Relatives and Co-Villagers of Murdered Soldier to Hold a Manifestation Near RA Prime Minister’s Residence
On May 6, the relatives and co-villagers of soldier Levon Torosyan, who died during military service, have decided to hold a manifestation near the Prime Minister’s Residence on May 12 at 11:00 a.m.
On 6 May, 2018, at approximately 7:25 a.m., in the territory of the military base of “Hakobasar” of the RA MoD Military Unit 21127, the body of Levon Torosyan, soldier at the same military unit, was found with a mortal gunshot wound in his head. The entrance of the wound was at the bottom of the chin and the exit was on the top of the head. The 6th Garrison Investigative Department of the RA Investigation Department has filed the criminal case N90753018 on the hypothesis of a suicide.
On May 7, Levon Torosyan’s father, Arsen Torosyan, filed a mediation to involve Ruben Martirosyan, human rights defender and expert of Peace Dialogue NGO, as a legal representative in the mentioned criminal case. On the same day, in the forensic examination center the employees of the General Investigation Department of the RA Investigative Committee tried to hinder the implementation of the rights of the victim’s side; they stated that they would not provide a copy of the decision on the basis of which the autopsy should be performed, reasoning that Arsen Torosyan had not yet been recognized as the victim’s successor. The victim side announced that both the investigator’s decision on autopsy and the autopsy itself should be considered illegal, since in a manner prescribed by law, the victim’s father and his legal representative have the right to be present in the autopsy, but currently they haven’t been given the respective statuses.
After the scandal the representatives of the Ombudsman’s Office interfered in the case, only after which the RA Investigative Committee decided to make an exception and act within the legal framework, which means they recognized Arsen Torosyan as the victim’s legal successor and Ruben Martirosyan as his representative. Immediately after the compilation of the documents, R. Martirosyan took part in the autopsy. The latter revealed a gunshot wound with an entrance under the chin and the exit on the top of the head.
Besides the mentioned gunshot wound, the following injuries were also revealed on the victim’s body:
- Hemorrhage in the soldier’s genitals,
- Scratches in the articular area of both elbows, which have the same sizes, the same date of origin, and may be claimed to have the same cause of origin (they are synchronous, similar injuries)
Based on the aforementioned, Ruben Martirosyan has come to a definite conclusion, that a deliberate murder was committed. Before the murder, the perpetrator(s) had hit the victim on the genitals, as a result of which the victim was allegedly deprived of the ability to defend himself. It happened not long before the death, since the hemorrhaged parts were of pink or light red coloring. Taking advantage of the victim’s helplessness, the perpetrator(s) held him by the arms and shot him. “At the moment, without an additional investigation, the forensic doctor is not ready to state whether the soldier received the scratches on his arms before or after his death. The fact of the murder is confirmed in any case. If the victim received the injuries while he was still alive, this means that the soldier had made an attempt to free his arms and defend himself, in the course of which he received the abovementioned scratches due to the contact with the ground. Before considering the posthumous version, it must be noted that the death of the soldier happened immediately following the deadly gunshot on the head. If we consider that the scratches were received posthumously, then the murderer(s) must have moved the corpse to another place to hide it, since the soldier died immediately after the gunshot and there was no need to move the corpse (for instance, to show first medical aid)”, said Ruben Martirosyan.
Rising from the aforementioned facts, the expert came to the conclusion that the Preliminary Investigative Body was implementing a falsified unilateral investigation. That is why he filed a motion to the RA Prosecutor General Artur Davtyan, with which he objected to the Head and the Investigator of the 6th Military Garrison Investigation Division of the RA General Investigation Department and demanded that the criminal case be transferred to another investigative body.
Photo from Forrights.am
Posted 19 October, 2018
