Epress.am News from Armenia
Artur Abrahamyan, witness in the case on the fact of death of conscript Manuchar Manucharyan in the Armenian army in 2013, who had renounced his preliminary testimony, was summoned to the Investigative Service of the RA Ministry of Defense on Thursday, June 11, Peace Dialogue NGO said in a statement.
Note, Artur Abrahamyan changed most of his preliminary testimony, explaining that he had testified under pressure and threats from investigators. Abrahamyan stated that he was not actually acquainted with Manucharyan, meanwhile, in the preliminary investigation Abrahamyan had said that he had seen Manucharyan several times on the morning of the incident – talking to captain Muradyan, entering the restroom accompanied by defendant Gaboyan, and leaving it with his head hung low, morose. Meanwhile, the witness expressed a desire to have a lawyer, and Mushegh Shushanyan, representative of the victim's legal successor, announced that he was ready to provide free legal services to Abrahamyan.
Today, around 1:30 PM, Artur Abrahamyan phoned Peaceful Dialogue NGO military expert Ruben Martirosyan and said some people were trying to take him to the Prosecutor's Office. Soon after Mushegh Shushanyan found out that the soldier was hastily presented with subpoena to appear immediately in the Defense Ministry's Investigative Service, the NGO's statement read,
Personally summoning and forcing Abrahamyan to go to the Defense Ministry's Investigative Service, as stated by the authors of the statement, the preliminary body is trying to prevent the witness from testifying in the presence of an attorney.
Such treatment towards “undesirable” witnesses, expert Ruben Martirosyan said, is commonplace, and he has encountered similar examples in a number of other cases.