11:42, 3 February 2019

Pashinyan refuses to pardon Mger Enokyan

The Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan has given a negative opinion on the pardoning the lifelong convict Mger Enokyan. A new petition can be filed in a year, but the prisoner is unlikely to do it, his wife has stated.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that opponents of the release of Mger Enokyan's, who was found guilty of murdering a medical university student, gathered signatures to an appeal addressed to Premier Nikol Pashinyan and President Armen Sargsyan asking to deny the pardoning. By January 14, 2019, the appeal gathered about 4500 signatures.

According to the materials of the criminal case, in 1996, an Armenian court sentenced Mger Enokyan to death for a brutal murder of his fellow student Iosif Agadjanov. Later, the sentence was changed for the life imprisonment. In October 2015, the Court of Appeal of Armenia refused to review Enokyan's case due to newly discovered circumstances. The court ignored the opinion of the Independence Forensic Services Examination Centre in the Netherlands about Enokyan's non-involvement in the murder.

On February 1, 2019, Nikol Pashinyan gave his negative opinion on Enokyan's pardoning petition; and it is not subject to clarification, the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was told today at the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) of Armenia.

A pardoning petition may be re-submitted in a year, but Enokyan will not do this, his wife, Zaruhi Medjlumyan, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent without specifying the reasons for such a decision.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on February 2, 2019 at 06:35 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.

Author: Armine Martirosyan

Source: CK correspondent