The widows of police officers Yuri Tepanosyan and Gagik Mkrtchyan, whose husbands died in different circumstances during the takeover of a police regiment in 2016, are against an act that would grant amnesty to the members of Sasna Tsrer. They spoke about this with reporters in court.
This act of amnesty will not apply to Smbat Barseghyan, who is accused of murdering the aforementioned officers, nor to Armen Bilyan, who is accused of murdering Artur Vanoyan. It instead applies to other members of the group who have been freed. However, if the family members of the three officers voice their objection to this act in upcoming court sessions, it will not be put in place.
Yuri Tepanosyan’s widow, Arpine Tumanyan, considers this act of amnesty to be shameful. “I am against it. I can’t walk with my two-year-old child and see… it’s funny to think about releasing them. If there has not been a sentencing, then how can they be released? They need to go back to jail. Their wives need to see them behind bars for us to be comforted. We have been suffering for more than two years,” Arpine Tumanyan said.
Hasmik Voskanyan, widow of Gagik Mkrtchyan, considers an act of amnesty to be ridiculous. She said that she and Arpine Tumanyan are offended by Jirayr Sefilian’s announcement that the police chief is getting in the way of a meeting between him and the families of the dead officers. “We are insulted. So, we didn’t have our own brains that we needed someone else to get involved for us? We are very angry. Three officers died. If there was a war, God forbid, would they have fought any less? They killed them, and now they’re talking big. Or they make such announcements in court that it seems like they’re in their own homes.”
Luiza Sukiasyan
