Criminal walks at large while innocent person is in custody (video)
Ara Budaghyan’s lawyer Hayk Alumyan has gone the Court of Appeal in a bid to overturn the verdict of a lower court. Today the Court is due to hold the first hearing in the case. Ara Budaghyan was charged with inducing an assassination attempt on Syunik Governor Surik Khachatryan, his driver and assistant. The lawyer continues to claim that Budaghyan’s arrest was ungrounded and calls for his immediate release. “We did not have success at the Court of General Jurisdiction of Arabkir and Kanaker-Zeytun Administrative districts. Now we have appealed to a higher court to review the verdict. My client is being tried on the basis of assumptions,” Mr Alumyan told A1+. Asked how he would account for the decision the courts, the lawyer said, “Soviet rules are observed in courts. It seems one is dealing with a NSS unit. Unfortunately, hearings are held behind closed doors otherwise you could see what is happening there. It is a real competition with the judge standing on the one side and the lawyer and investigator staying on the other side. Then the judge retires to sum of the results of the competition.” Mr Alumyan added that the jurisprudence has been turned upside down in the case. “The person who is guilty of the crime is at large while an innocent person is being tried instead of him,” he stressed. “Recently, Surik Khachatryan announced at the National Assembly that the defendant had confused to the crime but it is not true. It was mentioned in the media that he was drunk, I suppose that's the reason why he pleaded guilty." The lawyer has also appealed to the European Court of Human Rights. According to the Armenian Investigative Committee, Syunik Governor Surik Khachatryan, his driver and assistant came under fire on Kapan-Goris road on May 20. The report said nobody was hurt in the shooting. The NSS announced later that as a result of NSS ‘operational-investigative actions,’ four Kapan and Goris residents – Henrik Avagyan, Vitali Minasyan, Ara Budaghyan and Karen Atajanyan -were arrested on suspicion of being involved in the assassination attempt on Syunik Governor. Ara Budaghyan was charged with inducing an assassination attempt (criminal code of the Republic of Armenia, 38-34-104 article, 2nd part, 8th point). However, Ara Budaghyan denied any relation to the assassination attempt, also saying that he had not instigated anyone to commit the crime. Hayk Alumyan claims that the Budaghyans are being persecuted. He reminds that Ara’s brother Artak Budaghyan is sued for participating in a 2013 shootout outside Khachatryan’s sprawling mansion in Goris, in which their third brother Avetik Budaghyan was killed.
