ARMENIAN PROSECUTORS VOW TO MONITOR CONTROVERSIAL PROBE
Tigran Avetisian, Ruzanna Stepanian
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24.02.2010
Prosecutor-General Aghvan Hovsepian said on Wednesday that he
has instructed his subordinates to oversee controversial criminal
proceedings launched by the Armenian police against a brother of
Khachatur Sukiasian, a prominent opposition businessman.
Hovsepian told journalists that the chief prosecutors of Yerevan and
its southern Erebuni districts have been tasked with ensuring that
the police respect the due process of law in the ongoing investigation
condemned by the Sukiasian family and the Armenian opposition.
He said they will specifically have to make sure that "all the
evidence is collected within the bounds of law." Hovsepian did not
clarify whether that means the prosecutors doubt the legality of the
police actions taken against Saribek Sukiasian until now.
Sukiasian and one of his employees were arrested on February 12 in
a police raid on the head offices of the SIL Concern group belonging
to his extended family. They both were released pending investigation
three days later.
The police said initially that the two men are suspected of threatening
to kill a fellow entrepreneur, Gor Davtian. A police statement issued
on February 12 cited Davtian as alleging that Sukiasian forced him
to sign "some documents" relating to his shares in a mineral water
company called Byuregh.
Police officials said several days later, however, that Davtian did
not hear death threats from Sukiasian and was only forcibly kept in
the SIL headquarters for several hours. Contradicting the initial
police statement, they claimed that the police raid was actually
aimed at rescuing the "imprisoned" businessman.
Accordingly, Sukiasian was charged under an article of the Armenian
Criminal Code that deals with "illegally depriving a person of their
liberty motivated by material gain." The crime is punishable by
between three and five years’ imprisonment.
The conflicting police statements only raised more questions about the
credibility of the case which Sukiasian says is part of a continuing
government vendetta waged against his family. His lawyers said on
Tuesday that it is aimed at preventing the Sukiasians from purchasing
Byuregh, 80 percent of which has until now been owned by Davtian and
another businessman.
The Sukiasians already bought the commanding stake from the two men
in late 2008. An Armenian court controversially annulled the deal
last November.
According to Saribek Sukiasian’s lawyers, the two sides were close
to signing another takeover agreement in the weeks leading up to the
police inquiry. They said Davtian visited the SIL headquarters on
February 12 to ask Sukiasian for protection against Ruben Hayrapetian,
an influential tycoon with close government connections. They said
Hayrapetian used threats to warn Davtian against selling his Byuregh
shares to Sukiasian.
"He was also summoned by security bodies, including the prosecutor’s
office, and told to sell his shares to Ruben Hayrapetian," one of
the lawyers, Lusine Sahakian, told a news conference.
Hayrapetian, who also heads the Armenian Football Federation, already
bought late last year another water plant that was owned by the
Sukiasians until being confiscated by the Armenian government. Tax
officials raided the Bjni company and accused it of large-scale tax
evasion shortly after Khachatur Sukiasian publicly voiced support
for opposition Levon Ter-Petrosian in September 2007.
Saribek’s lawyers again dismissed the charges brought against their
client and alleged numerous due process violations by the police. They
also claimed to have photo and video evidence of Davtian leaving the
SIL offices less than 20 minutes before the police raid.
The businessman’s whereabouts have been unknown since the launch
of the police investigation. A spokesman for the Armenian police,
Sayat Shirinian, on Wednesday denied newspaper reports that Davtian
has fled Armenia.