Case of Torturing a Citizen to Suicide in Charentsavan Police to Restart from Scratch

In the Charentsavan division of the police, a new investigation will be conducted into the case of torturing a citizen who does not admit guilt and driving him to suicide, ten years after the incident. This was reported by Pashtinfo.

Specifically, this concerns the incident on April 10, 2010, involving Vahan Khalafyan, who was suspected of theft. The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) issued a ruling in 2022 regarding the case.

According to the criminal case, the head of the Charentsavan police’s investigation department, Ashot Harutyunyan, ordered the transfer of Vahan Khalafyan, who was suspected of theft, to the Charentsavan police station on April 10, 2010, around 10 a.m. Without assessing the health condition of the detained individual, who suffered from acute psychosis, hallucinations, and had tendencies for self-harm, Harutyunyan threatened Khalafyan with violence to force him to admit his involvement in the theft.

Khalafyan, however, did not admit to committing a crime, which prompted Ashot Harutyunyan to physically assault him, striking various parts of Khalafyan's body with his hands and feet.

Later that same day, around 5 p.m., in the office of the head of the prophylactic department of the police, Harutyunyan continued the violent treatment of Khalafyan in the presence of a group of officers from the criminal investigation department, again beating him and threatening to spread harmful information about him if he did not confess to participating in the theft.

During these incidents, Ashot Harutyunyan caused Khalafyan bodily harm that did not constitute serious injuries, including scratches on the base of the nose, the front surface of the middle third of the right shin, the right knee area, and the inner surface around the right ankle, among other minor injuries.

As a result of the aforementioned violence, in a state of severe mental distress, Khalafyan took a kitchen knife from a cabinet in the same office and inflicted injuries on himself in the abdomen, leading to his suicide.

Thus, Ashot Harutyunyan is accused of exceeding the limits of his official authority through violence, resulting in serious consequences.

Three other defendants in the case, operational officers of the same division—Mores Hayrapetyan, Garik Davtyan, and Gagik Ghazaryan—are charged with failing to prevent Harutyunyan's actions.

For more details, refer to the original source.