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Tragedy in Martuni Town
In Martuni a real tragedy happened.
On November 23, 2009 an argument between the husband and the wife had turned into a fight and then it became out of control.
Apparently, the differences were of an irreconcilable nature and as a result, first 43-year-old Armen A. stabbed his wife Susanna, and then the wife's father, 62-year-old Azat Barseghian. The ambulance took the victims to the Martuni Central Hospital, where they were operated on, but the next evening, despite all efforts of the doctors, Azat Barseghian died. The "hero" of the tragedy has been arrested.
Armen Revazyan
“Novoye vremya” Daily Newspaper
26.11.09.
Unofficial translation
For Armenian version, click here.
Land Problem
The resident of Tsovinar village in Gegharquniq marz (region), Susanna Ohanyan, was born in 1990, and married Onik Mrteyan - the resident of Zolaqar village. They had two children - Samvel and Geghetskuhi. As a result of domestic arguments, Onik and Susanna had decided to live separately from Onik’s parents. By the verdict of the court, Onik received two rooms from his father’s house, as well as a cattle shed, however, as Susanna had mentioned, they were not provided with necessary accommodation and protection areas – toilet, drinking and irrigation water, etc. In her letter addressed to “Aravot” Press Office, Susanna wrote that everything became worse in 2001- after her husband Onik Mrteyan's death. “My father-in-law's family, not being satisfied with many years of continuous prosecutions, bitterness, anguish caused to us, had taken away the roofs slates, columns, they are pouring their domestic animals manure in front of our door, the flies and the mosquitoes fly into house just from the manure. They threaten us and demand that we leave their house.” About all this, Susanna Ohanyan had complained to everyone - beginning from Gegharquniq region’s Mayor's Office up to the Ombudsman Office, RA President's and his wife’s offices. Nevertheless, nothing was changed. From the Mayor’s Office Tsovinar received a reply that no roof cover had been destroyed and the complainant had the possibility to use the irrigation water.
The death of Susanna's husband was followed by the transfer of his heritage to his children and here the late husband’s parents had announced that Onik in June 13, 1999 had a daughter-Mariam Mrteyan, from another woman in Karabagh. They also presented that girl’s birth certificate that confirmed their statement. Due to that, some part of 0,5 ha of land, which was to be received by Susanna’s two children, was to be given just to Mariam. However, based on the complaint presented by Susanna Ohanyan, the Nagorno Karabagh Qashatagx region department of registration of civil acts and the Court of General Jurisdiction of Gegharquniq region in 2008 had confirmed and admitted that a false document was presented. The court issued a verdict to recognize Samvel and Geghetckuhi Mrteyan’s property right to their father’s lands. According to Susanna’s letter, her father-in-law ignored the court’s verdict and continued to dispose of the land that does not belong to him. Nobody called him to responsibility for presenting a false document. After all, Susanna Ohanyan had to apply to us: “The land is registered to me, we are paying taxes but we do not use it. We are in a heavy social condition. We can hardly put ends together with the help of my parent’s pension remnants, and in a week, the situation is the same. Help us to find justice,” Susanna Ohanyan summarized her letter addressed to “Aravot” Daily newspaper.
A. Z.
“Aravot” Daily
21.11.09.
Unofficial translation
For Armenian version, click here.
Dangerous Passions
Their life together lasted only 4-5 years. During that period, they had managed to have a child. However, routine quarrels gradually became unbearable, and daily reciprocal insults and resentments had not spared each other's nerves and the small child's psychic world. Then they decided that the only way out was divorce. In the result, little Alfred, not understanding anything from the grown-ups “noisy” affairs, had “left” the house and transferred with his mother to her father’s house: From that time he had to see his father only on special days that the grown-ups had defined for him...
Beginning on that day, Albert Hambartcumyan came after his son in the days that were defined for him, trying to fill days without him, and after the completion of his time took the son back to his mother. However, in the course of all five months after the divorce the relationship of the previous family was such.
On the day of the father’s and son’s next meeting, at the end of the meeting, Albert Hambartcumyan was taking his five-year-old son home as usual to hand him to his mother.
The previous spouses' child’s “admission - handling” process was being carried out outside. Tamara was coming down to the passage next to her father’s house, taking the son and going away in a rush. What feelings were inside the baby’s soul, how difficult were for him the departing hours, was not important, that was the boy’s fate, which was compelled by the parents' intolerance, imprudence and egoism.
Father's and son's next meeting term completed. Before handling the boy to his mother, Albert Hambartcumyan, keeping his small hand, was walking in the park when he met his cousin there. They went together towards Tamara’s house. When they reached there, Albert phoned Tamara to come and take the child. Before Tamara could come down, the cousin took the child to the shop to buy sweets for him. As an answer to the question “Where is the child?,” Albert offered to wait a bit until his cousin and the child would come back. As for some minutes they had to stay next to each other, they decided not to lose time and filled the time insulting each other. The first was Tamara and then her mother joined her.
The argument lasted a short time: in her mother’s company, she left, saying that she would come down only when she saw her son from the window. However, even after seeing her child from the window, she refused to come and take the baby. The previous hatred between them was so deep that they could not bear each other’s presence even for a short time, even for the child’s sake. They agreed by phone that Albert would bring the child in the morning of the next day. However, Albert Hambartcumyan was not one who could bear his ex-wife’s caprice, moreover, that he had heard that she was meeting with someone. His brave self-respect did not allow him to “swallow” such dishonor, it was already sufficient time that the “ownership” passions were violating his rest, it did not matter that the sense prompting him that the woman was not still his, that all the rights he had on her were out of time.
Tamara’s contemptuous behavior and insults were more kindling dangerous passions, overfilling Albert, in the course of the whole night directing him to wicked programs. The problem to take revenge from Tamara was already solved; he also decided the type of revenge and was waiting for the morning. Tamara-his ex wife, his child’s mother, had to die. That was an indubitable decree. What would he benefit from it – the possibility to become the only “owner” of the son, who became an orphan, a compensation for being deceived, flouted: the proof of having dignity? In reality handling the preference to govern him over the passions, he was solving the problem of “his” self, a false, artificial problem, the real answer to which gives the Criminal Code...
It was dawning. Albert, being loyal to the decree of the night, was taking the fuel bought in the previous day, aiming to clean the work overalls and gоt down to business. As a beginning, at first he phoned Tamara to come to the passage to take the child, and the woman, trying to dissipate her doubts, wanted to speak with the boy, to become sure that he was awake at that early hour and was ready to return to his mother. Albert had to awaken the baby and the sleepy baby, as he had been told, said that he was coming to his mother. The beginning, though a bit changed, was quite successful. Albert returned the son to the bed to continue sleeping, and he took the fuel and went to the meeting with Tamara. The city was just awakening. There was nobody in the passage: a bit later Tamara’s steps were heard.
Albert counted her steps and when the woman approached, he attacked her, throwing her on the ground and beating up with hands, feet, and then taking the fuel, poured it on the woman's face and burned the lighter. The woman's sorrowful yells were spreading in the surroundings. The woman was burning and he was continuing to fall blows on her…
Fortunately, a neighbor and the shop cleaner heard her yells, felt the burning smell, and ran to help her. Albert ran away, and the women and passers-by saved the burning Tamara, put out the fire and called up the Ambulance. Due to circumstances, the murder, planned with special cruelty, was not brought to the end. The time can hardly cure the scars of the young woman’s face and soul, and the years of imprisonment may clean up Albert Hambartcumyan’s soul from cruelty.
The biggest and real victim here is the five-year-old boy, whose childhood from now on will continue in the atmosphere of hatred, which he will not understand anything from the adults’ cruel affairs: he is still too small. He needs love and caresses; smiles and tender, sparkling things are necessary for him, conditions for enjoying baby's prank are fit, so that he grows up a good man...
The preliminary investigation of the criminal case, initiated in the Police Investigation Department of Shengavit district, was completed. Albert Hambarjumyan was proposed a charge by the Criminal Code articles 34-104 part 2 point 5 (attempted murder with extreme cruelty).
Hasmik Poghosyan
“02” Weekly,
13.11.09
Unofficial translation
For Armenian version, click here.
Because of Jealousy
At night on October 29, 2009, Saribek Petrosyan's two-room apartment was completely burnt out. It was located on the forth floor of one of five-storied buildings in Azatamut village of Tavush Marz (region). The fire started at three o’clock at night. Two fire trucks arrived from Ijevan city, they extinguished the fire, but nothing was left of the house. The head of Azatamut village, Zhora Martirosyan, who had been at the place of the event several times, said that because of the fire extinguishing work the apartment of the neighbor below had also suffered extremely because of the tons of water poured into the building.
The residents of Azatamut thought that Saribek, who was over 70 years and had resettled from Martuni region, was jealous of his 60-65 year old Tatar wife and just in the result of that jealousy, nowadays Othello had gathered the house goods in the middle of the house and put them on fire. Saribek Petrosyan was working as a guard. His grown-up sons were living in Russia. The victim had told the Head of the village that his wife had forgotten to switch off the iron and the fire started for that reason. However, it is senseless to talk about ironing at three o’clock at night. We found out from Karlen Matinyan, the Head of the Ijevan Fire Inspection, that the fire was the result of a deliberate arson, and that the Ijevan Police department was investigating the case. By the way, relevant institutions are keeping silence regarding these allegations.
Voskan Sargsyan
“Aravot” Daily
04.11.09
Unofficial translation
For Armenian version, click here.
Amnesty International: South Caucasus Must Promptly Adopt and Enforce Legislation on Domestic Violence
AI index: EUR 04/002/2009
25 September 2009
Days before the prevention of violence against women will be discussed during the Human Dimension Implementation Meeting of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, Amnesty International urges the governments of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia to pledge to make elimination of domestic violence a government priority in the field of human rights. Though some tentative steps have been taken by governments in the region to address domestic violence, the countries’ current legislation, mechanisms and procedures are failing to provide victims of domestic and sexual violence with access to justice as well as to the healthcare, legal and social services necessary to empower the victims and eliminate violence in the family.
The governments of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia should implement their obligations under international human rights law to counter domestic violence, including through full and prompt implementation of the recommendations made by the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women in recent years, as well as recommendations of the Standing Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, in Resolution 1544 on the situation of women in the South Caucasus, 2007.
Adoption and enforcement of relevant legislation
Among the first steps should be the immediate adoption of relevant legislation and implementation mechanisms such as national plans of action to counter domestic violence. The governments of Armenia and Azerbaijan must adopt laws on domestic violence while Georgia must enforce existing legislation. All three countries must adopt and implement up-to-date plans of action to counter domestic violence.
Georgia introduced a law on domestic violence in May 2006; however, while stipulating that temporary shelters for victims of domestic violence should be set up, the implementation of this provision was postponed until 2008. In 2007 the Government of Georgia adopted the national Action Plan on Measures to Prevent and Combat Domestic Violence for 2007-2008 to guide the implementation of the activities envisaged by the law. However, it was approved late and appeared to further delay the setting up of shelters. In April 2009, the new plan of action on domestic violence for 2009-2010 was approved with the aim of improving state policy and the protection and rehabilitation of survivors of domestic violence. The national referral mechanism for survivors of domestic violence was adopted in July 2009 and the first state-sponsored shelter is expected to open in Tbilisi by April 2010. Despite the progress, however, the recent non-governmental monitoring indicates that much work needs to be done to put the adopted legislation and relevant decrees into practice.
In Armenia and Azerbaijan the relevant drafts of a law on domestic violence have been in discussion since 2007. In Armenia, in 2007 the Women’s Rights Centre (WRC) initiated the elaboration of a draft law on domestic violence. The WRC established a working group composed of officials invited from the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs and the Republic of Armenia Police and legal experts to draft a law explicitly criminalizing domestic violence and providing for effective mechanisms to provide protection and support to its victims. The draft is still being developed by a working group; Amnesty International has made recommendations to improve the law. It has not yet been placed before Parliament.
According to official Azerbaijani sources, a draft law on domestic violence was due to be considered by Parliament by the end of 2009. The current draft addresses domestic violence, contains protection measures, counselling, rehabilitation and support services for female victims, as well as guidelines for the punishment of perpetrators.
Amnesty International welcomes the steps taken towards introducing domestic violence laws in Armenia and Azerbaijan. However, it urges the governments of Armenia and Azerbaijan to now move promptly towards the adoption and implementation of legislation that would significantly improve protection for women’s physical and mental integrity as well as their social and economic rights and bring the governments closer to compliance with their obligations under international human rights law. The prompt adoption of such a law would also be in line with the recent recommendations of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women which urged Armenia to “enact, without delay, legislation specifically addressing domestic violence against women” and Azerbaijan to “accelerate the adoption of the draft law on domestic violence and ensure that it contains provisions pertaining to sexual violence within the family”.
With regard to Georgia, Amnesty International calls on its government to ensure that the shelter is established as soon as possible, and that prompt and effective implementation of legislation and the plan of action is carried out.
Prevention of domestic violence and the provision of support to survivors
Parallel to the adoption of dedicated laws and their implementation mechanisms, such as plans of action, the governments of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia should prioritize measures to prevent domestic violence and provide support to survivors. Sufficient funds should be promptly made available to implement activities necessary to end domestic violence and provide protection to the victims.
In particular, survivors of domestic violence should have access to support services through a nationwide network of crisis centres and shelters offering advice and protection. Counsellors should be trained and have links with the relevant agencies, including the police, social services, legal expertise, health and housing services, so as to be able to provide a swift referral service.
The authorities must begin to provide longer term solutions for survivors of domestic violence in order to fulfil their obligation to prevent discrimination against women. These should include, but not be limited to, the provision of and accessibility of women survivors of domestic violence to vocational training, assistance with securing employment allowing financial independence from (former) husbands and partners, and ensuring the availability of adequate and safe housing.
For more information please call Amnesty International's press office in London, UK, on +44 20 7413 5566 or email: press@amnesty.org
International Secretariat, Amnesty International, 1 Easton St., London WC1X 0DW, UK www.amnesty.org
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"I Had Thrown Them Out of the House..."
They say that each man in his life has to plant a tree, build a house and have a son. Years ago, Yerevan resident Grigor Grigoryan had built a house and had had a son.
Grigor and Seda married in 1984. The spouses were happy. The family atmosphere became warmer and they loved each other more when their children were born.
Years followed each other. Disagreements started to rise around minor domestic and non-domestic issues; the spouses’ relationship became tense. No sign of the previous warmth; the family atmosphere became cold and repellant. Intolerance governed at home. The parents’ cold treatment had an influence on the children: everyday arguments were destroying not only the adults', but also the children's inner world.
Their joint life became impossible and in 1994, Grigor and Seda divorced. The wife, taking her three children, settled in one of Armavir Marz villages.
In a year after the divorce, by the verdict of the court of Erebuni and Nubarashen communities, Seda and her children were provided with a living space from the ex-husband's detached house. In spite of this, Seda and the children preferred to stay in the village.
After some years, when the children already grown up and the time came to get an education, Seda's daughters moved to Yerevan: however, they did not reside in the area provided to them by law. In order to avoid possible quarrels with their father, they rented housing in Sari Tagh. Though the children were studying and living in Yerevan, they did not have any contact with their father, especially since they knew that he had married again and had a new family.
After a while, Seda could not pay the rent, and the children had to move to their father's house. Everything was going very well until in March of 2009. Seda's and Grigor's son, whose birth had given such happiness to his father, had to move toYerevan in order to be registered for service in the Army. From the very first day of settling in his father's house, the latter started arguments and fights with his son...
