Relatives waiting for Hrachya Harutyunyan's extradition
Relatives of Hrachya Harutyunyan, an Armenian truck driver sentenced to 6 years and 9 months in prison by a Moscow court, are waiting for news about his extradition. “We are still waiting. Let us see what will happen,” Victor Martirosyan, the father of Harutyunyan’s wife, told A1+ Company. On April 25, Victor Martirosyan met with Deputy Minister of Justice to discuss Hrachya’s possible extradition to Armenia. During the meeting, he was informed that Hrachya would be transferred to Armenia in a month or two. On July 13, 2013 the gravel-loaded truck driven by Hrachya Harutyunyan, an Armenian citizen working in Russia, collided with a packed commuter bus outside the Russian capital. The impact of the crash was so powerful that the bus had split in two. The accident claimed 18 lives and injured more than forty others. The investigation revealed that the accident resulted from poor maintenance of the truck resulting in a brake malfunction. Harutyunyan, according to investigators, was to know about it. In August, a Moscow district court sentenced Hrachya Harutyunyan to 6 years and 9 months in prison on charges of ‘violating traffic and vehicle operation rules, which unwittingly led to the death of two or more persons.’ The families of the 18 victims have received 18 mln rubles as compensation from Ara Abrahamyan, Chairman of the Union of Armenians of Russia. This means that that the financial liabilities are removed and Hrachya can serve the rest of his sentence in Armenia.
