“Human Rights Watch” legal protection organization has submitted an open letter to general prosecutor Aghvan Hovsepyan. In the letter the head of the organization’s department on Europe and Central Asia, Holly Cartner, expressed concerns about Levon Gulyan’s death.
“We are petitioning you to institute full and independent legal proceedings concerning the murder in the police station and the statement that Gulyan might have died because of the actions of the Police,” states Cartner’s letter dated May 18. The letter was published at the end of last week. To note, Levon Gulyan, aged 31, died on May 12 in the criminal investigation department of the police, where he was called to be questioned concerning the murder that took place not far from his restaurant “Pandok”. Witnesses have told the representatives of Human Rights Watch that there were “wounds and other marks on Gulyan’s body”. Haik Melkumyan, who works at Gulyan’s restaurant, has told Human Rights Watch that he had been called to the police station too, where he was also beaten. “We have been informed that the public prosecutor’s office has instituted legal proceedings under Article 110, for pressing the decedent to the point of suicide. We are glad for this fact, but some conditions in the case are of concern, which are the facts that the criminal investigation process that has been initiated does not correspond with the international standards of investigating the death cases of arrested people, and that in case of Gulyan’s death the reason may be brutal actions on the part of high ranking officials,” states the letter. “We insist on our call to institute full, independent and transparent legal proceedings to discover the conditions of Gulyan’s death, which will enable to discover the murderers that are guilty and punish them by the full force of the law.” By the way, Levon Gulyan’s relatives assure that Gulyan was beaten to death by the first deputy to the police criminal investigation central board, Hovik Tamamyan, and later they threw Levon’s body out of the window to make it look like an accident. The police has refuted this version and published the preliminary findings of the criminal investigation, according to which Gulyan visited the police office on his own to give a testimony as a witness, and that later he asked for water from the investigation officer, and when he was alone in the room he decided to escape using the window, but fell and died. “The findings of the criminal investigation procedure ordered by the head of the criminal investigation department of the police show that the deputy chief of the investigation board, Hovik Tamamyan, had not had any contacts with Gulyan since May 10,” states the police, and petitions to stay from any preconceived decisions about the murder. The letter of Human Rights Watch submitted to the general prosecutor writes that “according to Article 2 of the European convention on Human Rights, Armenia is responsible to present full and substantiated explanations about any cases of an arrested citizen’s death, which shall be based on detailed analysis and investigation, and as well shall clarify the level the cases are connected with the authorities.” “Failing to institute such legal proceedings and criminal investigation deems to be a violation of the liabilities established by the European convention on the part of Armenia,” the letter states, and also petitions the general prosecutor to take all necessary steps to protect the rights of Gulyan’s relatives too.
