New violations are being revealed during the trial of the case regarding a soldier’s alleged suicide
New violations are being revealed during the trial of the case regarding a soldier’s alleged suicide. On November 5, 2012 death was recorded in the RA armed forces. At approximately 12:30 a.m. the body of a nineteen-year-old private soldier Sargis Sahakyan was found in a combat base in Syunik region. According to the official hypothesis the case was qualified as a suicide. Two soldiers of the same unit Artashes Khachatryan and Arthur Sisakyan were charged with driving Sargis Sahakyan to commit suicide.
According to the experts, however, the forensic doctor ignored numerous factors which prove that the nineteen-year-old soldier was murdered. In particular, the bone fractures on the upper and lower jaw, in the corners of the mouth, injuries on the outer surface above the upper lip, as well as scratches on the forefinger of the right hand cannot be caused as a result of a gunshot and clearly indicate that the victim was subjected to violence. The mentioned injuries are obvious signs of struggle, which prove that the victim was subjected to violence. Most probably the muzzle was forcibly put in his mouth.
All the injuries that were recorded in the forensic examination report, the soldier received while he was alive: “[the injuries were caused] not long before the death with a blunt and hard object and they have no causal connection with the cause of the death.” According to the official hypothesis, Sargis Sahakyan committed suicide after the fellow soldiers cursed and humiliated him for eating the food sent from home alone.
The defendants Arthur Sisakyan and Artashes Khachatryan accused of causing suicide do not admit their guilt. Sisakyan and six witnesses of the case renounced their preliminary investigation testimonies during previous sessions at court.
They justified the fact that they gave false testimonies stating that they were subjected to violence in the military police department, and that they were kept in custody for up to one month and were forced to write that Sargis ate the food alone after which they started insulting him, as a result of which the latter committed suicide.
In the Syunik region Trial Court the rights of the victim’s successor is represented by Peace Dialogue NGO’s expert Ruben Martirosyan who has informed that new circumstances are being revealed about the “strange things”, to put it mildly, committed buy the preliminary investigation bodies.
Ruben Martirosyan: “A forensic biological examination of Sargis Sahakyan’s weapon was carried out and another illegality conducted by the preliminary investigation bodies was revealed. On the riffle that according to the preliminary investigation body was the weapon attached to the deceased soldier with which he committed suicide( according to the obtained evidence Sargis put the riffle in his mouth, fired and killed himself) no traces of blood or saliva were found. This is an absolute prove that he was murdered and that he was murdered with another weapon. In addition to this fact there is another crucial fact of crime: during the investigation of the crime scene investigator Hayk Hayrapetyan confiscated the weapon and allegedly wrapped it in the presence of witnesses after which sealed it with his own seal Investigator-62. However, in the examination center it was recorded that the weapon was sealed with a seal Investigator-60. Thus, the integrity of the packaging was illegally violated. Since the court was presented with a document affirming that the seal Investigator-60 belonged to investigator Melik Karamyan of the same garrison investigation service, we can state that the illegal act was conducted by that same investigator. According to the aggrieved party he replaced the weapons by putting and then wrapping the deceased soldiers riffle instead of a riffle with an unknown number. I think the authorities and the relevant bodies should pay serious attention to this fact. If these illegalities were not carried out with the instructions of General Prosecutor or the Military Prosecutor, then they will immediately withdraw the case, will drop the charges against innocent soldiers and will initiate a new criminal case in regards to the murder. In this way they can reveal the crimes and other numerous illegalities committed by the investigators out of personal or group interest.
This is not the only illegality regarding the murder weapon: the fingerprints were destroyed from the weapon by the investigation body. The latter “was not able” to even find the bullet casing which as a rule lies near the weapon within the distance of 0-30 cm.
The fact that the preliminary investigation body failed to carry out an investigation regarding these two facts and did not pay attention to them (both the fingerprints and the bullet casing were destroyed) gives reason to assume that they were destroyed by the preliminary investigation body rather than by the murderers.
In addition, the former investigator Hayk Hayrapetyan who was questioned at court as a witness informed that he carried out the investigation of the crime scene together with Melik Karamyan. This is yet another flagrant illegality because this fact and the name were not mentioned in the investigation report of the crime scene. Thus, it is suspicious with which status Melik Karamyan was taking part in the crime scene investigation.
All of the mentioned above makes us wonder what exactly General Prosecutor and Military Prosecutors are doing. Where are the Armenian authorities and the relevant bodies? How long will these flagrant illegalities continue? These illegalities concern not only this case but also numerious other murder cases known to us. How long will the intentional murders committed by the relevant bodies be presented by the Prosecutor’s Office as a suicide? How long will the Minister of Defense close his eyes to what is happening in the army?”
Posted 02 June, 2014
