“I felt worse in the prison as my children were left alone. You know, their mother had left them, one of the children is minor, and another is in the army now. They have serious health problems”, 50-year-old David Mnatsakanyan said this in the interview with Iravaban.net. He had no other problems during his imprisonment in “Armavir” prison; both the cellmates and the workers of Penitentiary Institution treated him well.
Satenik, Manas and Tatevik have took care of themselves alone when their father was in prison. Tatevik is 17, the twin brothers Manas and Mnatsakan are 18, and Satenik is 18. Mnatsakan was drafted; his twin brother Manas hasn’t passed the service as he has health problems. The daughters also have health problems because of bad social conditions.
Earlier Iravaban.net reflected to this exclusive criminal case; the Court of First Instance had sentenced him to 4 years of imprisonment and had chosen arrest as a measure of restraints.
“Yes, the incident had occurred between us, but reconciled and we are in good relationship now, greet and respect each other. I didn’t want to take a defense attorney as I thought there was no need for it; I could answer to all the questions. The trial was in process, and then I didn’t understand what happened” – mentioned David Mnatsakanyan. The verdict was unexpected for him too; considering the mentioned above mitigating circumstances, as well as the absence of the aggravating circumstances prosecutor motioned to apply conditional punishment for the defendant.
After the promulgation of the verdict two appeals were submitted to the Court of Appeals; one from Prosecutor Andranik Sahakyan and the other from Mnatsakanyan’s defender Daniel Gevorgyan. Appeals were similar, as both the defendant and the prosecutor requested to apply Article 70 of the RA Criminal Code and conditionally not apply punishment and assign a trial period. On 15 March, the Court of Cassation upheld the complaints of both the defense attorney and the prosecutor, and the defendant was released from the courtroom.
The defendant expressed his deep gratitude to the judges for considering the difficult condition of his children. Before going to the deliberation room the court gave different questions about the social condition of his family.
The family was living in a very poor cottage over 20 years. David Mnatsakanyan told that they had planned to build a new small house but this incident happened.
The only source of living is a land near the cottage where they grow vegetables in summer. They survive by selling these vegetables.
David Mnatsakanyan grew his 4 children alone as his wife had left them. David Mnatsakanyan has heart problems, after the arrest his health co0ndition worsened. Despite the hard condition of the family, their father thinks about the education of younger daughter, Tatevik.
In our previous publication we had referred to this case stating that David Mnatsakanyan and his four children were looking forward for the humanitarian decision of the Court of Appeals. Today, the fact that he is in freedom and with his children, is a bright example of the proofread of the verdicts; personnel changes influence effectively on the judicial system.
Astghik Karapetyan
Alexander Sargsyan
