The Sentence in the Cadet Murder Case Has Been Increased

On April 4, 2024, the Court of Appeals partially upheld the appeals of the prosecutor and the representative of the victim's legal successor in the case of the murder of Vahe Bazeghyan, a cadet of the Vazgen Sargsyan Military Institute, and increased the sentence of the defendants in the cadet's murder case, sentencing them to 18 years in prison each.

In particular, the Court of Appeals annulled the verdict of the First Instance Court of General Jurisdiction of Yerevan and altered the legal qualification of the crimes attributed to the defendants Vache Sahakyan, Gnel Tevosyan, Movses Azaryan, and Norik Sahakyan. They were found guilty of committing murder with hooligan motives by a group, as stipulated in part 2, points 7 and 10 of Article 104 of the Criminal Code that was adopted on April 18, 2003.

It should be recalled that Gnel Tevosyan, Norik Sahakyan, Vache Sahakyan, and Movses Azaryan were charged under part 2, points 5, 7, and 10 of Article 104 of the Criminal Code for the act of killing cadet Haykaz Bazeghyan with particular cruelty, together with a group of individuals, under hooligan motives, on January 29, 2015, in the sleeping quarters of the first platoon of the military unit, between 02:00 and 03:00.

On October 23, 2015, the prosecutor confirmed the indictment in the criminal case against Haykaz Bazeghyan and submitted it to the Court of General Jurisdiction of Avan and Nor Nork administrative regions of Yerevan.

The First Instance Court of General Jurisdiction in Yerevan, in its verdict dated April 5, 2022, requalified the charges against the defendants under point 7 of part 2 of Article 104 of the Criminal Code and sentenced them to 15 years in prison each. The appeals of the defense attorneys regarding the acquittal of the defendants were rejected by the Court of Appeals.