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March 28
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The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) made a final decision on Mataghis case related to the murder of two servicemen and further investigation process of the three other servicemen suspected in this murder. One of the applicants also complained that he had been unlawfully deprived of his liberty.

The Court held that Armenia is to pay Mr Zalyan 20,000 euros (EUR) and the other two applicants EUR 15,000 each in respect of non-pecuniary damage.

The applicants, Arayik Zalyan, Razmik Sargsyan, and Musa Serobyan, are Armenian nationals who were born in 1985 and live in Vanadzor and Gyumri (Armenia).

According to the applicants, on 19 April 2004, while performing their military service in Mataghis military unit on the territory of Nagorno-Karabakh Republic (NKR), they were taken to the office of their military unit's commander for questioning in connection with the murder of two servicemen in December 2003. The applicants maintain that they were beaten, threatened and verbally abused by law- enforcement officers in order to force them to confess to the murder. Subsequently they were taken to the military prosecutor's office, where the ill-treatment continued before they were transferred to the military police department. During the next two days they were again questioned several times. In May 2005 the applicants were convicted of murder and sentenced to 15 years' imprisonment. In May 2006 the criminal and military court of appeal upheld the applicants' conviction and increased their sentence to life imprisonment. The court of cassation quashed the judgments of May 2005 and May 2006 and remitted the case for further investigation; it also ordered the applicants' release from detention. In December 2012 the applicants were eventually acquitted.

It is noteworthy that the investigator on this case Armen Hakobyan has not been held liable for the violations during the proceeding of the case. Currently Armen Hakobyan is the Head of Road Traffic Police.

 

 

 

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