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‘Guilty of Not Having Money to Bribe Judges;’ Kungortsev’s Letter from Prison

“Appeal Court judges manushak petrosyan, mher arghamanyan and mkhitar papoyan [sic] are guilty in my illegal arrest. They are carrying out an order to destroy my future and are thereby hiding the murderer of 15-year-old Davit. Simultaneously, they are ruining the life of my two-month-old [son] Davit. I’m innocent, and they are well aware of this. But I’m ‘guilty’ of not having a sponsor or bribe money,” Vanadzor resident Karen Kungortsev, who was recently sentenced to 7 years in prison, a year after he was acquitted by the Lori first instance court of the attempted murder of 15-year old Yerevan handball player Davit Hovakimyan, wrote in a letter from prison.

Recall, the verdict of not guilty was handed down by Lori District Court judge Narine Hovakimyan in April 2016, despite the prosecution having had demanded a 9.5 years’ imprisonment for the defendant. Early last week, however, Armenia’s Court of Appeal – headed by judges Mher Arghamanyan, Manushak Petrosyan and Mkhitar Papoyan – granted the prosecution’s appeal and sentenced Kungortsev to a 7-year imprisonment.