On March 31, 2009, around 2.00 p.m., the children were at home when their father, his wife and his mother – their grandmother, came in. Without any explanation, the father demanded that the children leave the house. The children did not obey and an argument started. The father first struck his son several times, then threw him out of the house, and after that he threw out his daughters too. Closing the entrance door behind them, he returned and threw the children’s clothes out of the living room window…
At Erebuni Police Investigation Department, based on the facts of what happened, a criminal case was filed according to Article 18 of the RA Criminal Code. During the pre-investigation, the pre-trial investigator requested a forensic medical examination.
The trial investigator, Garegin Hovhannisyan, was informed that Grigoryan did not recognize himself as guilty of the accusation, saying that during the argument he did not beat his son, but he had only embraced him and taken him out of the house...
The pre-investigation has been terminated and the case is in the court.
Anna Aslanyan
“02” Weekly, N26 (925)
03-07-2009
Unofficial translation
For Armenian version, click here.
Difficult Prevention
Prevention measures, implemented against the virus called prostitution, have their unique complications. “This is my body and it is my affair how to treat it,” is the main armor used by prostitutes. However, this phenomenon has a public resonance, which is conditioned with a number of reasons, the first and the most important is that it is a source of sexual diseases. Thus, in the struggles against prostitution, the prevention measurements of police have a repetitive character. Within the framework of the program of prostitution prevention, a joint program of different police service actions has been approved. Thus, the Police Department of the Struggle Against Organized Crime and “Public Order Preservation”, Yerevan city departments, and lower organizations periodically organize and pass revisions at the places of prostitutes' gathering and the prostitutes are sent to the dermato-venereological center for examination. At the same time that the international progressive experience regulating the sphere is permanently studied, the structures in the territory of the Republic that can become a stimulus for the development of prostitution are also studied. We note that the activity of many has been terminated. From June 17 until June 27, 2009, the police officers of the Department of Struggle Against Organized Crime, the road police of the Yerevan city Department and Shengavit division, and the Department of Public Order Preservation organized several revisions at the possible places of prostitutes’ gathering. The result of the revisions was visible: 102 prostitutes were moved to the dermato-venereological center of the Ministry of Health for a check of their health. Corresponding documents were filed concerning those persons. During the revisions, the employees of the Road Police transferred 12 vehicles to the penalty ground, where prostitutes were hiding. Police officers of the Department of Struggle Against Organized Crime also discovered two girls at the age of 19 and 21 years who were forced to be involved in prostitution. Thanks to the applied operative-investigation activities, on June 17, 2009, Gagik Manukyan, a 41-year-old resident of Yerevan, was brought to the police department. It was discovered that in January, he, together with his 53-year-old wife, invited some girls to his house and offered them jobs: the spouses were going to bake pies and the girls would sell them in the vehicle market. However, the girls had not sold any pie; the spouses had involved them in prostitution. Moreover, after a search of Gagik Manukyan’s house, the police officers discovered and confiscated 32 grams of marihuana. The struggle against prostitution and trafficking, in spite of its specific complications, is always real, and the results - perceptible. Within the framework of that struggle, thanks to the joint activities applied by the Department of Struggle Against Organized Crime, Interpol, the Police Department of Qanaqer-Zeytun district, and the “Zvartnots” airport police department, Marietta Muradyan, born in 1966, adjudged in the past, and Gohar Gevorgyan, born in 1962, were arrested at "Zvartnotc" airport. Both are under international investigation. In the course of the first half of 2009, the police officers have discovered two people who were under investigation for organizing of dens of prostitution, as well as arrested five persons for trafficking. Hasmik Poghosyan 26 (925) 03-07-2009 For Armenian version, click here.
The Song Gave Birth to Jealousy and Jealousy to Crime
A year ago, a Yerevan city resident, 45-year-old Onik Hakobyan, fell in love, left his wife and son, and started living with his mistress in a half-ruined garage in the neighborhood at the crossroad of Leningradyan and Atenk streets. For the sake of this new love, he left his home and preferred to live in that ruin. Good or bad, they were living together, they were even happy, in their imaginative love, until the disastrous day when they hosted Yulia’s brother and his girl friend, Nikol and Armen, who lived in the neighboring garage. To meet guests is a beautiful tradition, and Onik and Yulia behaved as hospitable hosts. They ate, drank, and then they listened to the music by mobile phone. Their mood had become high when Yulia and Nikol started to sing along with the song coming from the mobile phone. They were enjoying themselves emptying the vodka and the so-called singers Yulia and Nikol were making the late dinner joyful. How could they know that the devils had surrounded Onik's soul, his brain stupefied, and he became blind with jealousy and was thinking about cruel and severe things. It was rather late when Nikol and Armen said farewell and left, but Yulia's brother and his girl friend wanted to stay at Onik's home. However, Onik impatiently waited for the guests' leaving in order to beat his wife, who was singing with Nikol. So, Onik refused rudely, almost threw them out. When they were alone, ? real nightmare started for Julia. Onik beat and beat her with the sticks. With a piece of iron, he beat her hands and legs. Yulia tried to defend herself, the witnesses of that were the tracks of her nails on his face, but then she fell down with no force... The number of injuries on Yulia's body was so great that one could be astonished on viewing them. Nothing moved in Onik's soul even for a moment. He beat the feeble woman until she died. Then he left, wandered in the parks, and in the morning, returning to their shelter, he found Yulia dead. The drunkenness and passions had disappeared and he directed his steps towards the police department... Karine Muradyan “02” Daily N24 (923) 19.06.09 Unofficial translation For Armenian version, click here.
The “Return” of the Ex-Spouse
Sorrowful it sounds, but we have to state that divorces have become common and more frequent. It is a phenomenon that brings suffering both to the husband and the wife, their children, relatives and close people. According to American doctor-psychologists, divorce weakens women’s immune system by making them more vulnerable. Divorced people are more prone to address to doctors and psychologists. However, it has not been thoroughly investigated how divorce reflects upon men’s immune systems, although there is data that family problems, including divorce, have a notable influence on men. The doctors registered an interesting fact that men deprived of family are four times more likely to be subject to cardiovascular disease. Moreover, in most traffic accidents, the victims are divorced men. Another research study has shown that in the course of the last 150 years, no divorced man has appeared in the list of long-lived persons. These facts point to the ideas that the family is necessary for both men and women. We do not even talk about the terrible influence it has on the children: as if they are not the biggest “proprietors” in the world, and in no case will they agree to “share” their father or mother with some other person, or to see another father or mother. Divorce influences the child more if the latter thinks that he is to be blamed for it. A feeling of guilt rises in children, some of them become more aggressive, some study poorly, or some children run away from home. Thus, it is necessary to keep and preserve the family not only for the sake of the child, but also for the sake of the adults, the state and a healthy society... Sona and Aram got married in 2004. Their son and daughter were the source of the parents' happiness and love. However, quarrels around routine problems gradually became frequent and turned to family worries. That resulted in the fact that in 2008, Sona took the children and moved to her parents’ place. It seemed that the solution of the problem was found: the arguments and fights will stop, the children will not witness ugly scenes. Nevertheless, in reality conditions turned worse. From the first day of moving the quarrels became worse… Aram visited the children in the house of his wife’s parents. In addition, every visit ended with quarrels and fights. Sometimes Sona’s parents interfered in the arguments, which made conditions more difficult. The day of the next visit was on January 6, 2009. It was already midnight when Aram drove to the house of his father-in-law in his friend’s car, it was just the exact time he wanted to see his children. Reaching the house gates, he got out of the car and started to talk loudly and laugh with somebody by phone. Sona recognized her husband’s voice. Understanding, that trouble would happen, she phoned Aram and asked him to leave. Nevertheless, whom was she talking to? Aram had no desire to leave. Sona was sure that soon he would wake everybody and a quarrel and fight would become unavoidable. After talking by phone, Aram again got into the car and started driving up and down the street. Then he struck the gates with the car and continued driving up and down. Sona’s parents woke up from the sound of the strike. Becoming informed as to what was going on, Sona’s father tried to talk to his ex-son-in-law. While “traveling” by car, Aram was also piling unprintable words on Sona’s family. Considering all those not enough, he switched on the car alarm system and continued driving up and down. In the neighborhood, this made everybody wake up too. However, for a moment it seemed that Aram had gone away; it was silent. Thinking that he calmed down, the father-in-law locked the gates and went in. In reality, Aram had not gone, and after his father-in-law went in, he again started driving up and down, simultaneously crying out unprintable words; he managed to strike the gates once again. Seeing that the son-in-law did not calm down, Sona’s father decided to come out and talk to him. The gate door had been belted and did not open because of the strike. Aram, inspired that his actions remained without any answer, continued his “affair” louder... Hooligan actions, lasting around twenty minutes, ended, when he knew that the people had called the police... Concerning these facts, in the Police Operative Department of Malatia district a criminal case was initiated according to the Part 2 Article 258 of the RA Criminal Codex. The trial investigator, Vladimir Minassyan, noted in the presented accusation that Aram recognized himself as completely guilty, gave prejudicial evidence and repented his deeds. As a restraint against him, taking his signature was chosen as a pledge not to leave the city. The preliminary investigation is completed and the case is in the court now. Anna Aslanyan 02 Daily N24 (923) 19.06.2009 Unofficial translation For the Armenian version, click here.
The Sectarian Father
We have written a lot about sects in general, and about the negative consequences of joining sects, to point out the real picture, and with the help of these publications, to give the people the chance to analyze, weigh their own steps and only then make the choice. We never force people to join this or that sect or put an obligatory intonation in our speech, as the obligation itself is neglected and it has the opposite influence, as it happened in the case of a family living in Davitashen, an outskirt of Yerevan. It was not excluded that the convincing of the family’s mother played a great role, as she was against any sect being imported into her house… Having lived under the same roof and having children, the divorced spouses seldom saw each other. The wife was working so as not to deprive her children of anything. Every day, early in the morning, she went to work, having no idea that her ex-husband was visiting their children in her absence. The visits of the father, having the purpose of seeing the children because he missed them, would be acceptable and the woman would not have minded it: but it appeared that paternal emotions had no role there. He was a member of some sect and in fact, he was visiting his children every day to proselytize. Of course, the mother was aware that the ex-husband had always wanted to extend his learning to his children, too. However, as to the fact that he was taking advantage of her absence to reach his goal, she was not aware, until October 15, 2008, when the children complained or innocently chatted that as soon as their mother went to work, the father would come and teach them his learning. This fact bothered the woman and made her angry. The next day she decided not to go to work. At 8:30, confident that his wife was long ago at work, the father again visited the children. The wife's presence did not embarrass him from obliging his children to sit down and listen to him, though the wife was always against that type of enforcement. This time again, the woman’s objections were ignored, and having no way out, the woman had to call to the Police. ?he positive influence of the call immediately became visible. The husband silently left the apartment. After waiting for a while, confident that her husband had already gone, the woman decided to go to work and left the apartment. However, the husband had not gone. He had been waiting for his wife, and decided to see her go off to work in peace, and then he would continue his psychological lessons. A quarrel started between them, which made the man angry. He attacked his wife, started dragging her, then caught her head, slightly turned her neck and threw her on the ground. Some neighbors witnessed this scene, but they did not interfere into the ex-spouses' argument, just looked at them with heavy hearts and left indifferently. Later, they gave the same evidence as witnesses under questioning. ?he helpless woman escaped her husband’s hands and ran back to home; her husband burst into the apartment too, but he could not manage to do anything to either his wife, nor the children, as the policemen entered the apartment immediately after them and prevented the further expansion of the spouses’ argument, which, it was not excluded, could have had heavier consequences. The arrested did not recognize himself as guilty, and being aware of his rights, he refused to give evidence. Certainly, that did not hinder the procedure to recognize the offender guilty due to the proofs presented by the witnesses, and the evidence acquired by the criminal case investigation that he had harmed his wife, and his crime was proved. However, it was important that by his refusal, the man continued to not accept his guilt. He did not understand at all that, especially in matters of belief, enforcement is a rejected and unacceptable approach, and in the first place, it contradicts any religious doctrine. However, it is necessary that proselytizers higher in the hierarchy explain all of the above to half-educated soul hunters. Additionally, the accused underwent a medical examination, according to Article 117 of the RA Criminal Codex. The conclusion showed that the accused did not suffer from any psychiatric disease, but he had a person’s unstable emotional infringement (psychopath). The picture will become complete with the help of the preliminary investigation, which will also make clear that some whom the different sects throw into their nets in the future become a disaster for the public.
Rita Nahapetyan
“02” Daily N 18 (917) 08-05-2009 Unofficial translation For Armenian version, click here.
A Family Tragedy for Society
Their marriage lasted for only seven years. The bases of the family were rather fragile. The predominant “ego” was omnipresent in their interpersonal relations that very often led to conflict situations in the family. Nothing tangibly changed with the birth of their daughter. They divorced in the autumn of 2007. It seemed nothing special had happened. Life didn’t stop and they could continue living separately, everyone with her and his own life. Arayik left for Russia to work. Nune found a job in Yerevan, working as a waitress in one of the city restaurants. It seemed life was running in its normal way without any urgent matters. It was also usual that good-looking Nune attracted the restaurant owner’s attention and a close relationship started between them. In the autumn, Arayik, Nune’s ex-husband, returned to Yerevan and immediately started taking action to penetrate into Nune’s life. He even proposed to Nune to restart their relations, saying that they enjoyed happy days together and everything could be brought back. But Nune refused since she had completely changed during the period of his absence. She had a job, a man interested in her, she felt more self-confident and happy. She refused him without any suspicion that something evil might happen in the future. The first thought passed through Arayik’s mind was the man who appeared in Nune’s life. Finding out about a new man in Nune’s life, Arayik started his revenge. At first, he scratched Mercedes of the restaurant owner, causing him material damage of 400 thousand AMD. Later, he put the Mercedes on fire, causing material loss of 650 thousand AMD. He burnt the car and called him to threaten if he would continue his relations with Nune, he would kill all his relatives. He also warned him not to call the Police. To get rid of the menace, the owner of the restaurant stopped any relations with Nune and discharged her from her job. On February 27, 2008, Arayik went to Nune’s house to have a talk with her. While talking to Nune, Arayik started his strange behavior and began scaring her and her sister. Later, Nune’s sister decided to call for help from the neighbors and went out of the house. On coming back home, she found her sister’s face and body burnt from sulfuric acid. The Emergency took Nune to the hospital. Doctors graded her condition as high danger to life. An investigation case was initiated against Arayik Adamyan. For months Arayik kept everyone in fear. After some time he decided to contact his rival again and by blackmailing grab money from him. They agreed to meet on a road leading to a village near Yerevan at 23:30. This time Levon, the restaurant owner, decided to apply for Police. At the appointed time Arayik and Levon were at the venue and Police officers were nearby. Everything happened so rapidly, it was hard to prevent anything. Arayik appeared on time and stood far from Levon. They exchanged some words and Arayik without any warning threw something towards Levon’s direction that exploded near him and burnt the car. The second bomb followed but, fortunately, it did not explode. Arayik run away. Police officers managed to catch Arayik only some days later. He was arrested and his case was forwarded to Yerevan Criminal Court. Hasmik Poghosyan “02” Daily N 13 (912) 03.04.2009 Unofficial translation For Armenian version, click here.
Family Violence in Armenian Villages to be Discussed in Yerevan
Contributed by Lilit Verdyan On April 3, Lisa Fund will hold discussions and screen the documentary “Territory of Silence" within the framework of the program entitled “Domestic Violence: A Primary Care Issue for Rural Women." The program was initiated with the assistance of US Embassy in Armenia.
