Nagorno-Karabakh: court rejected re-examination of suspect in soldiers' massacre

Court hearings on the case of the murder of four soldiers at a Karabakh Army's position continue in Nagorno-Karabakh. The request for re-examination to define the mental state of Manvel Azroyan, the defendant, was denied. The court will continue its work on August 3.

Starting June 16, Nagorno-Karabakh hosts the trial on the case of the murder of four soldiers, which was committed on November 19, 2010, in a military unit of the Defence Army of Nagorno-Karabakh. In the incident four soldiers were killed and three others injured. The investigators believe that the incident was caused by a violation of military discipline.

On July 19 Manvel Azroyan confessed of the murder of his colleagues, saying that he did not understand himself, "how that had happened". On July 26, his lawyers requested another medical examination to define the mental state of Azroyan. The advocate said that Azroyan was mentally unbalanced and that he committed the crime in the affective state. The prosecutor opposed the new medical examination of the defendant.

Today the judge announced that the request for re-examination to define the defendant Azroyan's mental state was denied "since the defendant had already passed the medical examination and experts confirmed his sanity".

Then the prosecutor asked to give him several days to prepare the final accusatory pleading. Despite the protest of the defence lawyers, the judge decided to appoint the next session for August 3.