54-year-old Andranik Sargsyan, who has spinal tuberculosis and weakness of the lower limbs due to it, was interrogated while unconscious state and tortured in Vagharshapat investigative department. As a result of tortures, on the basis of a petition drawn up by investigator Ani Mnatsakanyan, the Armavir Court of General Jurisdiction detained the citizen for a month.
The problem is that, after the charges were filed, Andranik Sargsyan was detained for two months in May. Investigator Ani Mnatsakanyan did not submit a motion to extend the detention period during these two months, and when the two-month period ended, the Criminal Court released the detainee on July 2 but, a few minutes after he left the gates of the Armavir penitentiary, the police officers handcuffed Andranik and brought to Vagharshapat police department.
It is noteworthy that the decision to initiate criminal prosecution was made only after Andranik Sargsyan was taken back to the police department. In other words, after being released on the basis of the expiration of the detention period, they decided to re-arrest and petition the court to re-detain the citizen, when it was possible to simply make a decision to extend the detention period and detain him without additional actions, without torturing the sick person.
“The man left the detention center because he was released and arrested again immediately without an appropriate decision. They took him to the police station and after that only made a decision to arrest him, charge him again and file a petition for his arrest with the court. My client’s relatives told me when Andranik was charged again. Due to the negligence of the investigator, the deadline was missed, the person was released from the detention center, but it was not in their interest for this person to be released, so they are trying to put him back at any cost,” lawyer Sargis Khachatryan presented to Forrights.am, presenting the relevant documents and the chronology of the decisions made.
The lawyer found his client in the Vagharshapat investigative station, lying helpless on the ground after feeling nauseated. An ambulance is called, and the medical staff diagnoses him with hypertension, paralyzed limbs, excruciating pains. What happened to Andranik Sargsyan afterwards is simply unspeakable: they refused to admit the citizen to the Vagharshapat medical center, because he was registered with the tuberculosis dispensary, they simply gave him painkillers and left him unattended, in excruciating pain.
Sargis Khachatryan says that the investigators at the Vagharshapat investigative station showed an inhumane attitude, trying to interrogate Andranik Sargsyan in every possible way. Meanwhile, according to the lawyer, his client did not realize what was happening around him, and when he was asked a question, he only moaned in pain.
But the most noteworthy thing is that the court returned three times the requests of the same investigator to detain Andranik Sargsyan, citing that they were “incomplete and formal”. Andranik Sargsyan has been unconscious from excruciating pains in his spine and limbs during that entire time.
Finally, at the session held at 2 a.m., the Court of General Jurisdiction of Armavir Region, presided over by Judge Makar Kirakosyan, decided to partially satisfy the petition of the investigator, and Andranik Sargsyan was detained for 1 month. Now the accused is in the “Armavir” penitentiary and again complains of back pain.
The lawyer tried to inform the Office of the Human Rights Defender about the inhumane treatment and torture of Andranik Sargsyan, but nobody responded to the alarm and did not react to the lawyer’s request to send a rapid response team.
Hasmik Hambardzumyan
