The Court of Appeals made justification rulings for approximately a dozen people regarding the March 1st, 2008 case. Vardan Jhangiryan, Karen Tarkhanyan, Masis Ayvazyan, Armen Avagyan, Davit Aghayan, Armen Shahinyan, Davit Matevosyan, Khachik Gasparyan, and Samvel Harutyunyan were justified. However, Aram Barseghamyan’s case was overturned and sent to the Yerevan Court of General Jurisdiction for another investigation.
Aram Barseghamyan was surprised by this court ruling, but he is not in a rush to come to conclusions. “It is a legal issue. We need to get their decision and then come to a conclusion,” he told Aravot Daily. But this decision was a surprise because his case was based on the testimony of one police officer without any other proof and it also was not proven in court. “They only read their decision,” he said, adding that he does not know the reason why the police officer who provided testimony against him in 2008 changed his testimony when he already was in jail for 3 years and two months. “Perhaps issues arose in court,” Aram Barseghamyan said.
The Armenian National Congress’ legal representative, Armen Khachatryan, was also not prepared to make any comments. He will do so when he receives the court’s decision and is able to familiarize himself with the details.
In December of 2018, the Prosecutor General of Armenia made the decision to review Barseghamyan’s case when new details came to light. Barseghamyan was found guilty of assaulting a government representative and causing severe injury to the individual. He was sentenced to six years in prison. The victim, former deputy police chief of Malatia, colonel Gagik Kamalyan revealed 10 years later that he did not actually know whether the person who assaulted him was Barseghamyan or someone else.
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Many of the March 1st cases are at the European Court of Human Rights. Aram Barseghamyan’s case is currently being reviewed. Regardless of the way the case progresses within Armenia, it continues in the ECHR. The former Minister of Justice, Artak Zeynalyan, spoke about this with Aravot Daily. He said that the justification rulings are “wonderful” and said that there are legal reparations outlined for this.
Nelly Grigoryan
