21:33, 8 February 2017

"Public Verdict" urged Moskalkova to take Demerchyan’s case under control

Mardiros Demerchyan with his wife. Photo by Svetlana Kravchenko for the "Caucasian Knot"

At today's court session on the case of the Sochi builder Mardiros Demerchyan, the judge acted objectively, by pointing to investigator’s mistakes and contradictions in testimonies, said the representative of the Fund "Public Verdict".

The “Caucasian Knot” has reported that on June 12, 2013, the builder of the Olympic facilities in Sochi Mardiros Demerchyan was detained; and on the following day, he was brought from the police station to the hospital. Demerchyan claims that power agents tortured him brutally. He was convicted, but then the Territorial Court overturned the verdict; and now the case is retried.

On January 12, the doctor Marina Strabylina, who had examined Demerchyan, stated that her signature in the interrogation protocol was falsified. The defence demanded from Strabylina and investigator Artyom Semenets to come to the court and give samples of their signatures. Today, the investigator and the doctor did it.

Ilya Shatin, an employee of the "Public Verdict" Fund, has expressed his satisfaction with the way the judge conducted the session. He also said that in early February, his fund has sent an appeal to Tatiana Moskalkova, the Russia’ Ombudsperson.

The Fund "Public Verdict" was created in 2004; and its key activity is to defend human rights through legal means.

The appeal states that the practice is widespread in Russia of attracting victims of law enforcers to justice on charges of false denunciation. In this context, the Demerchyan’s case was also mentioned.

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

Author: Svetlana Kravchenko

Source: CK correspondent