Prosecution failed to prove Demerchyan's guilt, his advocates said at trial in Sochi

At the trial of Mardiros Demerchyan, a builder of Olympic facilities in Sochi, who is accused of a false denunciation of policemen, his defence stated a violation of a number of legal acts of the Russian Federation in the course of the investigation and offered the court to acquit the builder.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on June 12, 2013, Mardiros Demerchyan, a builder of the facilities of the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics, was detained by the police. On the next day, he was brought to hospital from the police station of the Sochi village of Blinovo. Mardiros Demerchyan stated that the policemen beat him and his colleague and exposed him to torture. On July 26, the Investigating Committee of the Russian Federation (ICRF) opened a criminal case against Mardiros Demerchyan on suspicion of false denunciation against the employees of the police station of Blinovo. The law enforcement bodies deny involvement of policemen in infliction of injuries to Mardiros Demerchyan, and investigator refused to institute criminal proceedings against staff members of the police station, where the defendant had been brought to.

At the court session on December 8, the advocate Alexander Boichenko said that the accusation was built on testimonies of policemen who are themselves a party in interest, and offered to return the case for further investigation.

Advocate Alexander Popkov characterised the presented evidence as "clumsy and far-fetched." He also stated that the court had unreasonably, in his estimation, rejected the key motions of the defence.

Mr Popkov has added that in the course of litigation the rights of Demerchyan guaranteed by Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) were violated and stated that the court had failed to question the key defence witness. "His evidence would have been enough not only to acquit Demerchyan, but also to expose the perpetrators and those who shelter them," said the advocate.

The next session is scheduled for December 16; and it is expected that Mardiros Demerchyan will speak out his last plea.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.