"'Territory of Silence' was the title that suited best. It was hard to find people willing to acknowledge they’re being subjected to domestic violence. Most of them choose to hush up the problem,” documentary director Mariam Ohanyan related.
The discussion will be attended by Women's Rights Center President Susanna Vardanyan, NGOs representatives, sociologists and lawyers. For the Armenian version, click here.
U.S. Department of Justice Holds Conference on "Support for Victims and Successful Prosecution of Domestic Violence"
The United States Department of Justice held a conference on “Support for Victims and Successful Prosecution of Domestic Violence” in Yerevan, Armenia, on March 16, 2009. Three American prosecutors and one social worker participated - Prosecutor Steven Kessler (U.S. Embassy, Yerevan), Prosecutor Arlene Markarian (Brooklyn, New York), Prosecutor Wanda Lucibello (Brooklyn, New York), and Social Worker Cristin Mathiez (Brooklyn, New York). Joining the Americans at the conference were Armenian judges, prosecutors, police, and representatives from the Women Rights Center, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Social and Labor Issues, the Civil Rights Division of the National Assembly, and international organizations such as UNICEF, OSCE and Open Society Institute Foundation in Armenia. The American and Armenian officials discussed their countries’ respective approaches to fighting all manifestations of domestic violence, as well as support for the victim, investigation of a domestic violence case, and prosecution of such a case where the victim refuses to cooperate. U.S. Ambassador Marie L. Yovanovitch opened the conference. In her remarks, the Ambassador noted that although the statistics on domestic violence in the U.S. are sobering, much progress has been made in the past twenty years. The Ambassador urged the Armenian authorities in attendance to do all that can be done to reduce domestic violence and care for its victims. The domestic violence conference is just one of several sessions held by the U.S. Department of Justice in Yerevan to support Armenian law enforcement. In 2008, the USDOJ held conferences for Armenian judges, prosecutors, police and defense attorneys on the European Convention on Human Rights, corruption prosecution, financial crime investigations, the rules of evidence in adversarial proceedings, and the development of Armenian jurisprudence and case law. Published in: www.yerevan.usembassy.gov 16.03.2009 For Armenian version, click here.
Violence is Part of Life for Many Armenian Women
Contributed by Lilit Verdyan, WRCWomen often continue living in the families where they are frequently beaten and humiliated “The first slap in my face from my husband came right on the next day of our marriage. The reason was that I threw his towel and didn’t hand it to him when asked. He told me that by throwing the towel I simply expressed my disrespect to him and he would teach me how to respect. It’s already 5 years that my husband is beating me from time to time”, - 27 year old Narine told to the journalist of “Aravot” daily during the interview. “What else can I do? I already became used to that. A woman is made so that she becomes used to everything by the time”, - says Narine. As affirmed by the statistical data of the UN Organization, every 3rd woman in the world at least once is subjected to violence. By stating violence one must consider not only physical and sexual but also psychological means. Even bad-mouthing, making someone forcibly do something, ignoring one’s opinion on housing issues, disallowing working or forbidding meeting with parents or relatives is also considered to be violence. 26-year-old H. is a hairdresser. After marriage her husband forbade working. “When we got married 4 years ago I was almost convinced that my husband would understand and support me on every issue. Before our marriage he had promised that I would continue working. The first year of our marriage I was working and my husband was taking me home from my workplace. Later, he started demanding that I came back home earlier. He started being jealous about male colleagues in our office. He was visiting my working place in different hours. One day he simply closed the door and didn’t let me go out for work. Therefore, I had to accept the situation. What else? Would I give a divorce only because of his forbidding me to work?” 21-year-old L. lives at her parent’s place with her 4-months daughter already half a yearold. L. says: “Before marriage I knew he had a very difficult temper: crude, irritable, inclined to alcohol. I knew that but I was ignoring it. I was thinking and calming myself down convincing that everyone drinks alcohol and when we get married everything will be fine. But then, everything grew worse. He was coming home drunk and very late. He started to beat me and say indecent words to me. I kept silent so that neighbors wouldn’t hear anything. The next morning, he was apologizing and swearing that it was the last time. However, nothing particularly changed the next day. Until one evening, my parents came and found him beating me. They took me back home. At that time I was six months pregnant.” As L. said later, her husband was tracing her and coming to her parents’ place for almost one month drunk and asking her to come back. “I refused every time. Later, I found out that he left for Ukraine to his parents. He didn’t see the child.” Arevik Chaparyan, Student of 4th grade at Yerevan State University “Aravot” daily, 26.02.2009 Unofficial translation For Armenian version, click here.
Women’s Rights Center Will Organize Meeting for Mass Media Representatives About Domestic Violence Issues
Contributed by Lilit Verdyan Yerevan, February 6. /News-Armenia/. Women’s Rights Center will organize meeting for Mass Media representatives about domestic violence issue on February 25. “Women’s Rights Center attaches great importance to the role of journalists and on the whole all media representatives in the process of raising public awareness through understandable illustration of the issue of domestic violence among a wide range of society”, - is stated in the announcement. According to the announcement, taking into consideration the above mentioned statement, Women’s Rights Center has initiated a meeting-discussion with mass media and representatives of news agencies. Women’s Rights Center is a non-governmental organization, the mission of which is to support democratic changes in Armenia, promote the increase of the role of women in the social, cultural and political life of the country, shift the attitude of society towards the issue, and support gender equality between men and women as well as protect rights of women and children. Beginning in 2007, the organization has initiated the development of the draft law on Domestic Violence, involving in the process a Working Group consisting of officials, judges and lawyers from RA Police, Ministry of Social and Labor Issues, Ministry of Justice, and Ministry of Health. Compiled from: www.ginsc.net Information source: www.newsarmenia.ru 06.02.2009 For Armenian version, click here.
A Family Tragedy: A Husband Beats His Wife and Convinces a Son to Take His Side
Sanasar and Marineh Ghevondyan, residents of the village of Odzun in the Lori Marz have four sons. The eldest is thirteen and the youngest is three. “We have lived together for fifteen years, eight of which my husband lived and worked in Greece. Of course, during this time he has come and gone and has looked after the children and has never complained about anything”, - recounts Marineh.On January 2, 2008, Marineh found out that her husband has married to a woman in Greece. But her husband then contacted her and said not to worry, that it was a passing fancy. The tension in the Ghevondyan family grew with each passing day and soon led to the fateful day on July 17, 2008, when the family feud erupted and brought the family to ruins. What is so sad and tragic is that Sanasar Ghevondyan used his young boys against their mother. Sanasar had planned everything to discredit the mother and to woo away the boys from her. The bickering started when Marineh went into the other room to get a new set of clothes for the youngest boy, Gorik. Instead of pacifying the boy, Sanasar orders his 13 year-old son Garik, “Go tell your fool mother to come and shut this kid up.” Garik enters the other room and insulting his mother says to take care of the kid. Insulted, Marineh slaps the boy on the shoulder. Sanasar orders the boy to answer his mom back and the two of them proceed to beat Marineh. Given that Sanasar had long-range plans connected to his wife, instead of smoothing out the family tension, he directly went to the police with his boy. Marineh also went to the police to report the incident. Materials for preliminary investigation were prepared and the result received coincided with Sanasar’s intention. According to the conclusion of Investigator Movses Tamazyan, “Garik Ghevondyan, born July 18, 1995, the adolescent son of Marineh Ghevondyan, insulted his mother and she threw a coffee dish in the direction of her son. As a result the son sustained a minor physical injury.” During the family quarrel, Sanasar Ghevondyan hit Marineh once in the face with his hand and she sustained a minor injury. According to the investigator, police Lieutenant Movses Tamazyan; the young boy hadn’t committed a chargeable offence by insulting his mother. The investigator also didn’t show any interest in the fact that Sanasar, instead of punishing the boy for insulting his mother, slapped his wife instead. It turns out that the mother and son quarrelled and that the father hit his wife to have it out with his son. Such deviations on the part of the investigative bodies do not take place by accident. What’s also comical is that in the eyes of the investigating officer the fact that a young boy insults his mother and that a grown man beats a defenceless woman weren’t viewed as chargeable offences. Based on the preliminary evidence no criminal case was brought forth and reconciliation was stipulated. Buoyed by his successes, on July 29, 2008, Sanasar Ghevondyan initiates a court case against Marineh and demands that he be granted custody for the care and upbringing of the children. On September 11, 2009, at the Lori Regional Court, Judge Souren Baghdasaryan, reviews the petition of Sanasar for custody of the children and partially finds in the favour of the father. Judge Baghdasaryan rules that Sanasar be granted custody of Garik (born July 18, 1995) and Arman (born October 17, 1997) and that Marineh retain custody of the other two boys, Karen and Gor. We should note that in his appeal Sanasar noted that his wife “had shown cruelty to the children and had beaten them.” His last trump card in the case was the conclusion drawn by Investigator Movses Tamazyan, which the court also took into account. This went up against the report given by the Odzun Village Mayor that described Marineh as a “positive individual “and the testimony of neighbours S. Kikanyan, K. Mayilyan, S. Atabekyan and L. Ohanyan, that “Marineh was a morally upright woman and good mother and that we never observed anything unhealthy from her.” Brushing aside these testimonials, the court found that the parties to the conflict differed little in terms of their moral and individual characteristics but that in terms of property and housing conditions, Sanasar Ghevondyan had certain advantages given that he owned a private house and had adequate material resources whilst Marineh lived with her parents and sister’s family in a three room apartment where it wasn’t possible to raise four boys. Marineh Ghevondyan now works and is trying to get back on her feet in order raise her young boys. She is concerned that her husband will take the boys to Greece without her consent. She told us that she had word that the father had already visited the passport division in Alaverdi to get the children’s passports ready. She is fearful that the four boys will grow estranged from one another. She is also concerned about other possible consequences stemming from the trait in Garik to raise his hand against her. She is aware that her husband has convinced Garik that she is “immoral”. However, she hopes that her son will one day know the truth. Larisa Paremuzyan 19.01.2009 Compiled from: HetqOnline.am Official translation For Armenian version, click here.
Revealing Domestic Violence Cases Through the National Hot Line Service of the Women's Rights Center, 2008
Within the framework of “Combat violence against women in Republic of Armenia” the activities of Women’s Rights Center (WRC) were aimed at assisting the following target group: women victims of domestic violence and their children. Non-direct target groups include other members of their families and, finally, the whole of society. The National Domestic Violence Hot Line service is primarily aimed at providing psychological and legal assistance to women-victims of domestic violence and to raise awareness of society about the issue. We estimate the level of public awareness by the fact that more women apply to us and they have learned about our organization from our beneficiaries. Apart from that, the service is also designed to reveal cases of domestic violence as well as its causes and peculiarities in Armenia in order to work out relevant measures to overcome (combat) domestic violence and to provide adequate assistance to DV victims in future. Having the experience of recent years' work of the National Hot Line Service, the WRC staff has developed a definite policy to provide, first, psychological assistance to a caller regardless of the actual issue of the phone call. Later, when an applicant is identified as a victim of domestic violence, she receives the full range of psychological help and legal counselling. The National Hot Line service does not limit itself only to provide unitary psychological assistance and legal counselling. The majority of cases are continuously followed up: beneficiaries receive more profound psychological assistance and a wider range of legal services. Within the period of 2008, we registered 831 calls, 428 of which were primary and 403 repeated. 350 calls regarded psychological issues and 481 calls - legal matters. 415 calls of the total number were calls on domestic violence (248 primary and 167 repeated; 293 (70.6%) calls out of 415 concerned psychological domestic violence, 112 (27%) - physical, 10 (2.4%) – sexual) (see first Chart). During the period of 2008, 248 primary cases of domestic violence were registered through phone calls. 131 (52.8%) cases of violence out of 248 were cases of psychological abuse and 107 (43%) of them were cases of physical violence, and 10 (4.2%) cases of sexual violence were registered (see second Chart ). Our National Hot Line service covers the whole territory of Armenia and is free of charge. In 2008, we received 61 calls from the regions, 38 of which concerned domestic violence (24 calls on psychological violence, 12 – physical violence and 2 – sexual violence). The majority of women who apply to the National Hot Line service are depressed, hopeless and confused, regardless of their age, social status, place of residence and background. Most of the time they suffer
from anxiety and a groundless feeling of guilt as well as suicidal thoughts and aggression towards surrounding people in general and the violator in particular. In some cases they have an inadequate attitude towards their children. The psychologists of the National Hot Line service primarily aim to help applicants to overcome destructive emotions, to go through the disappointment, humiliation, and insult fast and easy, to give them a possibility to realize and express their negative feelings in order to relieve themselves from those destructive emotional experiences. Based upon victims’ newly gained emotional balance, WRC psychologists can start using rational and cognitive psychotherapeutic skills, which are oriented to introspection and re-evaluation of interpersonal relations. As a result of our psychologists’ work and effort the majority of women-victims of domestic violence acquired emotional balance, changed their attitude towards themselves and their families, and developed adequate self-esteem. As for legal counselling, women usually apply regarding the following matters: housing problems and problems with other types of property, custody of children, divorce, aliments, inheritance, etc. WRC lawyers provide them with the full range of comprehensive consultation. At that stage, being informed about their rights, women victims of domestic violence can make decisions and apply for our legal assistance to proceed with their issues. As a result, WRC lawyers have successfully dealt with the composition of corresponding documents, applications, the composition of written requests to receive information from governmental and non-governmental bodies regarding a certain case, as well as receiving information by phone, establishing interrelations between the applicants and executive bodies, and providing attorney’s assistance in Courts, etc. We provide psychological and legal counseling also to those people who are not victims of domestic violence but have called us for other reasons. We do this to raise awareness of the problem of domestic violence and to present to the applicants the activity of the National Hot Line Service. During implementation of the project “Combat violence against women in Republic of Armenia”, every activity carried out by WRC was directed towards women’s empowerment. Various legal services that were provided to women promoted learning about their rights and making use of them in their own favour. It also promoted the formation of an ability to protect their right to live a free-of-violence life. Thanks to psychological services women victims acquired self-confidence and were able to use their inner resources and to reintegrate into the society. On one hand, a woman becomes more powerful when she protect her rights; on another hand, she is already able to protect rights of her children, relatives or surrounding people. The woman is able to change her life relying on her own strengths. By stepping out of the vicious cycle of domestic violence she can think over acquiring a new job, continuing her education, taking professional trainings and even to think over and reconstruct her private life.
The Ill-Fated Tubes
Armen and Anahit married in 1980. They had two sons and lived in peace for almost twenty years. After so many years, quarrels became repeated and more frequent. In 2002, the husband left his family. His wife and children had no information about him until August of 2008. In August he came back and started living at the same address, on the part belonging to his mother. Quarrels and disputes followed again with condemnations and insults from both sides. In mid-September Armen noticed that a separate gas tube led from his mother’s place to the house of his ex-wife. He didn’t notice it before and got seriously furious. Armen ordered them to uninstall the tubes within two days. On September 14 around 21:00 o’clock, the drunken Armen came back home and the first thing he noticed was that the ill-fated tubes were not uninstalled. It meant for him that his word was neglected and it was the last straw for him. Even the presence of his son didn’t stop him from quarrelling. The quarrel became more intense, everyone insisted on his or her own words. Anahit demanded her husband to quit and stop bothering them. Armen, inflamed with rage, started beating his wife. Their son, unwilling to hear the quarrel anymore, started pushing his father and made him leave the house. It seemed that everything calmed down... Next day, Anahit Harutunyan left a statement at Police Department of Erebuni district. A criminal case was initiated according to RA Criminal Code Article 118. During preliminary investigation phase Armen Karapetyan pled completely guilty. The investigation is finished and the case is in the court. Anna Aslanyan “02” weekly, 12.12.2008, N48 (897), www.police.am Unofficial translation from Armenian For Armenian version, click here.
