Recently there were many publications in press about the case in the town of Masis where on October 1, 2010 a 20-year-old wife was brutally beaten by her husband and mother-in-law and died in the hospital without regaining consciousness. We know very few people at present who are not aware of this murder and do not condemn it.

What was the reason of this murder? Was it a common domestic crime, another case of family violence? What did the people who committed and instigated it feel? Is there any repentance? What didn't we all do to prevent the murder of a 20-year-old orphan girl? And finally what do we have to do now to never allow any other 20-year-old orphan girl to be beaten to death? We are looking for the answers...   

The girl wasn't even taken to the hospital on time; the doctor assured that if they had applied to the doctors on time it would have been possible to save the girl; when she was brought to the hospital it was too late; nothing helped, she bleeded to death. It was not the first time Zaruhi was beaten, it was one of many cases. Everyone knew about it - her sister, relatives, neighbors, they all knew but were silent... She was beaten because she was an orphan and had no one to protect her. She was beaten because they were sure that nobody would speak out, revolt, raise his voice because "it was none of our business"... And the girl couldn't stand the last beating, it was too late, she was tired and didn't fight... But why were so cruel? What was the reason? Zaruhi's sister says money was the reason; they were beating her demanding to get money from her relatives and give it to them. We tried to understand - could money be beyond elementary rule of humanity? So we visited the mother-in-law. We listened to what she said... She had prepared a speech - well calculated and cunning. She wanted to save herself, her "good" reputation that didn't have slightest kindness in it. She spoke long and forgot about her prepared speech. We were facing a person who had boundless hatred for her son's wife and granddaughter's mother. She was speaking forgetting that the girls was dead; she was speaking as if she was alive yet and she hated her, hated her for dying... Her authoritarian, despotic features were fueled by groundless arrogance. Even then she could not forgive her son for ignoring her opinion and marrying the girl he loved. The lady was sly, calculating and revengeful; she was ready to go to the very end only to reach her goal. And she did. The woman has not a drop of tenderness, a drop of love, a drop of caring for anyone; the whole world is focused on herself and all the others are merely instruments she uses to keep her peson in the center of everything: "I am the only one that suffered because of all this. She came and enjoyed herself, ruined my home, I was actually left without anything. I was discredited," Lilia Sarkisova says with indignation. She didn't have a drop of regret for what happened. This type of people have no ability to forgive. Neither people nor herself. And it is the tragedy for the people surrounding her and first of all herself. Cruelty is typical for weak people but it is also the result of impunity: all those who are cowards and cruel use the silence of the society as their weapon. Even today when it is impossible to bring back the innocent girl people express their indignance only in whispers, in an undertone.  

We talked to the neighbors, they were all unanimously saying that [Sarkisovs] were "inhuman, they were torturing and beating Zaruhi, she was in bruises every day." But none of them was ready to testify: "not our business", "keep away from trouble", "we don't want to go to the court". No one, absolutely no one was willing to testify but everyone in one voice spoke about injustice and condemned Zaruhi's husband and mother-in-law. And that was it - whispers, whispers and silence...

So what is the reason for the murder of the innocent girl after all? She who grew up as an orphan, then fell in love and got married, had a child, made a family, she was deprived of, to finally build her happiness and at 20 found her death - so early, so unfair and so cruel... She died without even living. The mother-in-law instigated, the husband did it, and we were silent and are still silent... With our silence we killed an innocent soul, continuing our silence we will become the reason for the death of another innocent life in the future...

Zaruhi is not the only one suffering such violence, and we are all aware of it. Maybe this is the last straw to break the camel's back. It is much easier to prevent the tragedy than to eliminate its consequences: there are mistakes that can't be corrected - Zaruhi Petrosyan was our mistake that can't be corrected...          

HRA.AM editor in chief Sofya Avagyan