Details Regarding the Re-examination of the Murder Case from 1994: Gor Abrahamyan

The advisor to the Armenian Prosecutor General, Gor Abrahamyan, has presented details on his Facebook page regarding the decision to send the murder case of Mher Poghosyan, which occurred on April 16, 1994, in a restaurant complex in the village of Taronik, Armavir Province, to the first instance court for a new examination.

“The Prosecutor's Office of the Republic of Armenia has been informed that today, on February 23, 2022, the Court of Cassation has decided to uphold the prosecutor's appeal and to send the case of Mher Poghosyan’s murder, which took place on April 16, 1994, back to the first instance court in Armavir Province for renewed examination,” he clarified.

Abrahamyan reminded that on December 19, 1994, the Ashtarak District Court had issued a verdict in just one day, convicting Harant Grigoryan of committing a crime under Article 259.1(b) of the RA Criminal Code, which pertains to violations of rules regarding the handling of weapons, ammunition, explosives, and other materials, sentencing him to one year of imprisonment.

In July 2018, the police department in Vagharsapat received an application from the victim's son, Eduard Poghosyan, claiming that Harant Grigoryan intentionally killed his father, M. Poghosyan, on April 16, 1994, but the real circumstances of the incident had been misrepresented.

During the preliminary investigation carried out by the Main Military Investigative Department of the RA Investigative Committee, extensive investigative and procedural actions, as well as operational-intelligence measures, revealed new circumstances that had remained unknown to the court at the time of the judicial act, which by themselves proved that the crime committed by the convict was more serious than what he had been sentenced for. This information evidently indicated that Harant Grigoryan had killed Mher Poghosyan on April 16, 1994, due to hooliganistic motives and in a manner endangering many lives, whereas he had only been convicted for violating weapons handling norms.

Moreover, with the signature of the Deputy Minister of Defense of the Republic of Armenia, a document had been issued intending to conceal this fact, which falsely claimed that M. Poghosyan had died during combat operations; subsequently, a personal file had been created in the Ministry of Defense in his name, and he was posthumously awarded a medal for bravery by RA President Robert Kocharian.

Based on the results of the preliminary investigation, the Military Central Prosecutor’s Office decided to initiate proceedings on December 10, 2018, due to new emerging circumstances.

On February 20, 2019, the military prosecutor at the request of the Deputy Prosecutor General, V. Harutyunyan, filed an appeal to review and annul the Ashtarak District Court's ruling of December 19, 1994, and to send the case back to the first instance court for renewed examination.

The Court of Cassation satisfied the military prosecutor's appeal on March 5, 2020.

During the preparation phase of the case, examining the motion by Grigoryan's defense, the first instance court in Armavir Province decided on July 23, 2021, to satisfy the appeal and terminate the criminal proceedings on the grounds that the statute of limitations for criminal liability had expired.

Against this decision, the prosecutor filed an appeal on August 27, 2021, which was fully upheld by the Court of Cassation today. The prosecutor lodged an appeal on the grounds that the first instance court had failed to provide any clear justification in the judicial act as to why it had terminated the criminal prosecution against H. Grigoryan, especially since the Court of Cassation had already established that new circumstances had emerged regarding the commission of potentially more serious offenses (than the one for which he had been previously convicted). Furthermore, the Court of Cassation had noted that the qualification of charges brought against Harant Grigoryan might have been erroneous and that a new, comprehensive, and objective examination was necessary to clarify the actual circumstances of the case and to assign a correct qualification to the crime committed by Grigoryan,” stated Gor Abrahamyan, the advisor to the Prosecutor General of Armenia.