Epress.am News from Armenia
After a lengthy trial, Vanadzor resident Karen Kungortsev was acquitted Friday morning of the attempted murder of 15-year old Yerevan handball player Davit Hovakimyan. The Lori district court of first instance, presided over by judge Naira Hovakimyan, found Kungortsev innocent, despite the prosecution having had demanded a 9.5 years' imprisonment for the defendant.
Recall, during the entire trial process Kungortsev, who's been in custody since October, 2013, claimed he was not guilty and announced at one of the previous court hearings that he was not going to “serve a term for someone else.”
While behind bars, the accused had resorted to self harm, had gone on a number of hunger strikes. Kungortsev's mother has said that during detention police used violence against her son to force a confession. The charges against Kungortsev were changed from murder to attempted murder in August, 2014. Meanwhile, Vladimir Ghukasyan, a medical doctor of Vanadzor Medical Center, was convicted of negligence and improper implementation of professional duties and sentenced to 3 years' imprisonment.