ASSAILANTS UNKNOWN: INVESTIGATION SURROUNDING ASSAULT ON REPORTER DROPPED
Kristine Aghalaryan
Feature Stories society criminal
hetq.am/en/society/lusine-barseghyan/
2009/04/20 | 19:12
On August 11, 2008, a criminal case was initiated surrounding the
assault on Lusineh Barseghyan, a reporter for the daily newspaper
"Haykakan Zhamanak". The case was halted exactly three months later,
on November 11. The reporter’s assailants were never found despite
the fact that the investigating body claimed that no stone was left
unturned to uncover the truth.
"No gaffes were made in the case. Work was carried out according to
procedure. You can criticize the police all you want. All angles were
covered because the case was supervised by top officials," stated
Artashes Hovhannisyan, an investigator with the Police Department’s
Nor Nork Investigative Unit, during a conversation with "Hetq".
Our investigation of the matter gives us grounds to argue that the
investigative body didn’t satisfactorily carry out its probe of
the crime.
On August 11, 2008, at around 9:40 in the morning, "Haykakan Zhamanak"
reporter Lusineh Barseghyan was assaulted by two unknown assailants.
"When I had left the house to go to work I noticed that a car parked by
a nearby house started its engine and started to follow me. I thought
that they might be employees of the National Security Service, since
at the time they were looking for Nikol (Nikol Pashinyan, editor of
the paper on the run and being sought by law enforcement for March
1st events – KA). All of us at the paper were being followed. I
didn’t pay the car any attention but was puzzled that this time
their movements were quite apparent. I had reached the steps and was
descending when I noticed that the car pulled up close by. They got
out of the car and proceeded to hit me. I yelled out and my screams
attracted passersby. When my attackers saw a crowd forming, they fled
the scene," recounts Lusineh.
Hearing Lusineh’s screams, a worker at a nearby gas station and some
passersby ran to help the reporter, but by the time they reached
the scene her attackers had managed to flee. Lusineh believes her
assailants picked the staircase because it is usually desolate and
presents an easy getaway.
Lusineh also believes that there were two cars, not one. One of them
was parked at the top of the stairs and the other at the bottom, making
a getaway much easier. The entire incident happened so quickly that
Lusineh couldn’t make out where the assailants fled to upon hearing
the noise made by the individuals who were running to her aid. She
didn’t even get a chance to see the faces of those hitting her. All
she remembers is that they appeared to be in good physical shape and
resembled skin-heads.
"I was in shock. I hailed the first passing taxi with the intention
of following the fleeing attackers. But they literally disappeared
in a flash. This is why I believe that there was another car at the
bottom of the stairs," Lusineh states.
On the street, while waiting at a red traffic light, Lusineh spotted a
white "Moskvich" with a license plate bearing the number 15LU393. In
the car she eyed the driver, wearing a police uniform, and in the
back a man with a shaven head that resembled her attacker and another
person. She remembers that these individuals seemed to be intently
watching her.
Injured, Lusineh managed to get to the paper’s office. They called an
ambulance and she was taken to the Saint Grigor Lusavoritch Medical
Center. The doctors examined her and diagnosed a hairline fracture
to the head and hematoma.
Investigators were able to find out that the Moskvich 21-41 vehicle
with license plate #15 LU 393 belonged to Vahe Khachatryan, who resided
at Apartment 111, Building 17, Nansen Street, Nor Nork First District,
Yerevan. The car was being driven by his father Armen Khachatryan,
a senior police officer at a Protection Directorate attached to the
Central Division.
The investigation revealed that on the evening of August 10, a day
before the incident, Armen Khachatryan assumed his shift at the
Triumph Coffee House on Isahakyan Street. He ended his shift the
next morning at around 9:30. He then took Seyran Sargsyan, a worker
at the coffee house, and Yuri Sargsyan, an electrical repairman, to
Saryan Street in Yerevan. After dropping them off, Armen Khachatryan
drove to the village of Akner in Lori Marz on personal business. No
evidence implicating these three individuals in the assault case was
ever uncovered.
