Yesterday the media spread information that Russian soldier Valery Premyakov, who was sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of the Avetisyans family in Gyumri, took back his lawyer Eduard Aghajanyan’s appeal to the Court of Appeal. Two days have passed since the spread of this information, but Eduard Aghajanyan has not received any information about it yet.
– ”I have not received any official information. That information is not reliable information since I have not received any note that he has taken back the appeal. If there is such thing, I should have been informed about it,” Eduard Aghajanyan told Aravot.am.
Arayik Aghajanyan’s appeal to the Court of Appeal refers to Premyakov’s indictment issued for the attempt to cross the border. The representatives of the successors of the victims Arthur Saqunts, Arayik Zalyan and Aramazd Kiviryan also filed an appeal to the Court of Appeal. They demand to completely reverse and change of the verdict of Shirak District Court of First Instance against Valery P. Premyakov and send the case to a respective subordinate court for a new examination. Arayik Zalyan does not have information either whether Premyakov has taken back his lawyer’s appeal or not.
– “Perhaps it was done not by the will of Premyakov, but Premyakov was forced to take back the appeal in order to justify the fact of not bringing him to the Court of Appeal.”
In the words of the lawyer, indeed there was a violation of rights concerning the conditions in which Premyakov was kept.
-“It is about keeping him in the military base and conducting the trial there. However, I do not exclude that there are pressures on Premyakov in the military base. He is in the military base where some people who hold posts there may have participated in the crime but he is still kept in that military base and there can be threats, pressures, atmosphere of fear on him.”
Note that the hearing of the appeal to the Court of Appeal is envisaged on April 10.
Arpine SIMONYAN
