On 10 July, Judge Hovhannes Avagyan presided over the hearing in the case of Julia Maksimovskaya (Julia Phineas) in the Criminal Court of the First Instance of Yerevan city.

Julia Vladimirovna Maksimovskaya was charged with damaging the property of a fast food restaurant on Tumanyan Street in Yerevan, throwing fruits at an employee on 8 December, 2023, from 22:00 to 23:30, and also on Mashtots Street, together with Kirill Ivanovich Ataev, as well as for damaging the flowers of the flower shop. It is noted that the latter showed obvious disrespect towards society.

According to Iravaban.net, the defendant Julia Maksimovskaya did not appear at the Court session. The judge informed that a corresponding order was sent to the police officers to ensure her participation in the Court sessions. Before the Court session, they verbally informed that due to not having a means of transport, they have no possibility to ensure the participation of the accused.

Let’s remind that Kirill Ataev was found guilty, he was sentenced to a fine of 1,500,000 drams, but he was released from paying it, because he was de facto in prison from 9 December, 2023 to 9 April, 2024 (actually arrested).

On 4 July, the Court received an application from lawyer Vahe Yeprikyan, in which he stated that he should protect Maksimovskaya’s interests in this case.

Yeprikyan mentioned that he met twice with his client at the “Nubarashen” Psychiatric Center, as the latter contacted her privately, asking him to take over the protection of her interests.

The Court decided to involve the lawyer in the proceedings as a defender of the interests of the person who allegedly committed a prohibited act in the state of insanity, and to allow him to participate in the Court sessions. The judge said that they are in the stage of final speeches in this case; they have passed to the stage of speeches with the participation of the previous defense attorney, after which the session was postponed.

“I believe that in order to ensure Maksimovskaya’s presence at the next Court session, we should file a new petition to order a new medical expertise, because she has been in a psychiatric clinic for a long time, and in the conditions of applicability of a security measure, she receives certain treatment,” the defender said.

Possibly, significant changes will take place as a result of the new expertise, taking into account the fact that Maksimovskaya has been in the clinic and receiving treatment for about 1 year.

The judge noted that it is necessary to discuss the issue of a security measure, medical supervision, considering that the deadline expires on 8 August.

He also added that there is no possibility to schedule a Court session until 8 August, and offered to resolve this issue before that.

Lawyer Yeprikyan said that they can schedule a Court session on the 5, 6 and even 8 of the month in order to conduct the investigation of the security measure applied to the accused more effectively by the defense.

The Public Prosecutor said that there are 4-5 pre-scheduled sessions on those days, and requested to resolve the issue of security measure within this session.

After listening the positions of the parties, the Court stated that the issue is subject to discussion, considering that due to the workload, they cannot schedule a new session on the specified days.

According to the Public Prosecutor, the period of medical supervision applied to Julia Maksimovskaya as a security measure should be extended, taking into account that she has been recognized as insane and with her current mental state is socially extremely dangerous for herself as well as for the society, therefore she needs compulsory treatment under the conditions of a psychiatric ward under special supervision.

He petitioned to extend the period of medical supervision applied to the latter as a security measure for another 3 months.

The defender said that he did not have a position at the moment, and he would make a motion at the next Court session to present new factual data and new evidence.

The Court decided to extend the period of medical supervision of Julia Maksimovskaya for another 3 months.

The Court session was postponed.

The next Court session will be held on 12 August.

Mariam Shahnazaryan