Video: © 2015, Peace Dialogue, Key witness testifies that his testimony was coerced in the wrongful death of Manuchar Manucharyan.
During the hearing on June 2, 2015 concerning the potential wrongful death of Manuchar Manucharyan, Mr. Arthur Abrahamyan was again called to testify. He had testified before that he was on duty the day of the incident. However, in this appearance, the witness renounced most of his previous testimony given during the preliminary investigation explaining that he had given those testimonies under pressure and threatening.
During the hearing the witness testified that that his testimony was coerced with unacceptable methods of investigation: he was intimidated, threatened with a stick, and beaten. Moreover, it was threatened that his parents would be summoned to testify. Through this and other actions he was forced to give false testimonies and describe events which in fact he had not witnessed and said unequivocally that his testimony regarding the murder was a lie from the beginning to the end and that it has nothing to do with reality.
The witness announced that in fact he did not know Manuchar Manucharyan, which he said he did in his previous testimony. He had testified that he saw Manuchar a few times in the morning of the day the incident happened. He previously testified that he had first seen Manucharyan talking to captain Muradyan, and that later he saw Manuchar together with Babken Gaboyan entering a room in the unit for household duties and then the latrine, after which Manucharyan came out with his head lowered and depressed.
Using this and other testimony, the preliminary investigative body sought to justify the hypothesis that M. Manucharyan committed suicide and that he was driven to commit suicide. Mr. A. Abrahamyan does not know the names and the surnames of those who threatened him and forced to give false testimonies, however at court he announced that they were wearing uniforms and that he was questioned in the “investigative department”. He also added that he can recognize these people if he sees them again.
Mr. A. Abrahamyan, the witness, also informed the court that he was testified more than six times, however he also said that he does not remember exactly how many times it was. The testimonies were extorted from the witness by two or three persons, who, as expected, did not explain to the witness his rights. The facts are that his first testimony is dated sixteen days after the incident. The investigator V. Haroutyunyan violated a number of provisions of the law in his report as he did not mention the exact location of the crime scene; he mentioned only city Yerevan and it is also improper that he questioned the witness late in the evening, from 9:45-11:40 p.m.
It is important to note, that Mr. A. Abrahamyan’s false testimony serves as a basis not only for the indictment but also for the posthumous forensic psychological examination. Moreover, based on this so-called “evidence” forensic psychologist Elda Grin concluded that the actions of the two defendants Gaboyan and Stepanyan could cause M. Manucharyan to commit suicide.
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