May 12, 2011 marked the 4th anniversary of Levon Gulyan's death. So far no state official was held responsible for his death.
General description of the case
On May 9 Levon Gulyan became an eye witness of Stepan Vardanyan's murder. The murder occurred during the fight in the vicinity of Levon Gulayn's restaurant. Levon Gulyan and two of his workers Hayk Melqumyan and Marine Grigoryan were summoned to the Shengavit district police station. Although, Levon Gulyan wrote a testimony, he was held at the police station until the evening of May 10th. Afterwards he was allowed to go home twice but was obliged to return. Levon Gulyan obeyed the request in both cases. After returning to the Shengavit police station the second time, he was transferred to the RA Police Headquarters by the order of the Deputy Head of the Criminal Investigative Department Hovhannes Tamamyan.
On May 12, around 5 pm Levon Gulyan's family was informed that he died. The police officers insisted that he either committed a suicide or died while trying to escape, after jumping from the 3rd floor window. Taking into consideration that members of Gulyan's family saw bruises on his body when he returned home and the fact that Hayk Melqumyan was cruelly beaten at the police station, the family of Levon Gulyan believes that before falling down form the window he was subjected to cruel treatment by the police officers.
The lawyers who were present at the forensic examination refused to provide details but they confirmed that there were signs of violence on Levon Gulyan's body.
The investigation of the case is being implemented since 2007 and during this period the case was terminated several times by the investigative body and was re-opened based on the court decisions.
Last time, in August of 2010, RA Court of Cassation decided that the case should be returned to the Prosecutor's Office to begin the investigation. However, in March of 2011 the case was terminated again.
On May 2, 2011 defense lawyers of Gulyan's legal successors Aram Karakhanayn and Hrayr Ghukasyan lodged the complaint against the decision on the termination of the case with the Court of First Instance of Kentron and Nork Marash Administartive districts.
On May 13 Court of First Instance of Kentron and Nork Marash Administrative districts started the examination of the complaint of the victim's legal successors. Senior prosecutor Harutyun Harutyunyan commented at the court that "the police officers had not found corpus delicti in the actions of anyone" and consequently the case was terminated.
On May 25 the judge of the Court of First Instance of Kentron and Nork Marash Administrative districts Khandanyan decided to satisfy the complaint lodged by the Levon Gulyan's legal successors and obliged the Special Investigative Service to re-start the investigation of the case.
Chronology of the case (in Armenian)
This case was many times reflected in the reports of the international and national human rights NGOs. On May 12, 2011 on the occasion of the 4th anniversary of Levon Gulyan's death, International Federation for Human Rights, Civil Society Institute NGO and Armenian Helsinki Committee issued a joint statement where they called on the Armenian authorities to open a new, transparent and efficient investigation into the circumstances of the death of Levon Gulyan and bring to justice those responsible for his death.
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