Turmoil in courtroom after judge announces verdict in Harsnakar case (video)
The Court of General Jurisdiction of Yerevan's Avan and Nor Nork districts today completed the trial in the Harsnakar case. The hearing lasted over two years. The six defendants were sentenced to 12 years in prison and were fined in the amount of AMD 100 000 each. On June 17, 2012, Vahe Avetyan, head of ENT (ear-nose-throat) department at the Defense Ministry’s Yerevan garrison hospital, and his three friends [also army doctors] were subjected to violent beating at the Harsnakar restaurant owned by former MP Ruben Hayrapetyan. After a 12-day fight for his life, Avetyan died in hospital on June 29 without regaining consciousness. The uproar following the death of the military doctor made Hayrapetyan renounce his mandate. Six people, including Ruben Hayrapetyan’s bodyguard, were arrested on charges of beating military physicians at the restaurant. Garik Margaryan, Arman Baghdasaryan, David Adamyan, Arman Khachatryan, Norayr Hayrapetyan and Arthur Babloyan are charged with Article 112, Part 1 of the Armenian Criminal Code (causing life-threatening bodily injuries to two and more persons). After Judge David Harutyunyan announced the verdict, the relatives of the six defendants threw different items on him and badmouthed the lawyers and journalists.
