One Strike Cannot Be Classified as Beating: Prosecutor's Office on Criminal Proceedings Against Gagik Tsarukyan

In relation to a criminal case concerning the harm caused to citizen Vyacheslav Harutyunov at the "Olympavan" sports complex, during which MP Eduard Babayan from the Prosperous Armenia party was found guilty, an investigation has also been conducted into the participation of MP Gagik Tsarukyan in the incident and his actions.

According to Hetq.am, following the aforementioned incident, the police reported that according to the victim's account, he was initially struck by Gagik Tsarukyan, and then subjected to numerous blows by Tsarukyan's security chief, 46-year-old Eduard Babayan, and another unidentified individual. The case, however, has only been forwarded to court regarding Eduard Babayan, prompting us to request clarification from the prosecutor's office about the investigation conducted regarding the circumstances indicated by the victim pertaining to Gagik Tsarukyan.

The response from the prosecutor's office clarifies that the fact of Tsarukyan striking Vyacheslav Harutyunov once during the incident has not been denied; however, one strike, in light of the Supreme Court's legal position, cannot be classified as "beating."

The prosecutor's office stated, “The preliminary investigation within the special investigative service's case did not gather a sufficient combination of interconnected credible evidence that the light injury caused to Vyacheslav Harutyunov, as recorded by the expert's conclusions, is a consequence of the strike from Gagik Tsarukyan. Specifically, it was noted that the expert did not rule out the possibility that the laceration near Vyacheslav Harutyunov's right eyebrow may also have arisen from falling due to his height and striking against a blunt object.”

Furthermore, the investigation was unable to determine whether the concussion sustained by Vyacheslav Harutyunov was a result of the laceration near the right eyebrow or the laceration of soft tissues on the left side of his face, with the latter not containing signs of light injury when considered separately.

Regarding the incident of Gagik Tsarukyan striking Vyacheslav Harutyunov in the face once during the dispute and causing bodily harm that does not contain characteristics of light injury, considering the legal position expressed by the Supreme Court in the case of "Arevik and Tzovinar Sahakyan" that one strike cannot be classified as beating, no criminal proceedings can be initiated against Gagik Tsarukyan under Article 118 of the Criminal Code of the Republic of Armenia.

On this basis, on December 28, 2018, a decision was made not to initiate criminal proceedings against Gagik Tsarukyan due to lack of corpus delicti,” the prosecutor's office stated.

It is noted that in the case sent to court regarding the incident, Eduard Babayan was found guilty of intentionally causing serious harm to health, sentenced to 3 years and 6 months of imprisonment, and released from serving the sentence by amnesty. Babayan has not appealed the verdict.

Vyacheslav Harutyunov, meanwhile, has recanted his testimony against Babayan in court, stating that he slipped and fell, and that the injuries were the result of that. He is now being charged with giving false testimony. This aspect of the case has also been forwarded to court.

Harutyunov's attorney, Roman Sargsyan, did not provide many details regarding the charges against him but assured that his client intends to tell the whole truth about the incident in court.