Shoghik Melkonyan, the 41-year-old director of Mher Mkrtchyan Home Museum, was charged with handing out election bribes on the National Assembly election day, May 6, “under the nose” of the GALA TV Company, in Charles Aznavour Square, from a GAZelle with 29 ՕՕ 719 license plate belonging to resident of Gyumri Vazgen Sargsyan. GALA, a Gyumri-based TV company, filmed and showed the video entitled “What is going on here…?” in which one can clearly see citizens be handed out 5 thousand AMD.
Immediately after the video had been shown, the investigation department of the Shirak region gathered evidence and denied launching an investigation as if there was no corpus delicti.
Then an investigation was launched by the decision of Armenian Attorney General Aghvan Vardanyan according to Article 154.2, Section 2. The investigation was carried out by the special investigation service and it was revealed that the briber was the director of Mher Mkrtchyan Museum under Gyumri Town Hall.
The indictment reads, “Shoghik Melkonyan is charged with giving bribes to 5 residents of the town of Gyumri on May 6, 2012, at around 6 p.m. compelling them to participate in the election and vote for the Republican Party.”
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Eduard Manukyan, the president of the trial court of the Shirak region, considering that lady hadn’t been tried before, the references from the workplace were positive, she was in charge of two persons and honestly regretted about her deed, decided to condemn her to 3 years in prison, but to suspend the sentence and put her on probation for two years. So employing Article 70 of the Armenian Criminal Code, the court put the lady’s behavior under supervision and entrusted that supervision on the respective local unit of the alternative sentence enforcement department.
By the way, there was a speedy trial at the request of the accused.
Let us mention that Vahan Khachatryan, the owner of the GALA TV Company, achieved his goal to some extent by this – the latter said in an interview given to www.aravot.am that his goal was to disgrace the bribe takers, in order that people took care of their dignity and kept away from such a humiliating phenomenon. Actually, besides the museum director, the bribe takers were also disgraced – they were also compelled to come to police stations and give evidence as witnesses in the framework of this case.
Nune AREVSHATYAN