Regional Criminal Life
The future spouses knew each other from childhood and were living in the same district. From childhood to adulthood Mher gave particular attention to a girl in the neighborhood and in 2000 at the age of twenty they got married. They left for Russia. The parents of Mher’s wife were living there. They could support the newly married couple by their advice. However, as it appeared later, Mher didn’t even require any help. He was living the way he wished, ignoring problems which occurred in the family and trying to submerge problems into a cup of drink. Because of these reasons, there were everlasting problems and Mher was beating his wife. She couldn’t bear his husband’s behavior and more than once she left her husband, but later came back. How could she leave her family, they had a child... In 2007 they came back to Armenia and started living at the house of his wife’s grandparents in Kapan city. Mher found job and they started living a new life. Nevertheless, life in that small family was only relatively calm. The main reason of disputes was the wife’s mother. Mher prohibited his wife to talk to her mother by phone. ...The usual day was coming to its end. Before going home Mher decided to have a cup of drink. On entering home he asked his wife to prepare a cup of coffee and meanwhile started looking in his wife’s phone the contacts to whom she talked with during the day to find out whether she talked with her mother. Then, he started “investigating” and asking questions. His wife was trying to avoid any further quarrel. During the “clarification” affairs another quarrel became imminent. He hit his wife once, went out to shop for another bottle of beer and fuelled with fighting mood, came back home, and announced that her mother had no right to call anymore. Later he took a wood from outside and started beating her, causing her injuries with middle severity. The wife hardly managed to escape from her furious husband and went to the neighbor’s house. Mher caught her and pulling her hair, tried to take her home. However, the neighbor managed to interfere. This is how their quarrel ended and Mher was captured and brought to Police Department in Kapan city. Later Mher pled guilty and gave an avowal of his guilt. The preliminary investigation for the current criminal case is finished. Kapan-Yerevan Karine Muradyan “02” weekly, 19.12.2008, N49 (898), www.police.am Unofficial translation from Armenian For Armenian version, click here.
Violence Against Women Takes Different Forms
Violence against women takes different forms in Armenian families starting from isolation to psychological and sexual harassment. Recently, scenes of violence have been accompanied with severe rigor. A horrifying murder has been reported in one of Aparan’s villages this year. A husband pushed his wife into a tonir while she was baking bread. President of Women’s Rights Center Susanna Vardanyan cited another example. This time the mother of two children was severely beaten by her mother-in-law and father-in-law. The latter cut her ear. Only with the help of the village head was the woman able to run away. “If I didn’t work in this company and I was told these stories from a second person I wouldn’t believe them. I wonder how an Armenian husband can be such cruel!” said Mrs. Vardanyan. The Women’s Rights Center has issued a book entitled “What is Violence?” The centre also gives free consultation to women undergoing violence in their families and provides asylum to them. 19 December, 2008 Compiled from: http://www.a1plus.am/am/?page=issue&iid=67542 For Armenian version, click here.
Armenia Seeks to End Silence Over Domestic Abuse
It was the fear in her children's eyes that finally convinced Anahit to leave her husband after years of abuse. Married at 19, Anahit had worried from the beginning about her husband's possessiveness and jealousy.
He followed her to university classes and forbade her to visit friends or even her parents on her own. The first time he struck her, all she had done was go alone to a shop to buy bread. "When he learned what I had done, he punched me in the face and screamed that I was a prostitute," said Anahit, now 27. Years of abuse followed until she left him last year, taking her three young children to the only shelter for battered women in the Armenian capital Yerevan. "I was suffering for the sake of our children, they need a father. But when he hit me in front of them and I saw fear in their eyes, I realized that for my children's sake I had to leave him," she said. Anahit is rare in Armenia not only for seeking help and leaving an abusive relationship, but also for speaking out about what human rights groups say is widespread domestic violence. Armenians are proud of the strong family bonds that have endured for centuries in this remote and isolated ex-Soviet republic, proud of its history as the first state to adopt Christianity as state religion. But some say those traditions are being warped, allowing abusers to act with impunity and police to turn a blind eye to domestic violence by claiming it is purely a "family matter". Rights group Amnesty International said that Armenia's tradition of strong family bonds "hides an institutionalized culture of silence on violence within the family and injustice for its victims." As many as one in four Armenian women have at some time experienced violence at the hands of husbands or other family members, Amnesty International said in a report released last month. But the speaking out about abuse has remained a taboo, with family secrets remaining behind the closed doors of family homes. "When my husband was beating me, my mother-in-law used to say that it meant he wasn't indifferent and that he loved me, and that her husband used to beat her as well," said Karina, 32, another woman at the shelter. In a survey Armenia's Women's Rights Centre conducted last year, 88 percent of respondents said domestic violence was a private matter best handled within the home. That culture of indifference and secrecy extends to law enforcement, rights groups said, with police often ignoring abuse and in some cases pressuring women to drop complaints. "Police endorse the view that domestic violence is an internal 'family matter' that should not be publicly pursued," the Amnesty report said. It said that during police training sessions run by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, senior officers with more than 20 years experience said they had never dealt with a single case of domestic violence. But activists are now hoping that a draft law to finally criminalize domestic violence will be adopted by parliament next spring. Unlike in many other countries, domestic violence is not dealt with separately under Armenian law and falls under general provisions for assault and other violent crimes. "We hope that lawmakers will take our initiative seriously and that the silence on this problem will finally end," said Susanna Vartanian, the director of the Women's Rights Centre, which along with other non-governmental groups helped draft the bill. Supporters of the bill say a separate law is needed in order to push police to deal with domestic violence and to protect women who decide to come forward about abuse. The law would make it mandatory for police to investigate allegations of domestic violence and legally prevent husbands from claiming that a woman's behavior was a "mitigating factor" in abuse. "The police and the courts are not taking this problem seriously," said Rafik Petrosian, a pro-government lawmaker who supports the bill. "A strong family is simply the most important thing for Armenians. That's why the police try to reconcile spouses and to prevent divorce." Activists are also pushing for government support for a nationwide network of crisis centers and shelters offering advice and protection to battered women. And while legal reforms are a vital step, many say changing public attitudes is just as important. "This is a perversion of national traditions," said another lawmaker supporting the bill, Naira Zohrabian. "According to Armenian tradition a husband is the head of the family. But tradition doesn't say that the husband should be a tyrant and that the wife can't develop as an individual, can't work, can't decide what to wear or choose her own friends." By Mariam Harutiunian, Armenia France Press
December 17, 2008 Compiled from: www.armenialiberty.org
Public Hearing on Draft Law on Domestic Violence
Public Hearing on Draft Domestic Violence Law
A Public Hearing on the Draft Law on Domestic Violence was held on November 27, 2008. This Public Hearing was of the utmost importance since it was presented to a great number of representatives of relevant governmental, public and civil institutions. Having faced the reaction of NEW participants for the round-table discussions on October 30, 2008, who were introduced to the issue for the first time and were stating stereotypical ideas, we realized what a severe test the Public Hearing would be for the Draft law. Generally, having learnt from our experience in the field of DV, as well as from organizing similar meetings in particular, WRC has developed a strategy of justification, conviction and argue. We were pleasantly surprised by the fact that 7 judges from the Common Jurisdiction Court of First Instance expressed their willingness to participate in our event after the invitation letters had been distributed. Likewise, representatives from city and 12 community municipalities accepted the invitation letters and were present at the public hearing. In the course of the meeting, it became obvious that they didn’t simply come to be present as they were told, but that they were quite interested in the topic and were commenting and making suggestions. The meeting started with the opening speech of S. Vardanyan, director of WRC. Ms. Vardanayn welcomed all participants, gave a brief summary of the meeting’s purpose, how the draft law was worked out, and its procedures from the very start. A note about the survey “Domestic violence and abuse of women in Armenia,” conducted by Turpanjian Center for Policy Analysis to find out the situation on domestic violence in Armenia, was also stated. The survey was available for the participants. At the end of her welcome speech, Ms. Vardanyan mentioned that the public hearing was part of the worldwide "16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence." The floor was given to Anna Platonova,
Participants in Public Hearing on Draft Domestic Violence Law
OSCE/ODIHR Project Officer, who expressed her delight to be present for the Public Hearing on Draft Law on DV, organized by WRC. She also expressed her warmest sympathy for the work done by WRC and its working group. The stress was given to the fact that violence in general directly affects any sector in society. More analysis, a serious approach, and sincere willingness would advance the shift of mentality among people and promote the well-shaped law on domestic violence.She mentioned that DV is a violation of human rights and a worldwide phenomenon, and there are significant proofs that Armenia is not an exception. OSCE/ODIHR, as stated by Ms. Platonova, is rather interested to improve the situation in this region. Many former Soviet Union and East European countries have already adopted the Law on DV and the experience of these countries proved the necessity of the adoption of such law. The project lawyer, Artak Gevorgyan, highlighted main aspects in the draft law: the purpose of enabling the draft law, authorized institutions, special preventive measures against violence, protective order, rehabilitation fund, etc. He also mentioned that in a majority of cases women are afraid to come to law enforcement agencies since they have no guarantee to be protected or understood. The law being enabled completely would advance the awareness of women being legally protected and decrease the number of domestic violence cases. Discussions were conducted and suggestions were accepted from participants after every speaker’s speech. It should be also added that participants expressed their preparedness and willingness to provide their suggestions and recommendations to acquire an improved version of the draft law. Though all our meetings, both individual and group ones, including the last Public Hearing, were conducted with certain difficulties connected with a lack of knowledge and stereotyped mentality, nevertheless, WE ARE HAPPY TO MENTION that significant changes have occurred in the mentality of our society and its attitude towards the problem of domestic violence has been shifted tangibly. We are definitely sure that the time we have dreamt for a long time is coming...
Wives are Beaten Harshly
Around 25% of women in Armenia have been subjected to domestic violenceat least once. 27% of 1000 women-respondents in Armenia have been subjected to physical violence, 12% of them have grave consequences. These figures have been provided by Amnesty International experts.The results of the survey, conducted in 2007-2008, showed that 66% of women in Armenia had been subjected to the psychological violence, and 7% of them to sexual violence. According to the survey, psychological violence mainly prevails in families. Experts also state that despite the oppressive picture, however, Armenian women are not willing to wash their dirty linen in public, preferring to keep silence. The authorities also overlook the lawlessness within the cells of society too. According to the expert of the organization, Lorence Broerce, the authorities are doing nothing to create favorable conditions for women as long as there is no acting regulation or system in the country to defend and ensure long-term assistance to women-victims, be it providing them support in finding a job, or in housing. He is of the opinion that there is a need for crucial changes of attitude toward the urgent problem in the system of justice and society as a whole, which holds victims back from their quest for justice. Assistance to the victims of domestic violence is provided by the Women’s Rights Center NGO. Perhaps it is the only organization providing temporary shelter to women of the appropriate category. Nonetheless, evidently, these efforts are insufficient. The correspondent of “Novoye Vremya” newspaper was informed by the organization that the mentioned project had been launched in 2002. According to psychologist Tsovik Karapetyan, within that program there is also a Hot Line (54-28-28) project. Through this service specialists find potential victims, who later become inhabitants of the shelter. The interlocutor also says that the dynamics in the numbers of calls has been quite low in the recent years. At the same time the number of calls from victims who were brutally treated at home has considerably increased. Unfortunately, the Center’s resources are limited enough and the number of people willing to be temporally sheltered is more that the shelter can accommodate. Victims with their children are provided with housing, consultation from specialists and concrete help from lawyers. Men beat their children very rarely, but wives are beaten by them harshly. Although there are not many men with a definite psychosis, but as to raising his hand on his wife, a man is unable to stop it. Sometimes, not only a husband, but also a mother-in-law or a father-in-law beat their daughter-in-law. The period the women can stay at the Shelter is also limited. Very often having overcome emotional stress and depression, women themselves are capable of breaking the deadlock by finding an appropriate job or simply shifting something in their lives. One of formerly sheltered women, - T. Karapetyan says, entered into University, received the second high education and found a relevant job. She also stated that awareness of women regarding their rights has tangibly increased. The psychologist also added that the fate of those who had applied to them once is traced by specialists. At the shelter a women's support group meets monthly and no one remains out of attention. T. Karapetyan says that women resort to rupture of relations with their tyrant-husbands very seldom, only in extreme cases. The most important thing is that self-appraisal of Armenian women, who have suffered from such trouble, is increasing. Until now, no law to control violence has been enacted in Armenia, although currently the Government has already started studying draft laws related to the mentioned issues. For example, in Israel, a strict policy has been undertaken related to domestic violence. According to the law, any use of force is punished with a sentence for two and more years. But that happens as the best case. Generally, violence against women is a widespread phenomenon throughout the world. It has different shapes – from such physical aggression as beatings, slaps, kicks and slashes to psychological pressure via intimidation and humiliation. Reportedly, in Egypt, 35% of married women have been beaten by their husbands at least once. In the USA, every 15 seconds a woman is subjected to beatings by her husband or cohabitee. 50% of murders in Bangladesh are murders of women by their husbands. In Pakistan, 42% of women encounter violence as a usual phenomenon. Presently, crimes of domestic violence are punished within general cases of the RA Criminal Code and no distinction is made between the cases, whether the crime has been committed by an unknown person or the victim’s relative. According to the expert, in the present Armenian reality, it is considered that a man has the right to resort to violence since he actually does not treat it as a crime. Marietta Malumyan “Novoye Vremya”, 15.11.2008 Unofficial translation from Armenian
Quarrel with Injuries
On August 19, 2008, Meline Minasyan visited the Erebuni Police Department with a claim that on August 18th around 12 o’clock, she and her husband had quarreled and her husband beat her with his hands, causing physical injuries. Based on the received complaint, a criminal case was instituted at the Erebuni Investigation Department by the RA Criminal Code Article 118. Pre-investigation has been initiated. … Meline and Artak got married in 1986; they have two children. In the beginning of their marriage everything was fine, warm relationship, mutual confidence, and love. Time passed and Artak started misusing alcohol, and quarrels occurred frequently. On August 18 Artak went for a walk and Meline left home for shopping. While Meline was doing her shopping, Artak came back home, entered, closed the door from inside, left the key inside the doorlock, and lay to rest. Around 12:30 Meline came back home from shopping and tried to open the door, but in vain; many other attempts failed, but her husband stayed sleeping. In despair, his wife sat near the door and started waiting. A while later, the husband woke up, opened the door and found his furious wife entering the home, scolding her husband that he had left the key in the key-lock on purpose. As Meline says, it became a habit. The husband tried to explain that nothing was done deliberately, but she didn’t accept his explanations. Soon the backchat turned into a quarrel. According to Meline’s testimony, her husband was saying indecent words to her, then used his hands, causing her physical damage. Artak Martirosyan partially accepts his guilt. According to his testimony, he did not beat his wife, but simply gripped her hand and, forcing it away, caused her some pain. During the procedures, police officer Harutyun Avagyan carried out a forensic expertise, as a result of which bruises had been found on the lower parts of Meline Minasyan’s hands in their front and backsides. The injuries were caused by thumb, blunt objects, although they cannot be defined as light damage to health. The preliminary investigation has already been completed. The case is in the court. Karine Muradyan “02” weekly, 14.11.2008, N 44 (893), www.police,am Unofficial translation from Armenian For Armenian version, click here.
