The court of general jurisdiction continues the trial on the case of soldier Lyuks Stepanyan`s murder. Last court sitting did not take place as the attorneys of the defendant did not attend it. Today they came to the court sitting with a little bit delay. Two witnesses should have been questioned today but they weren`t present. Victim Hrachya Sargsyan also wasn`t present at the court sitting. He presented an application by fax informing that he had gone through an operation and was in military hospital. He asked to use as basis his testimony of the preliminary investigation.
Before commenting on the solicitation of the accusing party to reading the preliminary investigation testimonies of the witnesses and proceed with the examination of the evidence, the attorney of the defendant Yerem Sargsyan came up with a solicitation for the judge to announce self-withdrawal. He particularly stated: “Honorable court, it is not a secret that this criminal case has gained quite a large public importance and appeared in the center of public attention since the first days. Lyuks Stepanyan`s murder has fairly resulted in the dissatisfaction of his relatives and they tried to express their grievance with extreme measures, they tried to transfer Lyuks Stepanyan`s body to Yerevan and implement a protest action in front of the Government demanding that the responsible officials confirm that Lyuk Stepanyan had been intentionally killed and not by accident. Actions of Lyuks Stepanyan`s relatives have been prevented by the respective officials. In particular, just 3 days after the incident, on 18.05.2013 the RA Minister of Defense Seyran Ohanyan announced during the meeting with Lyuks Stepanyan`s relatives on the highway Sevan-Yerevan that according to the information he possessed Davit Khachatryan intentionally shot and killed Lyuks Stepanyan”. The defender thinks that the entire preliminary investigation has been carried out in the direction of confirming these words. He referred to the fact that Lyuks Stepanyan`s relatives have been hindering the judicial process, that no sanctions have been applied against those who did so and that judge Zoya Zakinyan had a meeting with Lyuks Stepanyan`s relatives in the office room of the Court president. Accusing Arthur Zakaryan presented objection against the solicitation considering it unjustified and asked the Court to reject it. The court went into the Consultations room to discuss the solicitation. An hour later the court sitting was resumed and judge Zoya Zakinyan refused the solicitation. Then defender Yerem Sargsyan made another solicitation to hold closed court sittings, and this was also rejected by the court.
Next court sittings was set on 20 March, 12:30.
Public correspondence Vahagn Tamrazyan
