The trial of life sentenced convicts Mher Yenokyan and Soghomon Kocharyan will continue on May 12 at the Nubarashen penitentiary (for safety reasons the trial takes place there). On November 28, 2009 they for the second time escaped from the prison. After 21 days they were found and arrested on December 18. Mher was arrested in the center of the city, and Soghomon in the village of Mughni.

Charges are again brought against Mher and Soghomon "by Article 355, part 2, point 1 of the RA Criminal Code (escape from prison which is punished by imprisonment for up to eight years)". 

Soghomon and Mher insist that "the reason for their escape is the illegal and unfair verdict delivered by the Supreme Court in 1996."

"We passed by the roof of this very hall. I don't say that we did not escape, we did. But I repeat again, we are just defending ourselves. What do you want me to do, just sit and die?" Mher says.

This is the second escape of the life sentenced convicts; thus they try to attract the attention of the authorities to their criminal cases. They insist that their convictions were unsubstantiated and want the cases to be reviewed.

The 5 witnesses of the case made their 4^th default. Harutyun Harutyunyan, representing the prosecution, presented to the court a written notice by the 5 witnesses, which though did not explain the reason why the latter refused to appear in the court and testify. 

After the escape of Mher and Soghomon they were charged with Article 315, part 2 of the RA Criminal Code (official negligence that led to grave consequences punished by imprisonment up to 5 years).

According to prosecutor Harutyunyan, the witnesses had a right not to appear in the court and not to testify against themselves in the order specified by law since they are accused in a different case. He suggested that their preliminary testimonies were accepted, and the defense and the court agreed. 

After preliminary testimonies of Kim Hayrapetyan and Sedrak Artinyan were read out, Mher Yenokyan said that Kim Hayrapetyan's testimony was wrong, and Sedrak Artinyan still in 2005, when he was a police inspector at the Nubarashen penitentiary, had to be taken to account for torturing him and many other convicts like him with a group of other people, "but he was promoted to the head of security department."

"In 2005 they moved me from Goris to Nubarashen and placed in a cell with maniacs and gays. Soghomon Kocharyan was in a similar condition," Mher Yenokyan told in the court. "They would force me not to speak with anyone about my case of 1996, they even tore my letters to the president, tried to scare me. One day ten of them came to the cell (Sedrak Artinyan was among them) and took me to Hovik Petrosyan's office... They beat me for 2 hours demanding not to protest."

Yenokyan told that Artinyan used to offer him to organize his escape for 100.000 euros. He did not agree taking it for a joke and thinking that they wanted to check his honesty.  

"Once he approached me and said: let's forget that you are a convict, I personally think that you did not kill a man, I can organize your escape. I refused. After a week he approached me again saying that he was not joking. He said he could later even be punished for the escape but at least he would know what for. I laughed and asked if dollars would do instead of euros. He said "No".

As for Kim Hayrapetyan's preliminary testimony that Mher allegedly asked him to bring pieces of a saw from the kitchen to cut bed legs and make a hiding place for the telephone, Mher said that the latter was lying.

"I had asked him several times to bring pieces of saw and he asked 100 dollars for each small piece. I collected the 100 dollars and gave to him, but he cheated and did not bring anything. Then every time when he passed me food I would ask him: Why did you do such a thing? Why did you cheat me? I am prisoner, if you did not want to do it you could just say that you wouldn't. He said that people like me deserve it. It is very interesting that now he is taking that upon himself."

Mher and Soghomon had dislocated the grid of the penitentiary walking area roof, passed over the alarm system and outwall using a rope and escaped.

Yenokyan said that he had twice escaped with Soghomon because he was convinced that the latter was "not a criminal in his heart." 

Mher said that even during this trial they are being treated inhumanly: "We are kept in a dirty cage that is inappropriate even for a wild beast. The bench is covered with bird dung (before sitting Mher and Soghomon were laying a newspaper on the bench and also trying not to touch the grid); they make us wear black clothes..."

"For 6 years, before joining European Council, we didn't even see the sun, we were not allowed out for a walk. We all were yellow and blue. When they opened the door we felt bad. Now when we have a right for every day walk, they let us out 3-4 times a week. On Saturdays and Sundays they don't let us out. When we complain they tell us: Shut up, you have life sentence, don't you?" Mher complained about moral pressure. 

Yenokyan complained that when convicts are placed in the same cell with different criminals their psychological compatibility is not taken into consideration.

"I am a non-smoker and don't want to be in the same cell with smokers, I don't want them to blow smoke on me. They just open the door and say: "You will be in this cell with him". I have nothing in common with them. They just tell you: "Go and die". The only thing I don't do is I don't escape walking over the corpses. Without saying a word tomorrow I may kill someone and escape, I'll become a murderer, I would at least know what for I am in prison. Who would gain from it - the prosecutor's office, the judge or the system? Did I do anything bad for the 21 days that I was in escape?  Someone else in my shoes would rob a store or kill a man. I am not a criminal. I went out into the city and did not touch anyone. I am defending myself, nothing else. I defend myself by escaping. I am not going to sit quite. I pray to the God that I don't do anything wrong..."   

Mher says it would have been better if he were executed by shooting. "My parents would come to my grave and cry for me. In a year or two they would calm down. Everything would finish. And now I sit in the cell and wait for their food package and my brother's aid."

Artsakh war veteran Soghomon Kocharyan, who waived defense, showed to the judge some information taken from the "Novosty Armenii" internet site that said that he was sentenced to death for killing two and more people (his last conviction in 1995 was by Article 222, part 1, Article 104, part 2, points 1, 8 and 11 of the RA Criminal Code). He implied that the author of that wrong information was the RA Police Information Department.

Soghomon asked the court why his war disability reference (since 1993) was lacking from his case and why he was deprived of disability allowance without any explanations. The judge and prosecutor Harutyun Harutyunyan had no answers for the questions.

Soghomon said that if their cases were not reopened by the end of the trial he would start a hunger strike.

"I realize that escape cannot become ground for the review of the case in any country. But in that way we attract the attention of the system to our cases. I love my people, my country. And if I am guilty, try me, I can't do anything."

Mher Yenokyan and Soghomon Kocharyan appealed to be moved to the Kentron penitentiary but were rejected (they are afraid that the 5 police inspectors and officials that are charged for their escape can at the Vardashen penitentiary square accounts with them at any moment).  

Christine Vardanyan