On 10 July, the trial in the case of Judge Arusyak Aleksanyan, her assistant Tamara Petrosyan and Lawyer Erik Aleksanyan was continued in the Anti-Corruption Criminal Court. Judge Vahe Dolmazyan chaired the session.

On 17 October, 2022, the Supreme Judicial Council approved the petitions of the General Prosecutor’s Office regarding the initiation of criminal prosecution against Judge Arusyak Aleksanyan and provided consent to deprivation of liberty. Within the framework of the same case, the lawyer Erik Aleksanyan was also charged under Article 46-441 of the Criminal Code, that is, he assisted an official in abusing office or official powers or the influence caused by them or exceeding the powers. In the framework of this case, Arusyak Aleksanyan’s assistant Tamara Petrosyan was also charged.

According to the accusation, the judge is accused of making an obviously unjust Court  act and abusing official powers. She satisfied the petition of Erik Aleksanyan, the defense attorney of Sergey Grigoryan, who is known as “Faz”, by changing the measure of restrain and releasing him from custody for a bail of 2.5 million drams. According to the prosecution, Sergey Grigoryan is a friend of Arusyak Aleksanyan’s brother, Rustam Aleksanyan.

The defendants do not accept the charges against them.

According to Iravaban.net, Arusyak Aleksanyan’s defense attorney said that they had made an inquiry regarding the procedure of the entrance exams at the Academy of Advocates, in response to which they received a reply that there had never been a case of remote participation in the entrance exam of the Academy of Advocates.

The judge asked if such a practice had not happened before, whether it was expected that this could happen in the future. The lawyer replied that they tried to find out through an enquiry whether it was possible to participate remotely, and whether there had been such experience in the past or not.

According to the defender, the information he received proves that Aleksanyan’s presence during the oral examination is mandatory, after which she will be allowed to participate in the courses remotely.

Judge Vahe Dolmazyan demanded the lawyer to present the request that had been sent to the Academy of Advocates.

“As it was in the case of my health issue, this issue is also important from the point of view of ensuring my right to continue education, please grant the presented motion. It is only for 1 day, it will last a few hours. The exam is scheduled on 14 August. On the assumption of the fact that I am special applicant, I shall participate only in the oral exam, there is no need to participate in the written exam,” Arusyak Aleksanyan said.

Referring to this issue, defender Andranik Manukyan mentioned the following. “From 1 January, 2023 until today, the Republic of Armenia did not adopt any procedure regarding the escorting out the accused under house arrest, the criteria for escorting, refusing or allowing the escort, now to the extent that there is no such procedure, in my opinion, in the case when escorting out from the house arrest pursues legitimate  objective, then such escort should be allowed.”

He joined the petition of the other defender, asking to satisfy it, to allow the accused to exercise her constitutional right.

The Public Prosecutor reaffirmed his position, saying that the additional documents submitted by the defense do not constitute content that proves that Arusyak Aleksanyan does not have the ability to participate in the examination remotely; the petition has not undergone any qualitative changes and is not subject to satisfaction.

After listening to the positions of the parties on this issue, the court recorded that the circumstances of essential importance for the solution of the issue raised in the previous court session were not obtained, so the discussion of the issue was postponed, considering also the answers given by the defense attorney Vardanyan to the questions related to the participation in the oral entrance exam.

Accused Arusyak Aleksanyan and Erik Aleksanyan, as in the previous session, insisted during this session as well that they refuse to testify, after which the Public Prosecutor requested to publish their pre-trial statements.

The court granted the petition.

Before the publication of the pre-examination testimony, Arusyak Aleksanyan clarified when the issue of the oral exam will be discussed, if the session is scheduled for August 13, and the exam for the 14th, and there is a problem with the period of preparation for the exam.

Judge Vahe Dolmazyan said: “There is a saying, ‘knowledge is power, not a goal’, therefore, prepare for it, you will be stronger with it, and on the 14th of the month, remotely or not remotely, depending on the answer, you will participate, the court will not deprive you of that opportunity.”

Then the Public Prosecutor began publishing the pre-trial testimony. Defense attorneys Yerem Sargsyan and Andranik Manukyan were present during the testimony of the accused Arusyak Aleksanyan in the Investigative Committee.

The defendant testified: “In order to express a position regarding the accusation, I must first be able to clearly imagine what was the wording of the act attributed to me under the second part of article 441, clauses 4 and 5, and the first part of article 482 of the Criminal Code separately, because it is not clear from the content the accusation, and I should be able to express a position on each accusation based on it, so please clarify which of the accusations described in the decision to initiate criminal prosecution was the description of the criminal act attributed to me.”

Accused Erik Aleksanyan testified in the pre-investigation body and stated that the charge presented to him is not clear, as it is completely illegal, using his right, he refused to testify and answer any questions.

“I insist that I do not accept the accusation, it is not legitimate, it even has internal defects from a legal point of view, especially the wording in it in terms of assistance directly contradicts and does not come into compliance with the legal position expressed by the Court of Cassation regarding assistance in terms of its concept and characteristics. Please do not ask me any more questions, I do not want to answer, considering the fact that the accusation is completely illegal.”

The investigator asked him a question, wondering if he accepted that, as the defense attorney of the accused Sergey Grigoryan, he was involved in the case at the insistence of judge Arusyak Aleksanyan and her consent, during the days of the latter’s duty, he submitted petitions to the court regarding the release of the accused Sergey Grigoryan from detention or not. Erik Aleksanyan has again insisted that the accusation brought against him is illegal both in legal terms, as well as in factual aspects.

The Public Prosecutor published the pre-trial statements of the accused Arusyak Aleksanyan and Erik Aleksanyan.

The evidence and documents to be presented by Arusyak Aleksanyan’s defense attorney Yerem Sargsyan, will be examined at the next court session.

It will take place on 13 August.

Details in the videos.

Mariam Shahnazaryan