The court session on the case of passport department employees continues in the Court of General Jurisdiction of Erebuni and Nubarashen administrative districts. We would like to mention that the previous court session did not take place as the prosecutors left the court room. The new accuser Manuchar Martirosyan asked for some time to familiarize with the case materials.
The session took place in a relatively peaceful atmosphere. The session started with the questioning of witness Parandzem Manukyan. Parandzem who goes by the name of Nanar is a first-class specialist in the Erebuni and Nubarashen Passport Department. According to the witness, she is friends with the defendants Aida Sargsyan and Sofa Unusyan. During the questioning Parandzem said that she had heard that a citizen who was outside the city received a passport. She heard about this on TV, after which she called Aida and had a very brief conversation with her. In response to the question on what had happened, Aida replied, laughing, “My situation is bad, I am going to face trial.” Parandzem answered, “You got into so much trouble for a few pennies.”
Artyom Sedrakyan’s attorney Zhanna Kotikyan filed a motion to publicize the witness’s testimony at the preliminary investigation. The court granted the motion. After publicizing the testimony it turned out that the defendant Aida Sargsyan told Parandzem during their conversation, “I became a victim of a penny”, and Parandzem asked, “For petty cash?”
The judge tried to clarify the amount of money, and the witness said that they had not spoken about that.
Then the witness got questioned by the prosecutors and the advocates. In response to the question on where she had heard about what had happened, the witness again replied that she didn’t remember if she had heard it on TV or from conversations, “I found out that such a thing happened to my friends. Everybody around me was talking about that.”
Then witness Mariam Hovsepyan got questioned. She, too, worked in the same passport department as a first-class specialist. The witness knew all the defendants except for Sloyan.
Mariam Hovsepyan said that she had found out about the case from people around her, then she was told by defendant Gohar that “it was a matter of 3000 AMD” on her part. After that she spoke with Aida Sargsyan and Sofa Unusyan as well. In her words, “Aida has been a friend of mine for years, I called her and she said that 7 people were involved in the case, and I did not venture to ask about further details.”
The prosecutor filed a motion to publicize the witness’s testimony. The questioning was postponed due to the attorneys’ heavy workload.
The next court session is set on 13 November.
Zara Manucharyan
