Epress.am News from Armenia
Armenia’s Court of Appeal – headed by judges Mher Arghamanyan, Manushak Petrosyan and Mkhitar Papoyan – overturned the verdict of acquittal issued by the Lori first instance court a year ago and sentenced Vanadzor resident Karen Kungortsev to 7 years in prison for the attempted murder of 15-year old Yerevan handball player Davit Hovakimyan; Kungortsov was transferred to prison right from the courtroom.
Speaking to Epress.am on Tuesday, Helsinki Association for Human Rights head Nina Karapetyan insisted that the young man was convicted without any evidence. She believes the verdict to be retaliation against Kungortsev’s lawyer Arayik Papikyan, who also defends the interests of several members of the Sasna Tsrer anti-government armed group.
The verdict of not guilty was issued by Lori District Court judge Narine Hovakimyan in April 2016, despite the prosecution having had demanded a 9.5 years’ imprisonment for the defendant.
At a post-release press conference, Karen Kunghortsev had emphasized the importance of the fact that Hakob Hovakimyan, the father of the killed teenager, had fought alongside his lawyers to make sure that an innocent person was not convicted for his son’s murder.
Kungortsev had also told reporters about his forceful detainment by police in 2013: “They came to my workplace, handcuffed me with no explanation and took me to the police station, where I was forced to sign papers with unfamiliar content. They would beat me to force a confession, they’d say everything would be fine if I did as they said. I’ve submitted hundreds of torture reports to numerous organizations and agencies, but no one paid any attention to them.”
The victim’s father, in turn, had said that after familiarizing himself with the materials of the criminal case, he was convinced that his son had not been murdered by Kungortsev. “There was nothing that indicated he was the killer. My goal was not the imprisonment of a random person for my son’s death. I wanted to achieve justice; therefore, when I realized Karen had not killed my son, I did everything to make sure he was acquitted. I’m very grateful to the judge.”
Arayik Papikyan, meanwhile, had spoken about the press publications in 2013, which, according to the lawyer, “even jeopardized Kungortsev’s life.” “From the outset, the press coverage of the case was accompanied by numerous violations of the presumption of innocence. [Kungortsev] was even called a ‘criminal authority’ in the press, and it was obscene what people on social networks proposed to do to him the following days. At the time of the issuance of the arrest warrant I even said that taking into account what awaited Karen outside, it was safer for him to remain in prison. If it weren’t for these publications, we might have even been able to close the case with the preliminary body within a couple of months,” the lawyer had stressed.