Killed and Has Run Away to … Mental Clinic
A resident of the village Ptghunts, Armavir marz (province), is suspected in murdering his wife and his sister-in-law. Around twelve o’clock, police officers from Vagharshapat department received an alarm call about two dead bodies in the same yard. At the place, the police task force found out that ome Vazgen E.,54, had stabbed his 52-year-old wife with a cookery knife. He did not spare his 36-year-old sister-in-law either. Then he escaped. In the evening of the same day, the suspect was arrested near the city psychoneurological dispensary. Quite a correct route he has chosen for himself, however… “Novoye Vremya”, 18.10.2008, www.nv.am Unofficial translation For Armenian version, click here.
With Distorted Rationality
Yesterday, on September 26, the family was still complete. The couple and three children had dinner and spent their last night together. On September 27, at 13:40, the police of Armavir region were informed about a murder in Lermontov Street, apt. 10. Arriving at the place of the accident, the operational team discovered the body of the dead host, Alvard Nikoyan, badly damaged by sharp-cutting tools. The 40-year-old father, Stepan Terzyan, who already had a criminal record, killed the mother of three children. At about 14:00, the murderer voluntarily appeared at the police of Armavir region with his justifications and explanations. The conflicts and fights on each simple occasion were almost inseparable from the Terzyans’ family. The main reason was jealousy: the husband was jealous of his wife and this feeling had been torturing him all the time. Suspicions had already distorted his rationality and logic. According to Stepan, he had lots of reasons for jealousy and suspicion. On September 27, he did not want to go to work, but eventually decided to do so. He told his wife that he was going to Talin. He was involved in trade and chose his destination on purpose. Thus, husband had to go to Talin, and as for his wife, she had to go to school. There was a problem with one of the children. However, according to Stepan, his wife deliberately changed her mind just as she knew about his visit to Talin. Actually, wife did not do deliberately, it just happened so, and that’s all. On September 27, the husband left the house and started to follow his wife. Having no idea about her husband’s sneaking suspicion; she was going here and there, meeting some people in the meantime. Following from a distance, the husband made sure that he was right with the matter. Unfortunately, he was completely mistaken. Since that moment Stepan was hardly able to control his rationality and logic. He did not forget her attitude, gradually losing his sense of reality. On September 27, Alvard Nikoyan saw off her children and returned home. Then her husband came. It was their last meeting. Later, when the tragedy had already happened, Stepan Terzyan left a note, trying to explain why he killed his wife. However, who cares about the explanation? How can one console the children, orphaned forever... The case is still under investigation of the police. Karine Muradyan “02” weekly, 10.10.2008, N 39 (888), www.police,am Unofficial translation from Armenian For Armenian version, click here.
The Uncle
Aram and Karen are brothers, mature men. They have not been in touch for many years. Both have been unsuccessful in their lives. They are divorced, although Karen lives very close to his family, being fully aware of what is going on in their lives. On May 14, 2008, Aram decided to visit Karen’s family. Why? He did not know himself. However, he was aware that Karen did not live with his family. At about 6 p.m. he rang the doorbell. His nephew decided not to open the door, but the uncle knocked the door violently. In the end, the little girl was forced to open the door. The moment the door was opened, Aram started to bite and curse the girl. The hostess and neighbors ran to the place, trying to stop the unknown guest, but they failed to do it. Hearing the noises of his children, Karen went up the fourth floor and tried to interfere. He wanted to take his daughter from his brother’s hands. However, Aram turned to his brother and started to bite him. One of the neighbors quickly took the little girl to her house and locked the door. After the uncle left, they called the police. The case was transferred to the police department in Malatia. Aram refused to accept the crime, insisting that he had not bitten or cursed anyone. The case is at the court now. Anna Aslanyan “02” weekly, 24.10.2008, N 41 (890), www.police,am Unofficial translation from Armenian For Armenian version, click here.
"In Different Camps"
The disagreements among the kin, living under one roof, started unexpectedly. They had lived together for years, loved, respected and taken care of each other. Never did they think that there would come a day when all those years would be forgotten.
Their daughter and, further, the husband’s sister, also played their part in the argument between the spouses.
…
Relations became tense step by step. Nothing ever happens at once. The cup of patience filled up slowly.
Everything deteriorated when the issue of selling the house came up. That issue stimulated the spouses to drift apart. Mother and son were now living separately from father and daughter.
When one day the father came home and saw that the refrigerator was missing, naturally, it surprised him. His daughter said that the mother took it. Now he was angry. Then, for some strange reason, he locked the door. His wife was on the second floor at that time, but he said he didn’t know that she was up there. The wife considered that act as a deliberate one and started to yell. When the man opened the door an argument burst forth and was further joined not only by the daughter, but also by the man’s sister. They were in different camps and insulted each other. The man certainly didn’t remain silent and also received bodily injuries…
The criminal investigation initiated at Kanaker-Zejtun Police Department according to relevant articles of RA Criminal Code is over.
Karine Muradyan
Compiled from: “02” weekly, 37 (886) , www.police.am
Unofficial translation from Armenian.
For Armenian text, click here.
“Generation Gap”
The problem of the generation gap with its full sharpness is present in our society and often occurs in the criminal field: this fact is proven by incidents which are registered in the country. Often these incidents are identified as crimes because the constituent element of causing bodily injuries is present. Father and son, father and daughter, mother-in-law, father-in-law and daughter-in-law-- 5 conflict incidents were registered in only last week. Certainly, it is not the issue of too many or too few crimes, but the phenomena itself and the way it is expressed that matters when it comes to the interference of law enforcement.
At 2 P.M. on 18 September, Shengavit Police Department received information from “Erebuni” Medical Center regarding A., born in 1964, who came to the Center with a broken arm and a soft tissue bruise around her thorax. The woman works at a taxi service as a coordinator. The operative group discovered that around 10:30 A.M. of the same day the woman’s father beat her with his hands and a walking stick, causing the above-mentioned injuries.
It is nonsense that a father, whose identity is currently being clarified, lifted his hand and a stick at his adult 44-year-old daughter.
Rita Nahapetyan
Compiled from: “02” weekly, N 37 (886), www.police,am
Unofficial translation from Armenian
14 October 2008
For Armenian text, click here.
Domestic Violence Against Women at the Heart of a PACE Conference in Vienna
Strasbourg, 25.04.2008 - The final conference on the parliamentary dimension of the Council of Europe Campaign to combat violence against women, including domestic violence, organised by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) and the Austrian Parliament, will take place in Vienna on 30 April, in the presence of the Speaker of the Austrian Parliament Barbara Prammer, PACE President Lluís Maria de Puig, Austrian Chancellor Alfred Gusenbauer, the leader of the Austrian delegation to PACE Gisela Wurm (Austria, SOC) and some 80 parliamentarians from Council of Europe member states. The conference will assess the impact of the Council of Europe campaign within parliaments and discuss the involvement of men in combating violence against women, and ways in which parliamentarians can follow up the campaign, which will draw to a close in June 2008. The Council of Europe campaign was launched in Madrid in November 2006 with three main themes: strengthening support and protection for victims, encouraging policies and legal measures to combat violence against women, and changing attitudes towards the phenomenon. For nearly two years now, the Assembly has been doing a great deal to rally parliamentary support for the campaign, in particular by setting up a network of contact parliamentarians to identify and promote initiatives by various national parliaments in the course of the campaign, and thus encourage the sharing of good practice among parliaments and the strengthening of legislation as a means of combating domestic violence against women. ***** The conference will be held from 9.30 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the Austrian Parliament (Dr Karl Renner-Ring 3, Vienna) and will be open to the press. Conference programme Parliamentary dimension of the Council of Europe Campaign to Combat Violence Against Women ? ? ???? ???? - http://my.mail.ru/mail/opendoors75/ Press contact : Nathalie Bargellini, PACE Communication Unit, mobile: +33 (0)6 65 40 32 82 Parliamentary Assembly Communication Unit
Tel: +33 3 88 41 31 93
Fax : +33 3 90 21 41 34
pace.com@coe.int
www.coe.int/press Press Release - 297(2008)
Domestic Violence Against Women: Urgent Need for Action in National Parliaments
Strasbourg, 30.04.2008 – In a declaration adopted today in Vienna at a conference on domestic violence against women held by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) and the Austrian Parliament, the participants underlined the urgent need for action in national parliaments in this field, in terms of passing legislation and monitoring its application. The declaration also recommends that the networking of parliamentarians in the 47 member states should continue and that a Council of Europe framework convention should be drawn up to combat domestic violence. “In implementing the parliamentary dimension of a Council of Europe campaign, the Assembly initiated a unique form of pan-European co-operation to counter domestic violence,” said PACE President Lluís Maria de Puig. “The Austrian Parliament led the way in Europe by passing exemplary legislation 11 years ago and our parliamentarians must now step up their commitment to give effect in national legislation to the clear political will that has been expressed since the start of the campaign at the end of 2006,” he added. Nevertheless, “legislative advances are not enough on their own to prevent or curb domestic violence, as demonstrated by the terrifying tragedy which shook Austria recently,” said the Austrian Chancellor, Alfred Gusenbauer, in an address to the participants. “We all have a responsibility to break the silence surrounding domestic violence and denounce any offences against human dignity.” For two years, PACE has been raising awareness among parliamentarians in many different countries and urging parliaments to adopt minimum legislative standards on violence against women at the earliest opportunity. Parliamentary Assembly Communication Unit
Tel: +33 3 88 41 31 93
Fax : +33 3 90 21 41 34
pace.com@coe.int
www.coe.int/press Press Release - 316(2008)
Murder By Fire
A 26-year-old resident of Yerevan, Vahram Stepanyan, died from serious burns a week after 24-year-old Ani S. spilled gas over him and set him on fire. As reported by “Novosti Armenii”, with a reference to the Police source, the victim was Ani’s ex-fiancé. A witness said that cruel act occured in the stairwell of one of the multi-storey buildings of the Arabkir district. The police were informed about the incident and police officers found Ani late at night next to one of Yerevan’s cafes. The ex-fiancée was brought to the police department. The victim was delivered to the Scientific Center of Radiation Medicine and Burns of the Ministry of Health in the evening of August 23 with severe burns over 90% of his body. Vahram never regained consciousness and died on August 31st. Marietta Malumyan “Novoe Vremya” 07.10.08 www.nv.am Unofficial translation from Russian
Property Issues - an Extract
Intolerance, becoming unbearable to each other, humiliation and insult become ordinary when family members find themselves between “this is mine” and “this is yours.” Then estrangement comes. In such relations, not surprisingly, people often cross the criminal line. … This couple from Nor Nork got married in 2001; they have a daughter, who has undoubtedly brought happiness to both parents. Since 2003, the family has been living in one of non-residential premises of Nor Nork district buildings. Later the local governance body granted the property certificate for the venue to the wife. The spouses were happy to have a place of their own, but… The damned “but” slips into this family too; the husband was upset, because the venue was his wife’s property, not his. Vague indications of this could be noticed till 2005, but in the recent 3 years the issue has risen in the family’s agenda in its full gravity. … The wife, who is the victim of the case, testified that relations with the husband started deteriorating ever since the previously non-residential premises were registered as her property. Every now and then her husband demanded that she transfer the property rights to him... Apparently, the man had his own ideas of what the family was. His manhood was deeply offended by the fact that his wife was the owner of their house. Their domestic quarrels always evolved around this issue. The man stubbornly forced his wife to do what he said and his wife opposed it. Their life was spiced by fights and arguments for some time, and they did not notice how they became aliens to each other. This situation eventually came to violence, just as it happened in the beginning of 2008. Early in the morning that day, the husband started the old and hackneyed conversation, the woman arrogantly refused, the quarrel started and the man hit his wife in the face, ear, and squeezed her neck. The woman barely escaped from the house with the baby and asked neighbors for help. Further, she reported the occurrence to the police. … The accused husband did not pledge himself guilty and claimed that the only reason for their fights was his wife’s hot temper. There is not a word about property demands in the man’s written testimony. As for the bodily injuries, which caused short-term health problems, according to him, everything happened not as his wife described, and he had no intention to cause such problems. He reported that his wife, as usual, lost her temper and ran out of the apartment with shouts. He tried to avoid embarrassment and asked her to come in, but she resisted. So he had to use force and return the woman to the apartment, pushing her back. That’s when, he thinks, those signs of injuries appeared. As for hitting her in the face with a wrist, then nothing of the kind happened. This man with a university education considered such cruelty inappropriate, yet injuries on the woman’s body could hardly have appeared due to a simple push. … Certainly, how the woman got the injuries is important. However, the most important thing is that the woman escaped from home with her daughter. Have they ever thought, so preoccupied with their fights, how deeply they damaged their child’s emotional world with their humiliations, screaming and wrist waving. The consequences were not visible, could not have been ….Only when the girl grows up they will suddenly realize that they do not understand each other, that their child has become a stranger to them. The question is whether or not they will understand that it is not their child; anyway, they have become strangers to her. Because of quarrels and fights, when they were in between “this is mine” and “this is yours,” they ignored the presence of the child, who saw, heard and remembered everything.
Rita Nahapetyan “02” weekly, www.police.am 30 (879) 01-08-2008 Unofficial translation from Armenian
Beat Up and Forced to Drink Bleach
An 82 year-old, Vardanush M., applied to the Vanadzor Police Department, complaining that her drunk 36-year-old son Armen had beat her up. And that was not all….After the beating, the son grabbed a bottle of bleach and forced his mother to drink the contents. Vardanush was brought to hospital. Her son is under criminal investigation. Marietta Malumyan Novoe Vremya N1630, 10.07.2008, www.nv.am, unofficial translation from Russian.
Iron Curtain
The life of Artur Khalatyan was not unclouded. He has divorced once already, and remarried again. It seemed like marital happiness shall accompany him from now on, but… At first, he was enjoying his family life, tried to make mutual understanding last forever, but after months, the spouses no longer understood each other. The reason was Arthur’s connection to his ex-wife: they had two children and they needed to be taken care of. Those were his children. It did not matter that they were not living together. His new wife did not want to tolerate the situation; constant quarrels around the issue became a habit. Days passed by, quarrels deteriorated. The woman wanted to have a baby, but her husband objected: he had no job, thus – no stable income, and yet, he had two children to take care of… In other words, people living under one roof were drifting apart because of these disagreements. The “iron curtain” fell between them. They could no longer speak normally, just argue and yell at each other. During a regular quarrel the husband battered his wife: grabbed her by the hair, pushed her down to the floor and kicked her. Arthur’s brother, who was in the house, calmed them down. The woman immediately announced her verdict: she was returning to her parents. But she had no money. Arthur gave her the necessary sum. The woman packed her belongings and spent the night at Arthur's uncle’s place; in the morning, she headed to her parents. She arrived there, but said nothing about the occurrence to her mother, as if she had just come for a couple of days and would return. She thought that her husband would deplore what he did and come after her, but... Days went by, but the husband did not come. Pain of soul added to body pain. He must have decided that they should not be together any more. Thus, since her husband was not coming after her, she told the truth to her mother. Certainly, the woman noticed bruises on her daughter’s body, and even asked where did they come from, but the daughter hid the truth. The truth, which was later disclosed in the Police Department… The investigation of the case, initiated by the Kotayk Marz Police Department, is over. Karine Muradyan ”02” police weekly, www.police.am 25 (874) 27-06-2008 Unofficial translation from Armenian. For the Armenian version, click here.
Slaughtered his Wife and Tried to Kill Himself.
