The residents of Byuzand street suffered another blow. A lawyer was arrested for defending four families living on Byuzand street and he was the most active out of all the defenders.
The residents of Byuzand street, who are dependent on the state subsidy, are being kicked out of their homes because the state plans on building private buildings. The state, including the courts, police, and persecutors are against the residents. The ombudsman is the only one that considers this act as illegal. Lawyers were the only ones who could defend the residents. The authorities arrested one of the lawyers and did not allow four families to have lawyers. They wanted the arrest to serve as a lesson for other lawyers. Lawyer and president of the “Legal Right Club” INC Vahe Grigoryan was arrested on October 7th and was sentenced to two months in prison on October 10th.
Vahe Grigoryan is accused of extorting money and falsifying documents. The 30 year old lawyer has graduated from the Jurisprudence faculty of the Yerevan State University, has served in the army and has worked as a military persecuting investigator in Karabagh. Vahe has also worked as an on-duty worker for the Askeran regional prosecutor’s office. Later, he has become a lawyer.
This year, he is a lawyer for the four families of Byuzand street who refuse to sell their properties. The homeowners of the street are divided in two: one side refuses the compensation and is fighting in order to sell its property at a suitable price. The other side does not want to sell its property at all. They claim that they have the right to own property according to the constitution and that the government has violated that right by depriving them of their right to own property. Vahe Grigoryan’s defendants belong to the second group. Grigoryan’s defense does not limit itself to court intervention. He also defended his clients from the police officers who were stating the value of the property and expelling the residents. On March 1st of this year, Grigoryan prevented the police officers from entering a home located on 15/9 Byuzand street, where the officers had to state the value of the property by order of the court. He was not able to do that two days later. The officials, along with the police, came and invaded the home by force. Vahe Grigoryan and his colleague were standing in front of the house and were not letting them pass. The officials had brought a real estate agent along. The lawyer claimed that the officers did not have the right to bring an expert and enter someone’s home. The officials beat the lawyers and the homeowner. They beat Vahe Grigoryan on the ground with their feet. “Yerkir Media” television network taped Grigoryan after he was beaten down with a bloody face. ‘They were beating Vahe the most. If we were hit one time, Vahe was hit 15 times more,” says Zorik Vahanyan, who lives in one of the homes. In the end, the officials invaded the home and the real estate agent stated the value of the property. On May 31st, two workers from the National Security Services (the former KGB) entered the “Legal Right Club” INC and demanded data about dissidents after presenting themselves as staff workers for the ombudsman.
Why did they present themselves as part of the ombudsman’s staff? The National Security Service workers invaded the ombudsman’s office beforehand on the night of May 26th and confiscated the computers where all the citizens’ confidential protests can be found. During a conference, the ombudsman feared that the NSS workers were interested in receiving information about two citizens who had applied to the “Right” club and the ombudsman. A criminal case was brought up against Vahe Grigoryan on June 10th, however, the lawyer continued defending his clients even out of court. There are scenes showing how he was debating with the officials who had come to expel his defendants from his home.
The homeowner Sashik Safyan said that Grigoryan was defending with no charge because this was a major issue for the lawyer-after all, the constitutional right was violated. Vahe Grigoryan was about to send the Safyan case to the court in Strasburg.
Why was Vahe arrested? The Armenian branch of the Russian “Krane Ltd.” INC had paid an extra 23 million drams (around 41,000 dollars) to the state. According to Grigoryan’s colleagues, in 2003 the owner of the “Krane”, living in the U.S., signed a contract with Vahe Grigoryan according to which Vahe had to give the money back by court order. The documents were sent to Armenia from Los Angeles and Grigoryan won in all the court instances. The money had been transferred beforehand to the account of the “Legal Right Club”. By keeping the lawyer’s honorarium account, the money (in dollars) was transferred to the account of owner of “Krane” living in the U.S.
Two months later, National Security Service workers approached Vahe Grigoryan and asked him to give information regarding his client. Grigoryan refused because he has no right to reveal the secret of the trade between the client and him. So, he wrote a letter to the head of the National Security Service asking him why they wanted to enlist him. Vahe got no reply.
Two years later, he is being prosecuted during the heated defense. Grigoryan refuses to answer any questions given by persecutors, reasoning that he is not allowed by law to reveal secrets between him and the client.
One day later, a source had testified that Grigoryan had falsified his warrant and case appeal. Vahe was arrested. “Vahe Grigoryan had made a deal beforehand with Alexander Hakobyan, who has nothing to do with the “Krane Ltd.” INC Armenian branch. The deal was to receive and spend the money from the state budget, which the court had defined as extra money and use false documents, which were a result of the branch’s activities carried out in 1998.” In reality, “Alexander Hakobyan, who has nothing to do with the branch” is actually the father of the owner of “Krane Ltd.” Gevorg Hakobyan. Grigoryan was arrested only because of Alexander Hakobyan’s accusation.
One day later, Hakobyan has appealed to the ombudsman claiming that the prosecutors had pressured and forced him for 10 hours to provide evidence for the case against him and Vahe Grigoryan. 65 year old Hakobyan has health problems and has gone through a heart operation. This appeal was sent to the prosecutor’s office after which Hakobyan got it back from the ombudsman’s office. Hakobyan is accused for the same criminal act, however, he was not arrested. Grigoryan may face 7-10 years in prison. After the arrest, on October 12, four families living on Byuzand street spoke out and said the following: “It is clear that arresting Vahe Grigoryan, who had simply defended our constitutional rights to not sell our property, is a great loss for us too.” “Our addresses remain the same, but that address doesn’t really matter. We have not only been kicked out of our homes, but also, we feel a great pain. We don’t even have hope. Vahe was going to send our case to Strasburg, but they arrested him before he could do that,” says former resident of Byuzand street Gohar Galstyan. Instead of fighting for their constitutional rights or receiving compensation, the four families want for their lawyer to be released from prison. Ten lawyers are on Grigoryan’s side, and the number of lawyers may increase. Four of them participated in a conference on October 13 at the Center for Lawyers. The lawyers claim that this arrest is a call to all lawyers and threatens the law institute. They also believe that any lawyer can be looked at as a potential criminal and find himself in the same place where Vahe is now.