The Moscow City Court extended until April 14 the confinement of arrested Armenian truck driver Hrachya Harutyunyan. 

The court on Friday granted the investigator’s motion to extend the imprisonment, as the investigator argued that should a more lenient restraining order be issued for Harutyunyan, he may flee.   

Harutyunyan’s attorney Ruben Margaryan, on the other hand, spoke against extending Harutyunyan’s period in custody. He motioned that his client be released at the personal recommendation by the chairman of the Union of Armenians of Russia, who was prepared to guarantee Harutyunyan’s presence at court once the court proceedings commence.      

A truck crashed into a passenger bus on July 13, 2013 outside Moscow, and it was found out that the truck driver was an Armenian citizen by the name of Hrachya Harutyunyan. The impact of the crash was so powerful that the bus had split in two. The accident claimed 18 lives and injured 40 others. Harutyunyan had admitted his guilt, and the court had Harutyunyan arrested on July 15. To note, however, he was brought to the courtroom with slippers and a women’s robe. This fact had caused widespread discontent among the Armenian public, and protests were staged across the Russian Embassy in Armenia. He was in hospital for a long time because he had pain around his heart. Now, however, he is in prison, and he was charged with two articles of the Criminal Code. Hrachya Harutyunyan had gone to Russia to earn money in order to have a tombstone built for his son who has died.