Verdict in Case of Armenian Soldier Who Died of Chickenpox Overturned by Court of Appeal

The Court of Appeal of Armenia, presided over by justice Henrik Ter-Adamyan, on Thursday, May 22 overturned the verdict by the Court of First Instance of Erebuni and Nubarashen Communities of Yerevan in the case of Hayk Khachatryan, a military conscript who died of chickenpox while serving in the Armenian army in 2011, Mushegh Shushanyan, representing Hayk Khachatryan's father, Movses Khachatryan, informed Epress.am. 

Note, the Court of First Instance had dismissed the case and dropped criminal charges against the accused doctors; the Court of Appeal has sent back the case for reexamination. 

In an interview with Epress.am the representative of the victim's legal successor said he was surprised by the court's decision; however, Shushanyan stated, the Court of Appeal had no basis to deny his reasonable appeal, which, in the event of being taken to the European Court of Human Rights, would have resulted in a ruling against the Republic of Armenia. 

Head of the Neurology Department of the Central Clinical Military Hospital, Lieutenant Colonel Minas Mkrtchyan, and Armenian Armed Forces Chief Surgeon Mikayel Mikayelyan were accused of "negligent attitude to service by a commander or official, which caused essential damage" (Article 376 of the RA Criminal Code), which is punishable by imprisonment of up to 3 years. However, the Court of First Instance granted the doctors amnesty. 

Meanwhile, Shushanyan demanded tougher penalties for the men, pursuant to Part 2 of Article 376 – “the same acts, if they negligently caused grave consequences” – and article 130.2 – “failure to implement or improper implementation of professional duties by medical and support personnel. The same action, if it caused through negligence the patient’s death or AIDS infection.” 

During the course of the case, the attorney had referred to a number of violations by the prosecutor and the presiding judge. In particular, a double examination was decided by the court without a motion from either side. Shushanyan had called the decision an attempt to justify the accused surgeons, saying that the results of the second assessment served that very purpose: the results showed that the soldier was in such a state that the doctors' decision not to transfer him to the infectious diseases hospital was a correct one.