD (about $1,050) from the village’s savings fund to the Armenian-Russian Cossak Union, which Danielyan is a member of.
According to the charges, it has been confirmed that Danielyan had assaulted the village’s kindergarten teacher Ovsanna Gevorgyan. One of the residents of Karmirgyugh, who wished not to be named, told Epress.am that Danielyan’s firing of and assault of Gevorgyan had a political motive. During the mayoral elections, Gevorgyan had voted for the Republican Party candidate, while Danielyan is a Prosperous Armenia Party member. The residents also explained that the mayor was confident during the trial that he was not going to be punished. “I have a clear pass everywhere,” the mayor had said.
Danielyan told Epress.am that he was not going to appeal the verdict only because he does not wish to create conflict with people in the village. He was asked if he did not want to voluntarily resign from his position as village mayor, to which he replied “I’ll work for another 20 years. I’m a good village mayor. I’ve built everything.”
Photograph – karmir1in.am