Since Lusineh was registered as a resident at the family home in
Avan, the criminal case was assumed by the Nor Nork police precinct
in accordance with Article 118 of the RoA Criminal Code (Beating or
other forms of physical assault punishable by a minimum fine of one
hundred times wages or a maximum imprisonment of two months)
On August 12, the Nor Nork Investigative Unit officially launched
their case. Investigator Artashes Hovhannisyan claims that the police
were give special directives to set up an operational squad to uncover
the identity of Lusineh’s two attackers, but that all their efforts
were fruitless.
A court forensics examination was appointed in the case. After being
recognized as the aggrieved party, Lusineh was initially interviewed
but never appeared to complete the forensic examination due to her
busy schedule even though she was repeatedly requested to appear at
the investigative unit.
The investigator presented numerous notices to prove that Lusineh
was informed, both by telephone and in writing, to appear before the
court physician in order to arrive at a final assessment regarding
the severity of the injuries she had sustained.
"For a month they tried to convince me to go see the forensics doctor
again. I explained to them that I didn’t have the time and because
up till then they were only examining me, I didn’t see any sense in
going back to the doctor again. As far as I could understand, they
wanted me to go back to forensics and if there were no results it
would be much easier for them to close the case," Lusineh explains.
Even though Lusineh didn’t appear for a forensic examination the second
time, on November 11, the court physician issued a conclusion based
on his initial examination – "The bodily injuries sustained by Lusineh
Barseghyan caused minor harm to her health of a temporary nature".
Investigator Artashes Hovhannisyan states, "The case proceedings
were halted despite the fact that operational intelligence activities
continue till today."
Naturally, they never found out who my assailants were, even though I
provided them with details that would have made it easy to find them,"
Lusineh says.
Lusineh says that the same car parked outside the entrance to her house
at the time of the incident was seen surveilling the paper’s offices
for a few days. The car was a deep purple "Zhiguli 06" make. People
visiting the offices even spotted the car parked outside.
A few days before the assault an individual named Garen visited the
"Haykakan Zhamanak" office and introduced himself as being from the
"Sargis Tkhrouni" youth wing. He said he wanted to see Lusineh. Busy
at the time, Lusineh asked that the man wait a few minutes. When she
went outside Garen had already left.
The same person also visited the home of Lusineh’s parents. Norayr
Barseghyan, Lusineh’s father, recounted that the young man
asked about Lusineh, stating that he wanted to work for "Haykakan
Zhamanak". He was a man of about thirty-five with a round face and
light hair. Mr. Barseghyan says, "I told the man to go to the paper’s
office if he wanted to work there and I asked him why he had come to
my house." The man replied that he had already gone to the newspaper
and that they had sent him to the home of Lusineh’s parents.
Lusineh later found out that no such person as Garen existed in the
"Sargis Tkhrouni" organization. She confidently states that, "They
did their homework."
No composite sketch of Lusineh’s assailants was ever made since the
reporter only saw them from behind and the passersby who came to her
rescue were unknown.
The investigator complains that Lusineh was pretty aloof when it came
to taking measures to crack the case; she never showed up at the
investigative office and didn’t assist in the examination. Lusineh
argues that the police never intended to identify the culprits and
that the whole investigative was merely a sham.
"The same young man telephoned the newspaper office. I told the police
the approximate time of the call. I they wanted to find out who he was
they could have gone to the ArmenTel records. I could have described
him as well," states the reporter.
According to the investigator, there was no need to come up with a
composite sketch of the man calling himself Karen. "Karen wasn’t one
of the perpetrators. Lusineh ties him to the assault but Karen came
on the scene a week before it happened. She doesn’t know for sure,
she’s merely making a supposition. She should have come to us to
examine any possible connection," says the investigator who adds that
they explored all possible theories. What remains puzzling however
is why the investigator is so convinced that this Karen character
had no connection to the case.
