On 31 August, Judge Karapet Badalyan of the Anti-Corruption Court presided over the court session in the case of architect Vahagn Vermishyan, former chief architect of Stepanavan city, former chairman of the Urban Development Committee.
According to his representative, Alexander Kochubaev, Vahagn Vermishyan was also supposed to be present at the session. The lawyer told Iravaban.net that in order to ensure the presence of Vahagn Vermishyan in the court; the court should not have turned to the escort battalion of the RA Police and not to the Penitentiary and the Minister of Justice.
“Even if that letter reached the Criminal Investigation Department, they would not have been able to provide Vermishyan’s escort, because, in this regard, the escort battalion is the competent body,” he said, emphasizing that thus the court committed a violation.
Taking into account the fact that the presence of Vahagn Vermishyan was not ensured at the court session, Alexander Kochubaev petitioned the court to postpone the session.
“Since visits to Vahagn Vermishyan are limited, and only close relatives can visit him, it turns out that I am not ready because I did not consult with Vahagn Vermishyan. From the moment when we received the final claim, since the examination of the first-instance case was completed, I have no opportunity to physically see Vahagn Vermishyan. A judicial casus has been created, the examination of other criminal case related to him in the first instance has been completed, the appellate court has not accepted the proceedings, that is, at the moment we do not have a body conducting the proceedings. I should note that in the “Datalex” judicial information system it appears that an appeal has been filed, that is, there will be an examination stage, this will mean that at that stage of the case examination, I will have my status of defense attorney, because there was also a problem with the contract, the deadline had to be extended. If I retain my defense status already within the framework of the criminal proceedings, I can enter to discuss the details of this civil case, but at this moment, dear court, Vahagn Vermishyan is not in the session hall. We are formally authorized, but we have not consulted with him, and also taking into account the fact that at the previous court session a decision was made to ensure the presence of Vahagn Vermishyan, taking into account the specificity of the case investigation, we are here to ensure the legal part, the procedural basis of the subject of the claim. And no one except Vahagn Vermishyan can explain or argue the legality of the origin of these funds,” the lawyer said.
Naira Artashesyan, the prosecutor of the Department for Confiscation of Property of Illicit Origin of the Prosecutor General’s Office, said that she has one question regarding the petition.
“After actually receiving the claim, how much time did you have and was it not possible to visit Vahagn Vermishyan and discuss the factual circumstances underlying the claim?” she asked.
Alexander Kuchubaev said that they could not visit Vahagn Vermishyan, emphasizing again that only his relatives could visit him.
Prosecutor Naira Artashesyan said that they have no objection to postponing the court session.
However, the court announced that the session can hear the part related to the subject of the claim, after which the court session will be postponed.
Alexander Kochubaev said that he does not object, provided that this judicial action is repeated in the presence of Vahagn Vermishyan. “From the point of view of expediency, I think it will be more correct if Vermishyan is present.”
Judge Karapet Badalyan said that they have sent letters to the relevant bodies to ensure the presence of Vahagn Vermishyan.
He stated that there are sufficient grounds to continue the investigation of the case and rejected the petition of the lawyer.
The prosecutor presented the subject of the claim.
“The Department for Confiscation of Property of Illicit Origin of the Prosecutor General’s Office filed a lawsuit against Vahagn Vermishyan, Margarit Vermishyan and Susanna Vermishyan regarding the confiscation of property of illicit origin. The Prosecutor’s Office demands to confiscate in favour of the Republic of Armenia from Vahagn Vanik Vermishyan and Susanna Vahagn Vermishyan one apartment in the city of Yerevan in its entirety or, in case of impossibility, the entire market value. The land plot in Lori in its entirety or in case of impossibility the full market value, another land plot in Lori. To confiscate an apartment in Yerevan from Susanna Vermishyan,” the prosecutor said.
The judge, turning to the lawyer, said that he could ask questions, but the lawyer stated that he had questions, but in order to be able to really represent the interests of Vahagn Vermishyan, he must first be aware of his will, but since he did not have the opportunity to meet with him, he cannot yet ask questions.
“Dear court, it is a problem, if I ask a question now, I don’t know if my client would want me to ask the questions or not. I have not discussed this process with him. The property owner should be here. Vahagn Vermishyan has not seen the answer to this claim, I do not know if my client agrees with all this or not,” the lawyer said.
Kochubaev emphasized again that he had a lot of questions, but he could nit answer them without the presence of his client.
Judge Karapet Badalyan mentioned that if he did not ask questions at that moment, he would be deprived of the opportunity to ask questions at the next session.
“You stated that you have questions, but you do not ask them. I warn you that if Mr. Vermishyan appears in court, he will be given the opportunity to ask questions, but since you do not take advantage of your opportunity to ask questions, that right expires for you. I’m just informing you,” the judge said.
Lawyer Kochubaev said that this decision is not his whim; he simply cannot ask questions without consulting his client, because the expediency of those questions can be decided only with Vagan Vermishyan.
Hovhannes Bayanduryan, the representative of Susanna and Margarit Vermishyan, was also present in the court. He also said that it was clear that the case concerns Vahagn Vermishyan’s property, and no matter he is the representative of Susanna and Margarit Vermishyan, Vahagn Vermishyan should be consulted anyway.
“After consulting with Vahagn Vermishyan, we will have the opportunity to properly ask questions to the plaintiff side. I announce that there is a need to consult with the main subject of the case, Vahagn Vermishyan. Also, I didn’t have a chance to get acquainted with the claim, because I received it yesterday,” Hovhannes Bayanduryan said.
The court session was postponed and scheduled for 26 September at 10:00. However, lawyer Alexander Kochubaev mentioned a problem with the appointment time of the session, stating that the escorting battalion cannot physically carry out the escort at that time, because the escorts start at 10:00.
The court did not consider the lawyer’s argument and did not change the time.
In a conversation with Iravaban.net , Alexander Kochubaev said that this trial has already started with the violation of Vahagn Vermishyan’s key right, the right to be heard and the right to stand before the court.
“The fact that the court, the prosecutor’s office, and the judiciary do not decide on the legal procedure to ensure Vahagn Vermishyan’s presence does not mean that these rights are not being violated. We consider the excessive haste on the part of the court and the plaintiff to be unreasonable, because what we are asking for is the minimum, the right to be heard. I received the claim and saw that the property inherited from Vahagn Vermishyan’s grandmother was considered illicit. This cannot be considered in the legal dimension, and in addition it is absurd as well, the inherited property cannot be of illicit origin. I expressed that it was not possible to ensure Vahagn Vermishyan’s presence at 10 o’clock, but that did not constrain the court either. We have to appear again at the next session without Vahagn Vermishyan and again in violation of this right. The judge came to the conclusion that it is appropriate to make a request to the Penitentiary Institution, while the person escorting the detainee is not the Penitentiary Service, but the escort battalion and the court should have applied there.
From the beginning, we were ready that the session will be held with gross violations: After all, isn’t the plaintiff interested in how Vahagn Vermishyan acquired assets and property in the Republic of Armenia? “Isn’t the chairman interested in the means by which Armenian capitals were acquired?” he said.
The lawyer stated that he did not understand the judge’s approach.
“It was an extreme approach: “either ask or do not ask questions at this session”, in fact, it deprived the right to ask questions, which, in my opinion, is also illegal,” Alexander Kochubaev said.
He emphasized that Vahagn Vermishyan is the first political prisoner after the events of 2018.
“We see that the arrest is illegal, perhaps it would be correct to say that it is not an arrest, but a hostage in one’s own country,” Alexander Kochubaev concluded.
Hasmik Sargsyan
