RA OMBUDSMAN CONSIDERS "DISPROPORTIONATE" LEAVING GAGIK HAKOBIAN IN CUSTODY

Noyan Tapan
Oct 23, 2007

YEREVAN, OCTOBER 23, NOYAN TAPAN. RA Ombudsman Armen Haroutiunian
considers "disproportionate" keeping unchanged the preventive
punishment, arrest, chosen to the co-owner of the Royal Armenia
company, Gagik Hakobian. Grigory Grigoriants, Ombudsman’s Spokesperson,
said this in his interview to Noyan Tapan correspondent. He explained
that the defendant had stated in advance that he was coming back to
Armenia, nevertheless, the court considered that being in freedom,
G. Hakobian can avoid the judicial enquiry and dismissed the petition
to change the preventive punishment, arrest, chosen to him.

It should be mentioned that the RA Criminal Appeal Court made a
decision to choose arrest as a preventive punishment to G. Hakobian,
who was in Spain for the purpose of undergoing a medical treatment,
a search was announced, though Ashot Sargsian, G. Hakobian’s lawyer,
had informed the court about the place of his defendant’s location,
his telephone number with roaming, as well as the medical certificate
on receiving a medical treatment in Spain.

When Hakobian returned from Spain, he was arrested, and the petition
to replace arrest by another preventive punishment was dismissed.

Grigory Grigoriants presented the RA Ombudsman’s position, according
to which, if the arguments are disputable and equivocal, human rights
protection should be taken into account.

Earlier the first instance court of Yerevan’s Kentron and Nork-Marash
communities had passed a "not guilty" verdict on the case against
the Royal Armenia company, the case is examined at the Appeal Court
on the basis of the appeal complaints of the prosecutor party.