THREE LIFE PRISONERS FREED BY ARMENIA'S HIGHEST COURT

UNCLAS YEREVAN 001757

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

DEPT FOR EUR/CARC AND DRL

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PREL PHUM AM
SUBJECT: THREE LIFE PRISONERS FREED BY ARMENIA'S HIGHEST COURT



1. (U) In a very surprising move, Armenia's highest court overturned
the conviction and sentences of three defendants in a controversial
murder case December 22. Soldiers Razmik Sargsian, Musa Serobian
and Araik Zalian had been serving life sentences for the 2003 murder
of two fellow servicemen in Nagorno Karabakh. The case had been
built on the confession of Sargsian, which he later claimed had been
obtained under torture. Sargsian was a cause celebre for Armenian
human rights activists, who were left happy but dumbfounded at the
acquittal. END SUMMARY.


2. (U) During the December 22 hearing, the Court of Cassation
overturned the verdicts of two lower courts: the first instance
court, which sentenced the soldiers to 15-year terms in May 2005,
and the appellate court, which lengthened those terms to life
imprisonment on May 30. The judge ruled that there was no evidence
supporting the three soldiers' guilt. He also cited Armenia's
international obligations under the recently ratified International
Convention Against Torture and Inhuman Treatment, and said the
government is bound to take seriously defendants' claims of
mistreatment. The judge, whose son works for the U.S. Embassy, told
us that Sargsian and his co-defendants remain accused for the crime,
but were freed under a provision of Armenia's Criminal Procedural
Code that allows the judge to send the case back to the Prosecutor
General for re-investigation if he determines the original
investigation was not conducted according to the law. (NOTE: This
is contrary to news reports published immediately after the ruling,
which said the soldiers were acquitted. END NOTE.)

GODFREY