Appeals Court Leaves Unchanged 8-12 Years’ Imprisonment Sentences for Robberies

The RA Court of Appeal let stand on Thursday a lower court's ruling to sentence four young men accused of robbery and aggravated assault to 8-12 years in prison. During the 4-month trial process, the court, presided by Judge Sevak Hambardzumyan, denied multiple defense motions, did not question the victims, or give a chance to the accused to make a final statement. 

The relatives of the accused, anticipating the harsh punishment even before the announcement of the verdict, started to shout at public prosecutor Arsen Aghabekyan: “Why sentence them to 12 years? Why ruin their young lives?!” However, the prosecutor, as the relatives told our reporter, dismissed their questions, and he later refused to speak with journalists, urging them to “get out of here!”

One of the accused, Argishti Saribekyan, denies the accusations of robbery and assault entirely. The parents of the three other convicts said in a conversation with Epress.am their sons have indeed committed the robbery; however “ten years' imprisonments is not a fair punishment for stealing 3 old computers and 3 mobile phones.” Moreover, the accused have paid compensation to the victims for the stolen items.

“[One of the victims] said they had received [the computer] as a gift, and he could not say how much it cost exactly. He told us to give him a 100 thousand drams ($210), and we did. We returned the rest of the computers to their owners. The old mobile phones were estimates at EUR 660 [and we paid that amount, too]. The victims have no claims against us, but the prosecution does?” accused Grigor Nersisyan's mother stressed.

The court also disregarded accused Karen Khachatryan's mother Ruzanna Khachatryan's claims that her son, a minor at the time, had been kept in detention for a day and forced to testify without the presence of a parent or a pedagogue. 

Complaining about the trial process, convict Argishti Saribekyan's mother, Larisa Asryan, stated: “The court had announced they would re-examine the facts of the case; however, they did not examine any evidence, nothing. For four months we've been coming here. If there was nothing to review, they should have just denied the appeal. [Victim Rafayel Tevosyan] said in court he did not speak Armenian well, and the judge did not allow him to testify, to say that he'd been forced to sign a testimony pre-written by the investigator.”

The accused plan to appeal against the verdict at the Court of Cassation.