77-year-old Anushavan Muradyan, aresident of Chambarak, tried to commit suicide after having murdered his wife. Muradyan was delivered to the local hospital with knife wounds of the neck. The body of his wife, Rose, was delivered to the same hospital. As the police investigation group found out, Muradyan stabbed his wife and then tried to cut his own throat, operating, for some strange reason, with three kitchen knives at the same time. Circumstances are to be clarified. Novoe Vremya 26.06.2008 Unofficial translation from Russian. For the Armenian translation, click here.
Blackout of Conscience
Blackout of ConscienceExtract …Often in the world of men such crimes are committed, that one does not even know how to name them, how to believe to the unbelievable, inhumane, immoral … Thus, we still have a lot to think about and our route to becoming Human Beings is long… On 26th of May, at 11 o’clock, Artashat police station was informed by an unknown person that in one of the apartments of 6 Marks street there was the bloodstained body of Roza Martirosyan, the owner of the apartment. The operative group went to the crime scene and discovered that the 69-year-old woman died due to head injuries. The operative investigation group immediately commenced the investigation. The apartment had been turned upside-down, which suggested a robbery with violence. Yet, the other suggestion was of a frame-up robbery: in order to cover tracks and to mislead the police, the perpetrator has, so to say, staged a robbery assault. The police investigators started their work in these two directions. It is worth mentioning that the experienced police officers were more inclined towards the second hypothesis: the retired woman lived alone and had no such property and money which could become a reason for robbery assault. … The investigation continued and one thing was clear from the very beginning: the only wealth that the late woman had – her apartment, could have become the reason for homicide. Only her relatives could inherit the property. Thus, all relatives of Roza Martirosyan were interrogated, including her sister’s son, 28-year-old resident of Artashat, Artak Manaseryan. That’s when the inhumane occurrence was revealed. Regardless of the fact that the young man, by finding himself in a difficult situation, tried to present it as an act of despair. Artak had murdered his aunt. A woman, who loved him as a son…. In May 2007 Artak took a 800 000 AMD loan from the bank, and then decided to “start a business”. Presenting a business-plan he received another loan. Yet, as he explained himself, due to bad organization, his plans were ruined and debts were growing. The state of his family had simply deteriorated, domestic quarrels became a usual thing. Thus, he sent his wife and children to her parents. The social part of the problem was resolved temporarily; however, the major part – debts, remained to be dealt with. The only way out, according to Artak.s opinion, was his aunt’s one-bedroom apartment: the flat shall be sold, debts shall be paid and with the rest of the money he shall start a new business. That was the business-plan he went to his aunt with: presenting everything in bright colors he offered her to sell the apartment and move to his place. With that money he shall give a start to a new “royal” life, and they, his mother, his aunt and himself, shall live in happiness and prosperity. Yet, the aunt didn’t share her nephew’s bright ideas. She was still a capable woman and could provide her own living in the own apartment. His aunt’s stubbornness irritated Artak, they argued a bit and then the old woman asks the demanding young man to leave. Artak left with his plans broken. However, evil thoughts were already in his head. He visited his aunt again at midnight with an intention “to frighten her a little.” It is not clear how he imagined it, but his intention was to make the woman understand how dangerous it is to live all alone. “I wanted to scare her, but she was asleep, so I pitied her. Then I realized that she was awake, so I went to the kitchen in the dark.” –Artak told the details of his actions….The reality is that he has murdered his aunt, someone who was like a second mother for him. … The woman must have heard the noise or simply had a bad feeling, for she woke up and went to kitchen in the dark. “I saw her entering the kitchen. There was no other way. There was a full bottle of vodka on the table, so I took it and hit her head three times”, - Artak said emotionlessly. His conscience blacked out, but not his thoughts. He turned the flat upside-down, arranged everything to look like a robbery and left. Yet, his “robbery” play was not successful; he did not manage to fool the police officers. The grave offence was uncovered hours after the report was received by the police. Artak Manaseryan is detained, the investigation of the case is in the process.
Hasmik Podosyan ”02” weekly, 22 (871) 06-06-2008, www.police.am Unofficial translation from Armenian For text in Armenian, click here.
Extract From “Man and Wife are One”
Extract from “Man and wife are one” Unfortunately, offenses of a domestic nature currently make a significant number. Particularly in 2007, 406 families were subjected to prophylactic registration in different Police departments. At the same time, numerous cases of deliberate causation of body injuries were registered and in most of them husbands were “key players”. In general, such crime as light, medium and severe bodily injuries, including murder, have certain grounds and often the roots of these grounds are to be discovered in the family. Repeated domestic quarrels, bad language, irony, bodily blows, eventually bring people under the jurisdiction of the Law. Certainly, the atmosphere of intolerance, misunderstanding and intransigence can last for years and it is difficult to foresee when it shall qualitatively change into a criminal act. However, it is evident that one day police interference shall be inevitable; one day the case of the unhappy family shall join the row of legal violations – this is a fact. … It is impossible to get the full picture of domestic problems and domestic violence, because people report to the police only when they are brought to the edge of despair, when ugly and unbearable scenes can no longer be tolerated, when the solution can only be found in the Criminal Code. It is no secret that majority of victims of domestic violence are women and men are the main “authors”. Yet, in my opinion, the major victims of these situations are children. Every day they witness how relations are ruined, values are crashed and such things like love, family, respect and tolerance are violated. Repeated domestic arguments, yelling, bad language, and battering first affect children of the family. … Thus, before turning one’s family into a battlefield we should think, take parental care about the inner world of our children... Children are extremely attentive and careful creatures. Nothing escapes from their eye, so before turning a disagreement into a quarrel and battering, one has to be brave enough to look into the child’s eyes. This is not just a helpless little baby, who is trying to interfere your fight with his eyes full of pain and tears, this is the most important person in your life and he is to be accountable to when you decide to resolve domestic issues in an aggressive way. Hasmik Podosyan “02” weekly newspaper, 20 (869) 23-05-2008, unofficial translation from Armenian
"No Need to Worry"
The 20th of February was a remarkable day for the newly married couples: from that moment on they were officially married. Life was like a fairy tale. Only in a fairy tale could people love each other so dearly, but when they started leading their life together, the fairy tale seemed to “diminish” and everyday life started prevailing…They often argued on trifling and serious matters, and even forgot the pleasant expressions they would say so often before. The gap between the young couple kept deepening. Months later, on the 28th of March, the girl told her father about the problem. Her only hope and supporter was her father, in whose presence their future life was to be decided. When the husband came home and learned that his wife’s father was now aware of their affairs, he lost his temper. He started arguing. Then he started beating with his fists and feet, and after that he started strangling her. The woman was crying for help. Some neighbors came up to their door on hearing her cry. When her screams got louder, they knocked at the door. The husband opened it. It did not take him long to give the answer to the question that could be read in the neighbors’ eyes. “There is no need to worry”, he said. Meanwhile, the wife managed to escape from the apartment and sought help at the neighbors. According to the forensic expert's conclusion, a light temporary health injury has been caused to her. In the examination department of Shengavit, the investigation is over and the case has been forwarded to the court. Karine Muradyan “02” weekly, www.police.am , unofficial translation from Armenian 18 (867) 09-05-2008
Extract From “HATRED” Article
AliensOnly hatred has remained after 26 years of living together. The man could no longer stand woman’s voice, step, and breath. Years spent side by side did not unite them, but in contrary – separated them. Thus, now both aliens were living under same roof with a feeling of doom. According to the woman’s relatives, they should have divorced 5 years ago. Truly, this would be the best solution in their situation, when intolerance was accumulating. In some cases, the disease cannot be treated without a surgery. Also in some cases a surgery is needed to eliminate the unbearability of family life. There are situations when a cracked family cannot be glued with any patience or other efforts. In such families everybody is suffering: both spouses and children; sometimes as far as relatives and neighbors. Yet, due to either habit or fear of divorce, perhaps even because of a feeling of shame, people do not separate; they stay together and become prisoners of hatred, family hatred. ***** Strangled woman On 10 March 2007, three days before the crime was committed, they had a serious fight. In his speech at the Appeal Court Hovhannes described it as follows: “It was a storm on a sunny day, a provocation, much ado about nothing.” Perhaps this “storm” enlightened and revealed the old intention, which has nestled in Hovhannes’s soul. Three days later, on March 13 in the morning, Hovhannes left home to go to work. However, he stayed at the nearest bus stop and waited until their 14 year-old son, their youngest child, went to school and his wife remained home alone. Hovhannes went home again, argued with his wife one more time, as if he wanted to make sure that there are no grounds for reconciliation and what he had in his mind was inevitable from that moment on. From words he passed to hits. The woman was fighting back, struggling. Hovhannes was getting more and more angry. At last, he strangled his wife with a curtain. …. Making sure that the woman was not breathing he sat still beside the victim. Actually, he considered HIMSELF a victim. That’s exactly how he presented the situation, when hours later he went to the police with a confession. The accuser Hovhannes H. was both admitting his guilt and denying it at the same time. He was admitting it in theory, consciously, because he knew that remorse is an extenuating circumstance. Yet, he was denying his guilt, because in his entire life he used to blame others; he never noticed his mistakes, furthermore – never admitted them. They were all responsible for his failed life: his wife, her relatives even their children, but not himself. He thought that his wife was inciting their sons against him. … After each domestic quarrel, he felt more and more hateful towards his wife; their cohabitation seemed more and more unbearable. Maybe his wife promoted their arguments; maybe her character was not gold either. Yet it was she who paid with her life and had no need to look back anymore. … One year Hohvannes demanded another forensic psychiatric and psychological examination, stating that the previous examiners were not good enough and did not manage to delve into his psyche. …. His appeal was declined and on March 27, 2008, the Criminal Appeal Court of Kotayk marz considered his sentence appropriate and confirmed 9 years of imprisonment. Thus, Hovhannes hurled blame on the prosecutor… Gohar Kalashyan “02” weekly, www.police.am 17 (866), 02.05.2008. Unofficial translation from Armenian, extract.
Violent Concerns: Survey Exposes Widespread Domestic Abuse of Women
More than one in four Armenian women is a victim of domestic violence, according to a recent survey.
The study of 1,006 women across Armenia found that at least 28 % were subject to domestic violence and 17 % exposed to frequent heavy physical violence and 66 % had experienced psychological pressure.
Sixty per cent of interviewees agreed that “domestic violence is a wide-spread problem in Armenia” and half of them said that they personally knew an average of four women who were undergoing domestic violence.
However, the survey also revealed a widespread acceptance among women of violence in the home. It found that 67 % of women in Armenia justified the use of physical force if a woman has been unfaithful to her husband; 52 % defended it in cases where a woman has ignored her children; and 42 % thought it was acceptable to use force if a woman disobeyed her husband or went somewhere without his knowledge.
Even though almost three out of ten had experienced physical abuse at home, and two out of ten frequently suffered violence, only a third of such women considered themselves victims of domestic violence. The study found that 61% agreed with the view that “a good woman always obeys her husband even in case of disagreement”.
The survey was conducted by the Turpanjian Center for Policy Analysis at the American University of Armenia at the request of the Women’s Rights Center. Women in ten provinces of the republic plus the capital Yerevan were interviewed in 2007.
“Of course these figures do not fully reflect the existing situation; they may be double or even higher, because interviewees usually try to conceal their family problems,” says the head of the Women’s Rights Center NGO Susanna Vardanyan.
Sociologist Aharon Adibekyan commented: “Brutal treatment from a man is very frequently seen as a natural and normal thing for women, especially in rural settlements; they don’t even think they are victims of domestic violence.”
A survey of 1,200 women by the “Sociometer” center for independent sociological research, headed by Adibekyan, recorded even higher levels of domestic violence in 2002. It found that 41% of women experience violence at home, a quarter of the incidences occurring while their children were present.
Adibekyan did not put much store in the different figures, saying that they probably reflected different methodologies used. But he believes that some attitudes are changing.
“Self-esteem is much higher among representatives of the young generation, they are more informed and realize their own rights, and naturally demand better treatment,” he says.
Anna Badalyan, a psychologist with the Motherhood Foundation, says the number of calls received at a hotline has fallen compared to previous years, but the number of individual visits has grown noticeably.
“This means that women are gradually overcoming the stereotype that problems should be solved silently and obediently, because they have understood that it makes their psychological situation worse. They ‘stagnate’ in their own problems, making the depressive condition deeper,” says Badalyan.
She says the problem exists regardless of whether the wider society recognizes it, and it needs to be solved. The psychologist says that all sorts of violence, including sexual violence against children, exist in Armenia.
The Women’s Rights Center NGO, which has operated for the last ten years, has already given help to about 12,000 women through its hotline (080 080 850); some 52% had undergone psychological violence, 41% physical and about 6% sexual violence.
The center has initiated a law on domestic violence and has formed a task group to discuss its preparation that includes high ranking officials from the police, the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs and the healthcare sector.
Vardanyan, the center’s chief, says that even discussing a draft law means that there has been a change in attitudes.
“We could not even speak of it five years ago; the idea was scorned at high levels, with people saying that there is no such problem in Armenia and that these were only individual cases and not general,” says Vardanyan.
The most recent survey showed that 72 % of respondents believed that “Armenia needs a law on domestic violence”.
Vardanyan says that the draft law may be presented to parliament in the autumn. It considers three major issues – prevention of domestic violence, provision and organization of security for victims, and bringing transgressors to court.
“The law is important, because non-governmental organizations that operate today may not work tomorrow,; for instance, if some day I don’t manage to find a donor for my NGO to finance the hotline or temporary shelters, then the state will be obliged to create such shelters or create hotlines by law,” says Vardanyan.
Vardanyan says that the number of cases of domestic violence is relatively high in European countries too but, unlike in Armenia, “the problem is not concealed and ignored there, but instead solutions are sought”.
Data from the United Nations says that at least one in every three women worldwide has been beaten, coerced into sex, or otherwise abused by a man in her lifetime. Among women aged 15-44, gender-based violence accounts for more death and disability among women than the combined effects of cancer, malaria, traffic injuries and war.By Gayane Abrahamyan
ArmeniaNow reporter (www.armenianow.am)
Published: 06 June, 2008
12.05.2008 "I Just Wanted to Scare Her"
“I Just Wanted to Scare Her” The call from the Burn Medical Center to the Arabkir District Police Department was regarding the fact that one of the inhabitants of Mamikonyants street was transferred to the medical center with thermal burns of different body parts. The victim’s burns were results of a fire started at the door of her apartment. Severe and deadly damage was caused to her health. The investigation was instituted at Arabkir Police Department in accordance with 1 and 2 points of section 2, Article 185 and section 1 of Article 120 of the RA Criminal Code. During the preliminary investigation, Nerses Yapunjyan, the victim’s son-in-law who has a criminal record of 10 imprisonments, was delivered to the police on suspicion of commission of a crime. Yapunjyan confessed and pleaded guilty. ... He had tense relations with his mother in law due to domestic issues. After a regular quarrel he threatened to burn the woman in her own flat. And he did: three days after the quarrel he bought one bottle of gasoline and made his way towards the target. After midnight he poured the gasoline on the door of his mother-in-law's apartment and set it on fire. According to his words, he didn’t want to harm her, only to scare her. During the preliminary investigation, a psychiatric examination was made. According to the expert’s statement, Yapunjyan had alcoholic dementia. The decision was made to stop the investigation and restraint, and use compulsory medical measures. The preliminary investigation is finished. The case has been sent to the court. Anna Aslanyan “02” weekly, www.police.am, unofficial translation from Armenian 16 (865) 25-04-2008
12.05.2008 "How?"