Even though many of them got a good look at Karen, Lusineh, "Haykakan
Zhamanak" employees and Lusineh’s parents, the investigator claims
that Lusineh’s recollection of Karen was spotty and that’s why no
artist’s rendition was made. "We also interviewed the father and
he wasn’t able to give us a good description," states Investigator
Khachatryan. Lusineh contradicts the claim and says that they never
even interviewed members of the newspaper staff who saw the guy.
Artashes Khachatryan says that they couldn’t come up with anything
from the telephone records as well. "We tried to uncover his identity
through the phone records but couldn’t. We called up Lusineh to verify
some of the numbers but she refused to assist us." We need to remind
readers that Lusineh informed the police as to the approximate time
that Karen called her at the office. It wouldn’t have been difficult
for the investigators to check the calls, even in her absence.
Lusineh says this young man wasn’t one of her attackers. Her assailants
were guys with cleanly shaved heads while the man calling himself Karen
had light colored hair. "With all these details any professional worth
his weight in salt could have easily found these guys, but nothing
of the sort happened. The case dragged on for some months and then
they declared it closed," says Lusineh and adds, "They never kept me
abreast of the case. I only heard by accident that the case had been
closed on the basis that there was no second witness and that evidence
was insufficient. It was evident from the get-go that the case would
never be solved because it was linked to my work as a reporter."
Prior to the incident the reporter had written a series of
articles regarding the misuse of office by certain government
officials. Particularly noted in the articles were National Assembly
Deputy Samvel Alexanyan, Erebuni district leader Mher Sedrakyan,
and the activities of Hovik Abrahamyan, who at the time headed the
staff of Serzh Sargsyan.
The reporter unabashedly states that, "I even told them that
the number one suspect in my book was Erebuni district leader
Mher Sedrakyan and that others might be involved as well; Hovik
Abrahamyan for example. Furthermore, since they were tapping our
phone conversations they knew that an article on police abuse was in
the works." ( tml,
08.html)
According to Investigator Khachatryan there were many possible theories
as to the assault and all were approached from the viewpoint of the
reporter’s professional activities. "She also gave us the name of
National Assembly President Hovik Abrahamyan. Should we have paid him
a visit and interrogated him," asks the investigator who verifies that
they didn’t question him. "She said that the assailants could have been
his guys. Our operative unit followed up on the lead. If there was any
connection we would have come up with it." Investigator Khachatryan
is quick to claim that all possible investigative procedures were
carried out and stresses that, "by the way, the case was being
directly supervised by the minister and even reached the personal
staff of the president."
"Hetq" sent a written request to the RoA Prosecutor General to find out
why a composite police sketch of the man called Karen was never made,
why the phone records weren’t checked, and why "Haykakan Zhamanak"
staff weren’t questioned. In response to our query, Mr. V. Shahinyan,
Head of the Personal Assaults Division, stated, "…The RoA Deputy
Prosecutor General forwarded a written directive to the Avan and
Nor Nork District Prosecutor regarding the criminal case of bodily
assault on Lusineh Barseghyan, instructing the district office to
initiate an examination of the facts pertained therein."
"Hetq" sent a similar letter of inquiry to Chief of Police
Alik Sargsyan. On April 8, we received a response from the Chief
Investigative Department of the RoA Police signed by Lieutenant-Colonel
S. Tzaghikyan. The response answered none of the questions we had
raised. Below is an excerpt of the police statement.
"…Regarding the points raised in your letter that the crime committed
against Lusineh Barseghyan wasn’t solved due to the fact that a full
and exhaustive preliminary examination wasn’t carried out and due to
professional negligence, it is worth noting that a detailed review of
the investigation executed by the Nor Nork investigative unit reveals
that the entire matter was implemented adhering to the strict letter
of the law according to the obligations as specified within the RoA
Criminal Code of Jurisprudence, that all possible measures were taken
to ensure an exhaustive and multi-faceted examination of the case and
that all necessary juridical steps were taken during the preliminary
investigation."
As to why the police failed to directly answer our questions and what
investigative measures weren’t enacted in order to reveal those guilty
of the crime, we’ll cover at a later date.