HE Manukyan Hovhannes

Chairman of the Court of Cassation

375010, Yerevan, V. Sargsyan 5,

Republic of Armenia

Fax: 00-374-10-567953

Vienna/Yerevan, 15 September 2006

Your Excellency,

The International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights (IHF) and the Helsinki
Committee of Armenia would like to draw your attention to a recent case that
gives rise to serious concern over the commitment of the Armenian judiciary to
independence and impartiality, and the professional qualifications of courts and
prosecutors’ offices.

The Court of Appeals on 30 May 2006 sentenced to life imprisonment three
military servicemen -- Razmik Sargsian, Musa Serobian and Arayik Zalian -- for
the murder of two privates, Hovsep Mkrtumian and Roman Yeghiazarian, in December
2003. According to local human rights monitors, however, both the first instance
court and the Court of Appeals failed to deal with the case in a professional
and unbiased manner, and to sufficiently prove the three men’s guilt. The
inadequate operation of courts and prosecutors raise serious suspicions that
people may have been sentenced to life imprisonment on the basis of insufficient
evidence in order to protect the reputation of a “war hero.”

On 24 December 2003, private Hovsep Mkrtumian and private Roman Yeghiazarian
disappeared from the Karabakh army’s military unit no. 33651, located in
Mataghis, Martakert district. The Martakert District Military Prosecutor’s
Office initiated a criminal case as late as 8 January 2004 -- fifteen days after
the men had gone missing. A day later, their bodies were retrieved from the
Mataghis canal.

On 18 May 2005 the First Instance Court of Syunik region sentenced Razmik
Sargsian, Musa Serobian and Arayik Zalian to 15 years’ imprisonment for murder
basing the conviction only on the self-incriminating testimony given by
Sargsian, even though he contended that he had given that testimony under
duress. At that trial, a witness testified that the murders had been committed
by the batallion’s commander, Ivan Grigorian, and two other officers.

The investigation into the murders, and the subsequent trials, were marred with
irregularities that raise questions about Armenian prosecutors’ and judiciary’s
professional qualifications and commitment to international standards for a fair
trial. For example:

• Razmik Sargsian, one of the defendants, was on several occasions interrogated
  as a witness, under which status investigating authorities could deny him access
  to legal counsel -- a practice frequently criticized by international human
  rights organizations.
• Sargsian’s sentence in the First Instance Court was based solely on his
  self-incriminating statement, even though he later insisted at a court session
  that he had signed the statement under brutal torture. The court, however,
  ignored the allegations of torture and continued to use the “confession” as
  evidence, which is in violation of international law. The court also rejected
  the petition of the defense to conduct a forensic examination to prove that
  torture had been used.
• Both courts examined only testimonies given by three witnesses, two of whom
  did not appear in court. The third witness said that he had seen Commander
  Grigorian transport the bodies of the victims and throw them into a canal but he
  changed his testimony six months later, which suggested that outside pressure
  was possibly exerted on him.
• Minister of Karabakh Army Seyran Ohanyan sent a letter to the Prosecutor’s
  Office asking the prosecutor not to proceed against Commander Grigorian because
  of his accomplishments as a Karabakh “war hero” despite available information
  about his previous violent conduct against servicemen. The courts also ignored
  overwhelming other evidence pointing to the members of commanding staff as
  suspects.
• The judges clearly wanted to speed up the process. They rushed the defense
  attorneys to speak quickly so that the case could be brought to conclusion as
  soon as possible but gave the prosecution enough time to make the case. This
  violated the principle of equality of arms and thus compromised a fundamental
  standard for a fair trial.
• It appears that forensic investigations were abused to reach a verdict
  favorable to the prosecution.

The three men sentenced by the first instance court in May 2005 went on hunger
strike to protest the violations of due process standards and to demand a new
trial, which was rejected. Both the prosecution and the defense appealed the
case.

The 1 December 2005 session of the Court of Appeals turned out to be the most
dramatic single incident during the long, questionable legal proceedings: Razmik
Sargsian, who was on hunger strike, was carried unconscious into the courtroom.
Unable to stand trial and testify, a video was shown in which Sargsian was
testifying as a witness to an investigator about the murder, without an attorney
present. Sargsian was in such poor health that he was hardly recognizable, was
virtually unable to speak and could move his body only to write a confession,
which appeared to be have been dictated by the investigator in advance.

The IHF and the Helsinki Committee of Armenia appeal to you to do all in your
power to have the above-described case reopened and conducted in a manner that
is compatible with international standards for a fair trial. These standards
include, among other things, unbiased and independent

operation of the judiciary, equality of arms, access to legal counsel, and
exclusion of statements extracted under duress. We also ask you to investigate
whether undue influence was exercised on judges and other judicial personnel,
and to ensure that any inadequate conduct by the judiciary or prosecutors is
disciplined.

Respectfully,

Aaron Rhodes

Executive Director

IHF

Avetik Ishkanyan

Chairman

Helsinki Committee of Armenia

Cc.

Robert Kocharyan, President of the RA

Serzh Sarkissyan, Minister of Defence

Davit Harutyunyan, Minister of Justice

Aghvan Hovsepyan, Public Prosecutor

Armen Khachaturyan, Military Prosecutor

Armen Harutyunyan, RA Human Rights Defender

Vladimir Pryakhin, Ambassador to the OSCE

OSCE delegations