Epress.am News from Armenia
An appeal has been filed with the European Court of Human Rights in connection with Armenian courts’ rulings to uphold investigators’ decision to terminate the criminal proceedings into the 2014 death of conscript Grisha Khachatryan. The soldier’s parents want to resume the criminal case – which was closed due to the absence of elements of a crime – in order to establish the true circumstances of their son’s death, the Helsinki Citizens Assembly Vanadzor office (HCAV) said in a statement on Tuesday.
“The Armenian state has not conducted an independent and effective investigation to determine and properly punish the perpetrators. Moreover, there was no possibility of providing necessary medical assistance either in the combat position where the incident occurred, or in the nearby territory, which made it impossible to provide Khachatryan with first medical aid. The state has thereby not fulfilled its obligation to protect the life and health of persons under its jurisdiction,” the HCAV statement reads.
Recall, according to the official version, on the day of his death, June 20, 2014, Khachatryan, along with conscript Martun Harutyunyan, was on combat duty at the combat position of a military unit in Ararat province. At about 11 am, the investigation service of the Defense Ministry was informed that Khachatryan had sustained a fatal gunshot wound to the head.
After news spread of the death of the 19-year-old military conscript from the village of Sarnakunk in Syunik province, RA Ministry of Defense spokesperson Artsrun Hovhannisyan said that, according to preliminary data, Khachatryan died from an enemy bullet. Later, the Ministry of Defense issued a statement in which it said that Khachatryan died at the military post, and details of the incident were being confirmed. Afterwards, RA Minister of Defense Seyran Ohanyan told journalists that Khachatryan, according to preliminary data, received a fatal gunshot wound as a result of a breach of the rules for use of weapons.
Despite the criminal case having been launched on a charge of murder, investigation was also conducted into the soldier’s possible suicide and a breach of the rules for handling weapons. The suicide version, however, was soon dismissed by investigators, and a year after the incident, investigator Yeghoyan decided to also close the murder case due to the absence of elements of a crime: investigation had found no traces of gunpowder or blood on soldier Martun Harutyunyan’s uniform, and there was not sufficient evidence to indicate third-party involvement in the incident.
In conversation with Epress.am, meanwhile, Tatevik Siradeghyan, the representative of Khachatryan’s legal successor, had insisted that the murder version should not have been entirely ruled out: “Preliminary investigation did not obtain sufficient evidence to prove that Khachatryan had violated the rules for handling weapons. The investigation also failed to refute the possibility of murder and to establish the absence of a corpus delicti; therefore, the criminal proceedings couldn’t have been closed. We consider the ruling of the first instance court illegal and believe that it has to be overturned.”
Military expert Ruben Martirosyan, who had been present at the soldier’s autopsy, had, for his part, expressed his conviction that the incident was a “typical murder.” The presence of two wounds, according to the expert, ruled out the version of suicide, while the direction of the wounds indicated that Khachatryan could not have been killed by the enemy nor could he have died as a result of careless handling of weapons.