Classmate Murdered, Body Hung to Conceal Evidence; Verdict Released

Today, on March 5, at the "Avan" seat of the Yerevan Court of General Jurisdiction, the verdict in the case of the murder of Vazgen Sargsyan Military University cadet Haykaz Barseghyan was announced. The presiding judge David Harutyunyan revealed the final part of the ruling.

According to lawyer.net, the accusation against Gnel Tevosyan was requalified under point 7 of part 2 of Article 104 of the Criminal Code. He was found guilty under this article and sentenced to 15 years in prison, with the term of imprisonment counted from January 29, 2015. Norik Sahakyan's charge was also requalified under the same article, leading to the same sentencing. Vahe Sahakyan was acquitted under part 1 of Article 389 of the Criminal Code for lack of corpus delicti.

As a result, Gnel Tevosyan, Norik Sahakyan, and Movses Azaryan were all found guilty under point 7 of part 2 of Article 104 and sentenced to 15 years as well, with their terms starting from January 30, 2015.

The individuals' detention measures were left unchanged until the verdict enters into legal force. Haykaz Barseghyan’s father's civil lawsuit was partially upheld, mandating the defendants to pay 1.5 million drams as compensation for direct damages caused by the crime. Additionally, the court approved the collection of 1 million 191 thousand 846 drams from the defendants as court costs.

The verdict will enter into legal force one month after its announcement, unless appealed in the appellate court. It is important to note that the accused in Haykaz Barseghyan's murder case are his classmates: cadets Gnel Tevosyan, Norik Sahakyan, Vahe Sahakyan, and Movses Azaryan.

According to the charges, they brutally murdered cadet Haykaz Barseghyan in the barracks between 02:00 and 03:00 on January 29, 2015, then hung his body from a pull-up bar at a sports ground to conceal the crime, leaving a message that implied it was a suicide. The accused have denied their guilt.

Case materials indicate that on the day of the murder, Tevosyan, Sahakyan, Azaryan, and Sahakyan were celebrating a birthday and consuming alcohol. Despite traces of alcohol found in Tevosyan’s blood sample, he insisted he had not consumed any. The materials state that the accused discussed throwing Haykaz Barseghyan out of the window before deciding to stage a suicide by hanging him from the sports ground. They even wrote a couplet in his name, forged his handwriting, claiming that no one should be blamed for his death.

According to the prosecution, after the murder, Gnel Tevosyan returned to the barracks where Haykaz Barseghyan was sleeping and threatened fellow servicemen not to disclose anything about what happened in the room.

Notice: The suspect or accused in a crime is presumed innocent until proven guilty in the manner prescribed by the Criminal Procedure Code of the Republic of Armenia, by a verdict that has entered into legal force.