How?None of the people involved in this case, who are relatives, regardless of the status – accused, victim or witness, ever asked him/herself: where is the threshold which cannot be passed, at least by blood kin? Thus, since they’ve never asked themselves and never admitted that such a threshold exists, they cannot explain how it happened that 3 members of one family found themselves on the bench. One was a victim, and the aged parents of the latter and their children became witnesses (including one minor, the presence of which should have at least hampered 30-40-and-more-years-olds). Yet, they were so violent that even in presence of the child they continued to insult and humiliate the widow of their brother, who appeared in the center of the hatred of the three. They beat her and finally caused body injuries with a sharp cutting instrument. Let us not mention the names, because they have already been punished enough by bringing their family quarrels to the center of attention of neighbors and law enforcement, not to mention the inevitable criminal responsibility. … On December 15 of 2007, the participants of the future quarrel gathered in their parental home with a narrow circle of relatives with the purpose of visiting the grave of their late relative. The parents of the late man, his widow, his sisters, his brother’s wife and children stayed at home. Everybody said that the quarrel between the two sisters-in-law had a domestic nature. Let us not specify the cause and the reason of the quarrel because no matter how true and justified they were or how irritating, the quarrel, as the participants stated, “didn’t go above domestic issues,” thus it shouldn’t have had the development that it had. All this happened because relatives, arguing around a domestic issue, crossed a line which they had no right to cross. The argument of two sisters-in-law started with a women’s squabble, but soon it grew into a scuffle. Then the accused gave way to her hands and started beating the late brother-in-law’s widow. The widow could have protected herself from hits and kicks on the head and face, from nails, scratching her neck, but the niece of the deceased joined the attacker. Have you ever heard how women are cursing? If an outsider man was there on December 15th, he would certainly feel ashamed for the words that were coming out of the womens' lips at every move. All admonitions of mother-in-law and sisters-in-law to calm down sank in the noise of women’s fight. At last they managed to pull the fighting women apart, and the beaten widow made her way towards the door but there she ran into her brother-in-law (the husband of one of the attackers), who had just returned from the graveyard. Apparently, the cause of the argument had a long history, otherwise the man, who opened the door with a kick and who had a sharp cutting tool in his hand, would not block the woman’s way. He would come into the room, clarify the situation and would give resolution to the quarrel with his authorized word. No, he didn’t do that. On the contrary, he cursed his sister-in-law in the worst way possible and hit her in the neck with what he had in his hand. The cut was luckily not very deep, but the woman’s neck immediately turned red. It is clear that when the irreparable happens, it usually becomes the peak of the fight and both sides immediately calm down. However, the thing is that even if both sides calm down, their burning emotions do not extinguish at once and are ready to erupt at any moment, as the cause of the argument is not eliminated, the question around which the argument occurred is not resolved, and it causes arguments at any opportunity. The fact that, according to forensic examination, the victim received body injuries resulting in short-term health damage was in the second place for the victim, because, as she testified, she was feeling deeply humiliated: “All three of them insulted and humiliated my dignity with indecent words.” She testified the same during confrontational cross-questioning with the accused. The conclusion is evident: this woman applied to law enforcement with an internal striving: first of all, for restoration of her honor and dignity in her own eyes. She might not have even wanted to call her relatives to criminal responsibility. Perhaps, in the course of time, she would even make up with them and try to forget the incident, knowing whatsoever that repetition of such incidents is not excluded. Yet, perhaps the experience of already-repeated violence has filled the cup of her patience and has given her enough determination to apply to law enforcement. It is not a secret that the majority of domestic quarrels stay inside the four walls: aggrieved family members avoid calling for justice and live their lives in the status of a victim blaming their fate. Luckily, this woman decided not to live her life in the status of a victim and chose the most effective route to protect her rights.
Rita Nahapetyan “02” weekly, www.police.am, unofficial translation from Armenian
16 (865) 25-04-2008
12.05.2008 Extract From "Crime in the Regions"
Operational Summary: Regional Crime In Brief“Change of Image” If 36 year-old Edward were strong enough to throw a glance back to 1991, he'd find himself there. He’d recall how his heart stood still when he met or was to meet his sweetheart. How he was preparing himself, fixing his outfit, brushing his hair, shaving. The twenty-year-old young man gave great importance to every detail. After all, he was going to get married. In 1992 he reached his longed-for goal - and got married. Yet, in the course of time, emotions faded. Thus, he was looking at everything more calmly. No longer did he care about his outfit and shaving. After all, his beloved was next to him and he had nothing to worry about. There was only one thing left for complete happiness, but that, too, happened soon. During their family life they had 4 children. However, as years went by, they didn’t notice that love and tenderness gave way to disagreements. Children were growing, but the parents could not find a common language. From time to time quarrels occurred, and grew into brawls. Four minor children were witnessing the meaningless, highly emotional quarrels and fights of their parents. During a regular fight, the woman would receive severe bodily injuries. The husband didn’t want his wife to work at the bakery. Several times he insisted on her leaving the job and staying at home, taking care of the children. His demands were ignored. It was an ordinary day: the woman, as usual, was at work. Edward woke up and, as usual, went to his neighbor’s. Then, as usual, he drank vodka. When hours later he came home and saw that his wife hadn’t returned yet, he got very angry and send his son after the mother. … When the woman came home, her husband was already in a fit of anger and a quarrel was inevitable. The influence of alcohol added some temper as well. After words were said, he started to use his hands and feet. He kicked his wife in the face. The woman fell on the floor. That’s when Edward allowed himself to use his feet. He kicked his wife in the abdomen. After the “torrent” of kicks, the woman somehow went out and went in the direction of her uncle’s house. Bellyaches were intensifying. Her state was deteriorating. It was late at night when she was transferred to the Eghvard city hospital, where she had surgery. Information about the incident was forwarded from the hospital to Eghegnadzor District Police department. The operative group, which came to the hospital, clarified the circumstances of the case. An investigation was instituted in accordance with part 1 of Article 112 of the RA Criminal Code. The preliminary investigation is finished. Karine Muradyan “02” weekly, www.police.am , unofficial translation from Armenian 16 (865) 25-04-2008
Draft Law on Domestic Violence is Being Prepared
The “Women’s Rights Center” NGO is planning to organize a roundtable dedicated to the situation on domestic violence in Armenia. The event is to take place in Yerevan on the 25th of April, 2008. The roundtable participants will also discuss the Draft Law on domestic violence, elaborated by the Center. Marietta Malumyan “Novoe Vremya”, Unofficial translation from Russian 22.04.2008 N 1600
29.04.2008, "In the Name of His Girlfriend"
"In the Name of His Girlfriend"53-year old Levon Grigiryan has spent years of his conscious life in jail. Imprisonment has become his way of life: he has been convicted and imprisoned 7 times. Once for possession of drugs, all other times – for theft. In 2006, he was granted parole. Ever since he has had no regular job, but from time to time he did some construction. In autumn of 2006. he met G. and got into a close relationship with her. His girlfriend had neither place to live, nor job. She used to sleep on the street and in underground stations, she was hungry very often. Levon, as a caring boyfriend, tried to ease her burden, however, not by his own work, but at the expense of others' property. In May 2007, he was wandering around the Kanaker hydroelectric power station, planning to steal something. Finally he noticed an electric handsaw on a window sill. He broke the window glass with a stone and snatched it. He sold the handsaw for 2500 drams and enjoyed the “earned” money with his girlfriend. The next theft was from a summer in the “Korean gorge” – a locksmith’s press. At the end of 2007, Levon, with his girlfriend, was in the park near Arabkir market. There they met some friends, bought some food and alcohol, and enjoyed all that. After parting with friends around 16:00, they headed for Levon’s place. They chatted while walking, but the chat grew into quarrel, then into a fight. “A caring boyfriend” was beating his girlfriend with his hands and feet. They ceased fighting only with the interference of the police. Both were brought to Arabkir Police station, where the woman filed a complaint, demanding that Levon be brought to justice for causing physical injuries. Criminal proceedings were instituted on this case. As the investigator of this case, Vagharshak Mkrtchyan stated, other misdeeds of Levon Grigoryan were revealed. He pled guilty of all accusations and wrote a frank confession. Charges against Levon Grigoryan were presented by Article 177, part 3, point 3 and Article 177 of RA Criminal Code. Anna Aslanyan 13 (862)
28.04.2008, "A Stool Hit"
28.04.2008A Stool Hit The young man get married years ago. Life was beautiful, days that passed by – fabulous. Soon his son, the Eighth Wonder, was born. The family became complete and grew stronger. Yet, there were trials as well. Several months before, his son received treatment in one of the hospitals. After a week of nightmare the man took his son and his wife home. On that very day he, for some strange reason, also drank a couple of bottles of vodka. The amount of alcohol drove the young man away from reality. In such a condition, he could hardly comprehend anyone. Thus, he didn’t comprehend his wife and had an argument with her. It was all about everyday life. The woman, trying to avoid the quarrel, went to the neighbors’, but she couldn’t stay there for a long time. Her husband followed her there and demanded his wife to return home. Yet, his wife didn’t express any wish to return and preferred to stay for some time with her parents, who lived in the same building. Stalking his wife, the man followed her there. The argument resumed, and soon his wife’s parents became a part of it. ? scuffle started. The sea, indeed, is knee-deep for a drunken man: he started to swear. Furthermore, the obscene language was addressed not only to his wife, but to mother-in-law as well. That’s when the father-in-law interfered and tried to get his son-in-law in line. All in vain, though: the son-in-law cursed again. At that moment the mother-in-law took a stool and hit her son-in-law, causing bodily injuries. The son-in-law didn’t bear his mother-in-law a grudge. Yet it didn’t release her from liability…. The investigation, instituted by Shengavit investigation agency, is over. Karine Muradyan “02” weekly, Unofficial translation 5 (584)
28.04.2008, Operative News
28.04.2008By the same clause 24-year-old Karapet Karapetyan, a resident of Yerevan, is a student. He got married in December 2006, before graduating the University and starting his career. Two months later he registered his marriage officially, and in a few more months his first child – a daughter, was born. Yet, even the birth of a child couldn’t improve the couple's strained relations. Domestic, everyday problems that occurred were deepening, instead of receiving solutions. Intolerance only made difficult relations worse. Finally, in August 2007, the woman took her baby and left for her parents’ place, without telling her husband. When she returned, the decision to divorce was made. The decision wasn’t final, though. They could avoid divorce, if the husband agreed to rent an apartment for young family to live separately from his parents. Stipulating that, woman didn’t take into consideration the fact, that her husband was a student and that she didn’t work either. The question - at whose expense and how was the rent supposed to be paid? – remained unanswered. Before September 2007, the spouses met a few times, conversed and tried to resolve the situation, but all in vain. Relations deteriorated. The regular rendezvous was set for September 7th by mutual agreement. On the evening before that, when the woman called to set up a meeting for the next day, Karapet was still thinking that things were not hopeless, that his child and wife shall be with him, at his house. At the set time, Karapet with his friend went to his wife’s parent's place. His friend stayed outside, while Karapet went up the stairs. His wife, mother-in-law and their daughter, sleeping in her cradle, were at home. The spouses separated for a talk. A conversation that lasted almost 10 minutes resolved nothing. Again, no agreement was reached. A little later, the mother-in-law joined their conversation. This intervention irritated an already angry Karapet even more, and he started to talk in an arrogant and rude manner. After mutual biting remarks Karapet took his daughter and said that he is taking his baby with him, even if his wife is not coming. The situation burst into a scuffle, argument and fight. Karapet pushed his mother-in-law and then kicked her leg, causing light body injuries. The mother-in-law, in her turn, scratched Karapet’s neck, and furthermore, thinking that it wasn’t enough, bit the little finger of his left hand…. Yet, this was not the end. Karapet started swearing, grabbed the baby and ran out, demanding his wife to follow him. The woman, though, managed to convince him again and he gave back the baby. After that Karapet and his friend took off. Of course, at home he told nobody about the occurrence of the day, but… On the same day, his mother-in-law reported the incident to Arabkir district Police station. A criminal investigation was instituted. During the investigation charges were brought not only against Karapet, but also against his mother-in-law – by the same 117 clause of RA Criminal Code. The investigation is over; the case was forwarded to the court. Anna Aslanyan “02” weekly, 3 (852) Unofficial translation.
"Criminal Mosaic", 11.01.2008
In one family of Gyumri, the spouses unwisely gave way to passions. Disagreements that burst from domestic issues turned into a fight and by the right of the strongest, the husband battered his wife. Another “strong” husband from Kapan battered his wife on 31st of December, when everybody else was busy with preparations for the New Year. The woman didn’t forgive her husband and on the 7th of January went to the police. “02” weekly, 11.01.2008, 1 /850/. Unofficial translation from Armenian
"One Out of Four Do Not Object "
According to a report stated yesterday by UNICEF, one of the every four Armenian women are confident that under certain circumstances a husband has the right to beat his wife. 22 percent of Armenian women gave a positive answer to the question of whether it can be justified under some circumstances that a spouse or partner can beat or strike his wife. 70 percent of women in Uzbekistan gave a positive answer to the same question but only 5 percent answered positively in Ukraine. “Yes” say 30 percent of women in Georgia.
Haikakan Zhamanak
11.12.2007
N 220(1935)
Unofficial translation
Criminal Mosaic 02.12.07
The Charentsavan police department was informed by the hospital that Arpine A. was delivered to the hospital with cut wound of the elbow. As became clear later, the woman was stabbed by her ex husband, Andranik Minasyan, during a domestic quarrel.
“02” weekly, 47 /846/, 07.12.2007. www.police.am
Unofficial translation
Criminal Mosaic 18.11.07
The Artashat Police station received information from the hospital that Rosa M., a resident of Arevshat village, was delivered to the hospital with cut/thrust injuries to different parts of the body. As became clear, the woman’s brother-in-law, Khachik Avetisyan, stabbed her with a knife during a domestic quarrel.
“02” weekly, www.police.am 23.11.2007, 45 /844/ Unofficial translation.
Criminal Mosaic 16.11.07
The Gyumri Police station received information from the hospital that Svetlana M., a resident of Charents street, was delivered to the hospital with injuries of the back received from a sharp-cutting thrust weapon. As became clear, the woman’s husband, Saris Mkhitaryan, stabbed her with a kitchen knife during a domestic quarrel at home. An investigation is being conducted.
