The case of taking a bribe in exchange for a passport is being investigated in the Court of General Jurisdiction of Erebuni and Nubarashen Administrative Districts, under the presidency of the judge Vladimir Grigoryan.
The employees of Erebuni Department of Passport and Visa Office of RA Police and their defenders were present at today’s court hearing. Prosecutor Edgar Aramyan was absent. The judge told he had received a note from the prosecutor, according to which he could not be present at the court hearing because of work overload.
Notably, at the beginning of the previous hearing the question of the prosecutor’s absentees was discussed; prosecutor Edgar Aramyan told that the reason was his being overloaded with work.
Zhanna Kotikyan, the defender of the accused Artyom Sedrakyan, mentioned that it was the third time the prosecutor had not been present at the session with the same excuse: “I consider the absentee of the prosecutor to be an obvious wayward treatment and intention to postpone court hearings. I ask to send a message to RA Prosecutor’s Office and demand information about where the prosecutor had been, what he had been overloaded with and oblige him to be present at the sessions at right time”.
The defenders also suggested mentioning in the letter that 7 defenders were taking part in the case and despite a serious work overload they had always been present at the sessions.
“Artyom Sedrakyan has been baselessly detained for 7 months; I put a motion to terminate the criminal pursuit, but the prosecutor even did not deny my argumentations. He tries to postpone the sessions; we have faced such kind of questions for thousand times and we know the inner kitchen very well”- said Zhanna Kotikyan.
Then during the break the judge called the Prosecutor’s Office to postpone the session for several hours and provide the presence of the prosecutor. It turned out that prosecutor Edgar Aramyan was in Tavoush Marz.
The court hearing was postponed. Taking into account the work overload of the defenders the next session was set on 29 September at 12.00.
According to the accusation, Artyom Sedrakyan, the deputy of Erebuni Department of Passport and Visa Office of RA Police is accused for demanding a 5000 USD bribe for giving a new passport to A.Sloyan, absent from RA. After bargaining he got a 4500 USD bribe in August 2013. Then he gave 500 USD to public servant A. Sloyan for making false documents.
The employees of Erebuni Department Passport and Visa Office of the RA Police Aida Sargsyan, Sofia Unusyan, Gohar Zargaryan, and Vahagn Melqonyan also took part in this. Detention was chosen as measure of restraint for Artyom Sedrakyan, and for the rest, including Navo Asoyan (the one who gave money in exchange for the passport) recognizance not to leave the country was chosen as measure of restraint.
Zara Manucharyan

Iravaban.net