The verdict in the case of the murder of Haykaz Barseghyan, a cadet of the Military University after Vazgen Sargsyan, was announced today, on 5 March, in the “Avan” residence of the Court of General Jurisdiction of Yerevan. Presiding Judge Davit Harutyunyan returned from the deliberation room and published the final part.
Iravaban.net reports that according to the publication of the presiding judge, the charges against the defendants have been re-qualified under Article 104, Part 2, Articles 5, 7, 10 of the Criminal Code (murder with particular cruelty, by a group of people or by an organized group, out of hooliganism) instead of Article 104, Part 2, Clause 7 (murder by a group of people or an organized group).
Gnel Tevosyan was found guilty under Article 104, Part 2, Clause 7 of the Criminal Code and sentenced to 15 years in prison. The beginning of serving the sentence was counted from 29 January, 2015.
Norik Sahakyan was found guilty under Article 104, Part 2, Clause 7 of the Criminal Code and sentenced to 15 years in prison. The beginning of serving the sentence was counted on 29 January, 2015.
Vache Sahakyan was acquitted under Article 389, Part 1 of the Criminal Code, on the grounds of lack of guilt in the act. He was found guilty under Article 104, Part 2, Clause 7 of the Criminal Code and sentenced to 15 years in prison. The beginning of serving the sentence was counted on 29 January, 2015.
Movses Azaryan was found guilty under Article 104, Part 2, Clause 7 of the Criminal Code and sentenced to 15 years in prison. The beginning of serving the sentence was counted on 30 January, 2015.
The measure of restraint chosen against them, detention, was left unchanged until the verdict would come into legal force.
The civil suit filed by Haykaz Barseghyan’s legal successor, his father Arkady Barseghyan, was partially satisfied and 1.5 million drams will be confiscated from the defendants in favor of the legal successor of the victim, as damage directly caused by the crime.
1 million 191 thousand 846 drams will be confiscated from the defendants as court expenses to the state budget.
The verdict will enter into force in a month, if it is not appealed in the court of appeal.
Judge Harutyunyan also announced that he had made an additional decision, “Which drew the attention of the relevant bodies to the significant violations that occurred during the preliminary investigation in the court, and the additional decision will be sent together with the verdict to the superiors of the officials who committed the violation.”
In a conversation with journalists, Haykaz Barseghyan’s father mentioned that he did not agree with the verdict. “The murderer who personally killed my son, according to witnesses, was Gnel Tevosyan, he should have been imprisoned for at least 20, 25 years or life sentense. I do not understand, give 15 years to the murderer and 15 years to the one who catches the leg. I was thinking and after that incident everyone told us that there was a severe punishment for everyone, that there would be a fair trial. We also see how the fair trial happened. I did not think so. I was always told that Mr. Harutyunyan was the judge who would make a fair decision, but this was an unfair decision. I want to know what kind of cruel crime should be committed in Armenia, so that it deserves either life imprisonment, or 20 years, or 25 years. It turns out that in the past, that verdicts have been made, we have life prisoners who have been convicted of murder․It was fairer than during this government,” Arkady Barseghyan said.
According to him, he also met with RA Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan.
“I even said that we should pass a law so that in such cases the whole family is considered a traitor family, he says that if we give life sentence, so they are traitors again, where is that life sentence? Is this the fair decision of the court, when you catch cruel murderers?” he said.
Arkady Barseghyan mentioned that the verdict will be appealed. “They have been calming me down for 7 years, saying it will be normal, it will be good, and then…,” the father of the killed cadet said. He mentions that he was told that they were young, but his son was also 19 years old, he was a few months older than the defendants. They say they are young, let’s not ruin their lives so much, they have ruined their lives, their parents, their families, their lives, and my life. My family was turned into hell, why? Now they are standing and looking at how you are giving an interview, and why such an unfair decision,” the father of the killed Haykaz Barseghyan said.
According to him, the participants of the murder “sworn that whoever said something ․․․”. “Defendant Norik Sahakyan’s mother personally told me that if her son should tell the truth, you know what they would do to him in the prison, especially so that they know that his father is a policeman.” These are her words, we were sitting and talking face to face,” Arkady Barseghyan said.
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It should be reminded that classmates Gnel Tevosyan, Norik Sahakyan, Vache Sahakyan and Movses Azaryan are accused of killing cadet Haykaz Barseghyan. According to the accusation, they were arrested in 2015. On 29 January, 2012, between 02:00 and 03:00, Cadet Haykaz Barseghyan was brutally killed in the bedroom of a military unit. The defendants do not plead guilty.
According to the case materials, on the day of the murder Gnel Tevosyan, Norik Sahakyan, Movses Azaryan and Vache Sahakyan celebrated the latter’s birthday and drank alcohol. Although there was alcohol in Tevosyan’s blood sample, he insisted that there was no such thing, he did not drink alcohol.
The materials of the case state that the defendants in the murder case discussed the issue of throwing Haykaz Barseghyan out of the window, then decided to create an imitation of suicide and took him and hung in the sports ground. It was then decided to write a letter on behalf of the victim, falsify his handwriting and state that no one should be blamed for his death.
According to the accusation, Gnel Tevosyan returned to the bedroom where Haykaz Barseghyan was sleeping after the murder and threatened the cadets there not to inform anyone about what had happened in the room.
Note: A person that is suspected or accused of an alleged crime is considered innocent until his/her guilt is proved by a court judgment that has come into legal effect pursuant to the procedure determined by RA Criminal Procedure Code.
