Statement by a Group of Civil Society Organizations on the Strategic Partnership between Armenia and the USA
On behalf of the undersigned civil society organizations, we welcome
Arayik Zalyan, one of the three former soldiers who were justified within the famous case of “Mataghis” and is now a lawyer and human rights defender, currently continues to fight for bringing into liability the guilty.
“No investigation was conducted in regard to the complaint-application on the case of our torture; the Prosecutor General Office has not made any decision in this regard, in case when the issue relates to the torture of the soldiers as well as to giving a severe punishment on the grounds of obtained evidence as a result of the torture” – told Zalyan to “Hetq”.
As stated by A. Zalyan, the identity of those persons is known and the latter hold high-level positions now; they have not been subjected to responsibility: on the contrary they have advanced in position hierarchy, for example Armen Hakobyan, Samvel Tonoyan.
“As a matter of fact, in the result of the activities of those people, a judicial mistake was recorded according to which, innocent people were sentenced and the guilty ones were not subjected to liability moreover, got promotions” – highlighted Arayik Zalyan, one of the young soldiers who was justified within the “Mataghis” case.
The justified soldiers have not even received a written apology by the respective body instituting the proceeding as prescribed by the requirements of the RA Criminal Procedure Code.
On behalf of the undersigned civil society organizations, we welcome
Over two dozen Armenian human rights NGOs and individual defenders
Coalition for the ICC The Coalition for the International Criminal
This special report documents how ethnic Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh were