Today, another witness in on the murder case of Cadet Haykaz Barseghyan, his friend Arshak Martirosyan said that he and the victim had friendly relationship though sometimes there were also disputes among them.
On 29 January, 2015, Haykaz Barseghyan, Cadet of the Military Institute after Vazgen Sargsyan was found hung on the horizontal bar in the backyard of the Institute. His fellow students Gnel Tevosyan, Norik Sahakyan, Vache Sahakyan and Movses Azaryan were charged with his murder. They were charged under Article 104, Part 2 paragraphs 7 and 10 of the Criminal Code o the RA, murder by a group of people or by an organized group out of hooliganism.
The day before the incident Haykaz and Arshak argued in the military bus on the way to the institute. One of the officers there heard the cadets curse each other, but did not try to restrain them. “I got in a dispute with Haykaz because he rebuked one of the cadets. I told him not to do so and we quarreled. We cursed each other, but there was no fighting. The officer, who heard the curses he asked, “So who of you lost?” Haykaz said that no one and added that we were joking, and so all was ended.” Then the cadets decided to meet and talk separately. But the evening was not suitable for Arshak to meet and he suggested to meet on the next day. In reply the young man said that he would not be in the institute on the next day without explanation where he would go. “Haykaz was not in a bad mood, but said that he would not be in the institute for 90 percent the next day,” the witness said.
Arshak slept in another bedroom, in the morning there was tense situation in the institute. All were looking for Haykaz, because his bed was all in blood. “On August 29, they rose in the morning, there was a mess, Haykaz was missing. We went into their room and saw that the bed was all in blood. We were told to go downstairs and we went down. We heard noise and saw that he was hanging; his toes touch the ground,” remembered the witness.
Today the Court also published his preliminary testimony, according to which the 4 defendants in the case were dominating in the Institute. One of them, Gnel, was the son of the ex-deputy head of the military institution, and had a privileged status. “We may say that Gnel was pleased with himself as he was the colonel’s son. On weekends he always went out. He left the area of the institute on other week days as well,” as it was mentioned in the testimony.
Notably, the hearing took place in the renovated court room of the Court of First Instance of Avan and Nor Nork District. The Chairman of the same Court Davit Harutyunyan was the presiding judge of the case.
Gevorg Tosunyan
