Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly-Vanadzor

On December 29, 2018, the body conducting the proceedings decided to reject the injured party’s petition to transfer the Russian serviceman accused of Gyumri resident Julieta Ghukasyan’s death to RA penitentiary institution from the Russian military base.

On December 21, 2018, J. Ghukasyan’s successor’s representatives – HCA Vanadzor chairman A. Sakunts and Organization’s lawyers Arayik Zalyan and Hayk Hakobyan- submitted a petition to A. Mnoyan – investigator of Particularly Important Cases of RA Investigative Committee Shirak region investigative department – who conducts the examination of the case, to transfer accused A.R., who is held in Russian Federation 102 military base, to the appropriate RA penitentiary institution.

The petition was substantiated by the fact that “Agreement between the Russian Federation and the Republic of Armenia on jurisdiction and mutual legal assistance in cases related to the presence of Russian military base on the territory of the Republic of Armenia ” states that “In cases of crimes and other offenses committed in the territory of the Republic of Armenia by members of the Russian military base and by family members of those persons, the legislation of the Republic of Armenia is applied, and the case is investigated by RA competent authorities.” And it is a fact that the Russian military base is located on the territory of the Republic of Armenia.

RA Investigative Committee Shirak region investigative department deputy head V. Samvelyan mentions in the decision of refusing the petition that after the arrest, transferring A.R. from the Russian military base to the RA appropriate institution contadicts to the legislation of the Russian Federation.  

Whereas, it is clearly stated in the agreement that in case of offences committed by persons included in the military base, RA legislation is applied. Therefore, RA Criminal Procedure Code and RA law “On holding arrested and detained persons” should be applied, i.e. Russian serviceman A.R. should be held in facilities intended for holding detained/arrested persons that operate in structures of public administration authorized bodies of the Republic of Armenia.Russian 102 military base is not such a place. Moreover, the offence committed is not classified among the exceptions of the agreement signed between Russian Federation and Republic of Armenia, in cases of which RF legislation is applied.

On January 17, 2019, with these substantiations, the representatives of the victim’s successor appealed to the RA Shirak region prosecutor Karen Gabrielyan the decision of the conducting body (dated December 29, 2018) on rejecting the petition. They mentioned that only in case of transferring A.R. to the appropriate RA penitentiary institution, it will be possible to claim the full, objective and comprehensive examination established by Article 17 of the RA Criminal Procedure Code.