On July 10 in the RA Criminal Court of Appeals has started a hearing of the
Prosecutors’ Office’s appeal against the verdict of the RA Kentron and Nork
Marash Court on the Levon Gulyan’s death case chaired by the judge Manushak
Petrosyan.

On May 12, 2007 Levon Gulyan was called to the Shengavit district Police
Department to testify as a witness, later he was taken to the RA Police
Headquarters. According to the Police, witness Levon Gulyan died while trying to
escape from the room he was being kept in by jumping from the third floor
window. However Gulyan’s family believes, he was tortured by the Police. In this
case many high level Police officers are being discussed. Levon Gulyan’s case
was first investigated the Prosecutor’s Office, then the Special Investigation
Service. On March 12, 2008 it was ceased "for lack of components of crime." On
March 26, 2008 The Prosecutor’s Office declined Gulyan’s family appeal with the
demand to restart the investigation. On June 6 , 2008 RA Kentron and Nork Marash
Court issued a verdict to restart the investigation of Gulyan’s case.

Today, on the one hand there is a Court’s decision with 17 points which asserts
that the case was not investigated properly and was ceased without grounds. On
the other hand the Prosecutor’s Office does not take into account presented
arguments and does not want the investigation of the case to be restarted.

We hope that the Prosecutor’s Office will follow it’s declaration about own
independency, will reconsider its approach and will reveal all circumstances of
Levon Gulayn’s death. This death casts a shadow on all Police officers”, said
Arman Danielyan during the interview.

The Prosecutor’s Office representative Zelim Tadevsoyan declared in the Court of
Appeal that the verdict of the Common Jurisdiction Court is not well founded;
the evidences are not examined thoroughly, the legal grounds are not justified
and are not proceed from the materials of the case. According to the
representative of the Prosecutor’s Office, the contradictions, presented in the
verdict of the Common Jurisdiction Court are not essential.

However, Levon Gulyan’s assignee‘s representatives Hrayr Ghukasyan and Aram
Karakhanyan stated that the reason for what the appeal can be lodge in the court
is the presence of the court mistake, whereas the Prosecutor’s Office does not
present such a mistake. According to Hrayr Ghukasyan and Aram Karakhanyan,
representative of the Prosecutor’s Office presented the data which is cited in
the decision on the closer of the case as a legal ground. It is a document which
was cancelled by the Common Jurisdiction Court which means that the evidences
were not sufficient. The lawyers are confident that there are persons involved
in this case whose actions led to Levon Gulyan’s case: “the materials of the
case explicitly showing those persons”, said the lawyers.

The Court of Appeals postponed the hearing until July 21 in order to familiarize
with the materials of the case.

Below there are presented several quotations from the RA Kentron and Nork Marash
Court verdict which the Prosecutor’s Office considers not well-founded.

“The investigative body did not find out the lawfulness of the actions of police
officers while taking Levon Gulyan and others first to the Shengavit district
police station, then to the Police Headquarters, keeping them for a long time
there, implementing different investigative actions.”

“There is no answer to Levon Gulyan’s wife Jemma Gulyan’s request where she is
asking to give clarifications on the fact that the witness of the case which is
investigated by the Shengavit district police could appear in the Police
Headquarters”

“Witnesses M. Grigoryan, H. Melqumyan, victim’s assignees Jemma Gulyan and Ashot
Gulyan testified that Levon Gulyan was subjected to the violence, he was
deprived of his liberty. These testimonies were not considered by the prosecutor
and investigator and in their decisions they did not evaluate these testimonies,
the testimonies were not proved or denied”.

In the RA Kentron and Nork Marash Court verdict, on 4, 5 pages there are
presented contradictory excerpts of the police officers’ testimonies concerning
the case.

Number of competent international and local organizations addressed to the
mysterious death of Levon Gulyan. US State Department, Human Rights Watch,
Amnesty International, International Federation of Human Rights, as well as
Civil Society Institute NGO are among those organizations. The vice-president of
Civil Society Institute Arman Danielyan said in the interview that while
following the developments concerning Levon Gulayn’s death, including the
international feedback on the issue, the recent trial, we highly appreciate the
Common Jurisdiction Court’s verdict on the restart of the Levon Gulayn’s case
investigation. “It is noteworthy, that the Court indicated number of
deficiencies in the Prosecutor’s Office and the Police work, especially in the
work of investigating bodies. This verdict means that investigating bodies did
not make the attempt to reveal Levon Gulyan’s death’s circumstances. It seemed
that after this verdict, the Prosecutor’s Office which recently declared it’s
full independence, commitment to human rights protection and necessity to gain
public’s trust, would approach to this issue with seriousness and would try to
disclose the case and explain the society how it may happen that a healthy
citizen enter the Police building and then dies there . We also believed that
all those who are guilty for Levon Gulyan’s death would be revealed and strictly
punished. This would lead to the creation of a trust among public.