On September 8, the Court of Appeal on Criminal and Military Cases (judge Aida Hovanisyan) dismissed the appeal of the legal successor of term serviceman Tigran Ohanjanyan who died in 2007 at the Vardenis region Karchaghbyur village military unit in suspicious circumstances. 

Tigran's father - Suren Ohanjanyan, took legal action demanding to start a criminal case against Gnel Manukyan - former investigator in his son's death case. The legal successor of the victim claims that the investigator has made illegal actions, falsified the site, time and real evidence of the occurrence to hinder revelation of real circumstances of the death and push on the version of electrocution.

Ohanjanyan's parents claim that Gnel Manukyan did not send Tigran's military uniform to expertise. After two months, under the parents' pressure, the investigator sent for expertise a military uniform that does not correspond to the dusty and torn uniform from the photograph in the case neither by size nor by appearance (it is three sizes smaller and brand new).  

The preliminary investigation body closed eyes on the traces of violence on Tigran's body that were clearly seen in the photographs taken by the parents at the mortuary but are under make-up in the ones taken by the forensic doctor. The wire that was considered real evidence and which, according to the investigator, Ohanjanyan touched and got electrocuted, was not withdrawn in the order stipulated by law. Later the investigator confessed that he took the wire not from the site of occurrence but from the storehouse.

After a nineteen-month trial the Court of Appeal refuted the electrocution version and sent the case for a new investigation (investigator Levon Petrosyan).       

The body conducting the case again put forward the electrocution version. Parallel to the investigation Suren Ohanjanyan took legal action demanding to give adequate evaluation to Gnel Manukyan's actions. After rejection from the Kentron and Nork-Marash administrative regions general jurisdiction court, he tuned to the Court of Appeal. 

The prosecutor and investigator were absent from today's court session explaining that they were too busy and sent a message asking to continue the examination of the case in their absence. As for the answer and the materials that the body conducting the case had presented to the court, according to Seda Safaryan, representative of the Ohanjanyan's legal successor, they are not relevant to the case. She claims that materials presented by the prosecutor's office are taken from the case investigating Tigran Ohanjanyan's death that should not be referred to within the framework of this appeal.  

"The court continuously exhorts the body conducting the investigation to present materials. The latter don't present materials because actually they don't have them. Our report on crime was left without examination, no materials were prepared, there was even no decision to carry out criminal prosecution. During the previous session the investigator said that our report has been discussed within the framework of the case revealing circumstances of the death which is unacceptable and does not comply with the trial norms," attorney Seda Safaryan says. 

Tigran Ohanjanyan's legal successor intends to appeal the decision made today.

Mery Alexanyan

Source - www.hra.am