“02” weekly, www.police.am 23.11.2007, 45 /844/ Unofficial ranslation
Results of a Survey on Abuse
It is better to resolve problems of domestic violence at home – this is the opinion of 88% of respondents of “Domestic violence and abuse of women in Armenia” survey. According to them it is better to “keep the garbage in the house,” rather than to call the police. 64% see a public problem in this issue, which has to be resolved by the government and the society. In certain cases the beaten lady, driven to despair, resolved her problems under the lynch law. A couple of such avengers are serving their sentence in Abovyan female correction facility. Its warden, Arsen Afrikyan, in his interview with the correspondent of “NV” said that, as the experience shows, women’s vengeance is more terrifying then men’s, and is remarkable for its cruelty. According to Ani Dallakyan, representative of Turpanjian Center for Policy Analysis of American University of Armenia, 1006 women took part in the survey. 281 of them (25%) were subjected to beating not only by husband, but also by mother-in-law. Survey was conducted among 18-75 years old married women and women who had partners. 3% of respondents refused to give any information at all, fearing that the compromising information will reach the husband’s ears and he won’t like it. Let us remind, though – the survey was anonymous. Besides, not only experienced husbands prefer to raise their hand on their wives. For example, of the young men told the following to the “NV” correspondent: “Yes, I shall hit my future wife. Not all the time though. Only when it is needed”. That is to say, that being unmarried he is already programmed to violence. Specialists say that in these cases boys take over the model of their father’s behavior. 61% of interviewed think, that wife should obey to her husband even if she disagrees with him. Only 39% of interviewed women concurred that a woman can choose her friends by herself. 22% respondents consider it right that their husband forbids them to work. Thus, says A.Dallakyan, it is possible to conclude that Armenian women’s conception of domestic violence mostly doesn’t concur with that of women of the world. Her husband started to unmercifully beat Lusine P. when a couple of months after their marriage, she discovered that he suffered from enuresis. As a rule, the majority of men vent on their closest ones their weakness in certain circumstances. Mostly these circumstances are of social character. Domestic violence evokes anger of 80% of interviewed women, 48% experience self-underestimation, 47% women notice indications of depression, 46% feel ashamed, 42% - scared. Furthermore, for 40% the display of aggression in the family causes chronic insomnia, 33% fear for their children. On a common level a victim of violence evokes the feelings of compassion and sorrow, but when it comes to public censure, the truth turns always to be on the man’s side. Thus the victim appears one to one with her troubles. In civilized countries there are special shelters for these women. Here they will be provided with rehabilitation assistance of a social and psychological character. In Armenia not many people have enough courage to go counter to the circumstances, and the concept of “namus” (honor), which is elevated to the level of national “idee fixe,” takes over. As A.Dallakyan noted, the main aim of the survey was to gather reliable data on the situation in Armenia. It is necessary, in particular, to elaborate the draft law on the protection of women’s rights. Marietta Malumyan “Novoje Vremya”, 13/11/2007, 1541 Unofficial translation from Russian
Survey Indicates Wide Use of Verbal Abuse
A survey conducted among 2500 Armenian families showed that 38.7% of wives get cursed and called names by their husbands. 33.5% of children as well live constantly hearing bad language from their fathers. Mothers-in-law also often get a tough word.The extent of usage of bad language in Armenian families was not the only goal of the survey, which was sponsored by the Ministry of Labor and Social Issues, National Statistics Agency and UN. It became clear that the most prevalent form of violence in the country is beating. Women are the main object for beating, then – children, and in the third place – mothers of husband or wife. 16% of interviewed women consider themselves ignored in the family. 16.1% of mothers-in-law also consider themselves ignored. Children deprived of attention amounted to 13.6%. Among men, only 11.9% think that their household doesn’t consider their opinion. Compiled from: “Novoe Vremya” newspaper 08/11/2007, N 1539, Unofficial translation from Russian.
A Case of Domestic Violence
A 35 year old woman from one of the regions of Armenia, mother of 6 children (all minor), has been constantly subjected to physical violence during her married life. Her husband several times threw her and her children out of the house at night. She had to stay overnight with shepherds, because she was afraid for her children and herself. Last time he battered her severely and turned out of the house. But this time only her, without children. After that he threatened to deprive her of maternal rights. That was the last drop in poor woman’s cup of patience. She went to the police and asked for help. She was sent to the forensic medical examination. Examination shower, that due to physical violence woman’s phalanx and cheek-bone were broken and she had a brain concussion. Legal procedure was initiated against her husband and the decision of the Court was 2 years of imprisonment: 1st year – on probation and 1 year – actual imprisonment.
Extract from WRC Report: Operation of Women's Support and Drop-In Center and National Hot Line Service
From January 1, 2007 to August 31, 2007 the WRC National Hot Line received 380 calls (219 primary and 161 repeated), 193 (almost 51%) calls of the total number were domestic violence cases (119 primary and 74 repeated); 106 (54.9% of 193 calls) cases out of this number were on psychological domestic violence, 79 (40.9%)- physical, 8 (4.2%) – sexual. Within the same period the Women’s Support and Drop-in-Center registered 264 visits of women and their children (124 primary cases and 140 – repeated). The domestic violence cases have amounted to 215 (113 (almost 52.6% of 215) psychological, 86 (40%) physical, 16 (7.4%) sexual), which makes about 81.4% of the total amount of visits. 108 of domestic violence cases were primary and 107 – repeated. 11 women have applied to the Women’s Support and Drop-in-Center from the regions. Based upon these numbers we can make a conclusion about significant growth of the number of the applicants – women victims of domestic violence. Within the period of 9 months (1 May 2006 – 25 January 2007) the Emergency Shelter hosted 43 people: 19 women, 24 children.
Extract from "Criminal mosaic" 13.10.2007
Vardenis Police department received information from the hospital, that S.M and A.M., residents of Karchakhbjur village, were delivered to the hospital with cut and stab wounds of the thorax. As became clear, the spouses had a domestic quarrel early in the morning. After that the husband first stabbed hs wife with a kitchen knife and then, with the same knife and an axe – himself: §02¦ á»»ÏÉÁ www.police.am, 19.10.2007, N40 /839/
Extract from "Criminal Mosaic" 12.10.2007
According to a case registered in Arabkir Police department, during a domestic quarrel Astxik Gh. received physical injuries from her brother-il-law, Artak Kh. §02¦ weekly www.police.am , 12.10.2007, N39 /838/
Extract from “Criminal Mosaic” 08.10.2007
Information from the hospital was received in Hrazdan Police department: resident of Solak village Zvart P, who was delivered to the hospital with a thorax injury, has been stabbed by her brother, Mher. §02¦ weekly www.police.am , 12.10.2007, N39 /838/
Inevitability of the Moment
Inevitability of the moment The tranquility of a once peaceful family has been disturbed. By mutual consent and the will of both husband and wife - each of them followed their own way. So one family is less in the world now. However, the happiness didn’t vanish at once, but over the years. They couldn’t even remember how it all happened. After all, they had been living together for years, without complaining. But the moment for complaining, intolerance and incomprehension has come. Maybe it was inevitability of the moment, that they couldn’t overcome? True, they were divorced, but they would still meet from time to time. Those ‘meetings’ were usually accompanied with mutual insults and discrediting. They couldn’t avoid it. That day was no exclusion; as usual ex-husband visited his ex-wife. As soon as he opened the door and entered the room, the atmosphere in the flat immediately changed. The tension rose, but the “exes” didn’t expect that the day would finish by committing a penal action, for which not only the former husband and wife, but their daughter also would be charged with a proper article of the RA Criminal Code. So, as soon as the former husband entered, he started quarrelling with his ex-wife about some domestic issue. Then he struck her first with his hands and then with a wooden stick; furthermore, when their daughter interfered, he hit her too. The quarrel became so intense that words were useless. The girl took a vacuum cleaner tube and struck her father. While the man was under the shower of strikes, the woman managed to grab the stick out of his hands and then started to beat him mercilessly. In Nor Nork investigation department the preliminary investigation of the case against members of the former family has been finished. The bill of particulars has been forwarded to the Court of first Instance. By Karine Muradyan Published in “02” weekly, 21.09.2007, 36 (835)
“Unburdening” of the Heart
“Unburdening” of the Heart A newly created family has just unexpectedly collapsed. Also unexpectedly, a husband and a wife discovered that the love and respect that they had for each other was shallow and insincere. That unexpectedness made them say ‘goodbye’ to each other. Two years of coexistence showed that they have nothing in common. From now on the only common thing they had was dispute. Yes, the ex-spouses had a dispute related to their property to be settled only with mediation of the court. When the court hearing was over, 34-year old Armen approached his ex-wife to say a couple of words and to unburden his heart. The woman was not alone, but with her representative and neighbor. The “heart-unburdening” process took place in their presence. He started to insult the woman, told her indecent things and spat in her face. For that behavior Armen S. was charged by 136/1 article of RA Criminal Code. However, he didn’t admit his guilt. According to him, he had neither approached his wife, nor insulted her. Yet, the facts, elicited during the preliminary investigation showed the opposite. The preliminary investigation of the case at Kanaker-Zejtun investigation department is over. By Karine Muradyan Published in “02” weekly, 21.09.2007, 36 (835)
"Criminal Mosaic" 05.08.2007
An extract from “Criminal Mosaic”11 cases of domestic quarrels, which frequently resulted in the deliberate cause of physical injuries, were registered. For instance, Vardenis Police Department registered a case: 35 years old son, Vardan Vatyan - resident of Kakhakn village, beat and caused body injuries to his 72 years old mother. The woman was taken to the hospital, her son escaped. Published in: “02” RA Police Weekly (http://www.police.am), 31(830) (Unofficial translation)
"Criminal Mosaic", 04.08.2007
Extract from “Criminal Mosaic” At midnight the Erebuni police department received information from the hospital about Arshalujs Stepanjan (born in 1927), who arrived with second and third-degree burns on 10% of her body. The 80-year-old lady told the operative group that she was set on the fire by her nephew Benik Stepanyan. Published in: “02” RA Police Weekly (http://www.police.am), 31 (830) (Unofficial translation)
Domestic Quarrel
Contributed by Nathalie Saghiyan, Women's Rights Center Ashot Vardanjan, who had no previous criminal record, appeared on the dock after a domestic quarrel.
.....After his brother's death Ashot couldn't get along with his sister-in-law. Disagreement occurred about the apartment, which was to be sold. Not only the apartment itself, but also the furniture in it. They simply couldn't come to an agreement. One word from this side, one – from the other, and an argument started.
A typical argument started when Ashot, according to his words, decided to remove his mother's furniture from the flat in dispute.
When Ashot was busy removing the furniture, his sister-in-law returned from work. His actions surprised her. When she asked him why he was taking other things apart from the bedroom furniture (about which they had a prior agreement), Ashot didn't answer. He used his fists, and ripped off the woman's necklace.
The argument was followed by an official statement at Arabkir Police Department, made by a woman who was tired of all that. A proceeding was instituted against Ashot Vardanyan in accordance with RA criminal law.
Published in: “02” RA Police Weekly (http://www.police.am),20.07.2007, 28 (827) (Unofficial translation)
"Criminal Mosaic" 17.07.2007
Contributed by Nathalie Saghiyan, Women's Rights Center A woman was beaten by her drunk husband in Gyumri. The man, who has a criminal record, also hit the woman's head with a glass bottle, causing injuries. Both cases of deliberate physical cruelty are currently being investigated.
Published in: “02” RA Police Weekly (http://www.police.am), 28 (827) (Unofficial translation)
"Criminal Mosaic", 16.07.2007
Contributed by Nathalie Saghiyan, Women's Rights Center A resident of Jivanu str, Gyumri informed the police department that her son, Hamlet P., born in 1982, regularly beats her when under alcoholic intoxication.
Published in: “02” RA Police Weekly (http://www.police.am), 28 (827) (Unofficial translation)
"Criminal Mosaic" 10.07.2007
Contributed by Nathalie Saghiyan, Women's Rights Center A case of deliberate physical cruelty was registered by Meghri Police station. Gayane H., delivered to the hospital with injuries of different parts of her body, was beaten in a domestic quarrel by her husband, Sako Nikolayan, as police officers found out later.
Published in: “02” RA Police Weekly (http://www.police.am), 27 (826) (Unofficial translation)
"Criminal Mosaic"
Contributed by Nathalie Saghiyan, Women's Rights Center 8 July 2007
The Police Department of Nor Nork was informed by the hospital at 1 o'clock in the morning that a female resident of Jrvezh Majak district was delivered to the hospital with abdominal injuries. As it turned out, the victim's husband beat her in a domestic quarrel.
Published in: “02” RA Police Weekly (http://www.police.am), 27 (826) (Unofficial translation
An Extract From the Article “It is Going to be a Hot Summer”
Contributed by Nathalie Saghiyan, Women's Rights Center Summer heat is at its peak. Laziness and idleness are in the air. Meanwhile, a police summary report shows that between the 1st and 5th of July, 60 cases of deliberate physical cruelty were registered in different police departments. Relaxing and calming heat, in fact, has had no such effect on one particular group of people. To the contrary, it seems that dulling heat irritated scrappers, those who prefer to use fists, those who tend to turn a simple domestic misunderstanding into a fight. “Authors” of such cases have turned their families’ internal issues into a subject of police interference. Meanwhile, the amount of deliberate physical cruelty cases in domestic quarrels continues to grow, regardless of the season of heat that makes one lazy, and irregardless of appeals of the police to be tolerant. Unfortunately injuries become statistics. Intolerance and unfriendliness stay dominant in relationships, sadly – between the dear ones, between relatives. “Love your neighbor like yourself” – this principle still remains ignored. Published in: “02” RA Police Weekly , 06.07.2007 26 (825) (Unofficial translation)
Extracts from Article on Domestic Violence
Contributed by Nathalie Saghiyan, Women's Rights Center Extracts from the article “Women love to be beaten? Some Armenian women consider it normal when their husbands beat them” “22% of the respondent women think that a husband has the right to beat his wife. Women are mostly beaten for the following reasons: forgetting about the food in the oven, failing to pay proper attention to children, contradicting their husbands or rejecting intimacy.” This was said yesterday during the presentation of “2005 Demographic and Health Survey” (DHS) project. The survey was conducted among 6566 women and 1447 men, aged 15-49. Compiled from: “Aravot” Daily (http://www.aravot.am), 107/2973, 8 June 2007 (Unofficial translation)
Extracts from “Criminal mosaic” article
Contributed by Eduard Grigoryan, Women's Rights Center Extracts from “Criminal mosaic” article 27 May A domestic quarrel in one of the families of the capital ended up in a knifing – Manvel Mouradyan hit his wife with a kitchen knife and caused an injury on her leg. 30 May Kanaker-Zeitoun police department was informed by the hospital that Tamara Arakelyan, born in 1932, has applied to them with injuries on different parts of her body. It became known that the elderly woman was battered by Arsen Galstyan, her 17-year-old grandson. Published in: “02” RA Police Weekly (http://www.police.am), 21(820), 1 June, 2007 (Unofficial translation)
An extract from the article “Criminal mosaic”
Contributed by Eduard Grigoryan, Women's Rights Center An extract from “Criminal mosaic” article April 30 Hospital staff informed Arabkir police department that Haykanoush A., a resident of Kasyan Street, has been brought to the hospital with burns on her hand and shoulder. The operative group found out that Gagik Badeyan, her husband, had poured gas on her and lit it in a domestic quarrel at home.
The investigation is being held by the Prosecutor’s Office of Arabkir and Kanaker-Zeitoun communities.
H.I. Published in: “02” RA Police weekly (http://www.police.am), 17 (816), 4 May 2007 (Unofficial translation)
An Executor From Nor-Kharberd
Contributed by Eduard Grigoryan, Women's Rights Center An executor from Nor-Kharberd Recently a sadist that has beaten 1.5-year-old baby nearly to death has been arrested. The doctors hardly managed to save the baby.
58-year-old Gor Karapetyan left school after 8 grades, has been twice convicted and is unemployed. He tried sadistic propensities on little Aramais and the latter’s mother Narine Atoyan, with whom he lived in the country district of Nor-Kharberd. It was not the first time he had beaten the baby; the execution took place periodically - every time Narine was disobedient. Gor would beat the baby and with pleasure watch the mother’s reaction. One might say he had double pleasure of the baby’s cry and the mother’s pain. Last time drunk Karapetyan surpassed himself – out of strong hits on the head the baby lost consciousness and was taken to the hospital in grave condition. Fortunately it was saved. The sadist-torturer was arrested.
Margarita Aroutyunyan Published in: “Novoye Vremya”, 1457, 22 March 2007 (Unofficial translation)
Altruist-Murderer
Contributed by Eduard Grigoryan, Women's Rights Center Altruist-murderer The profession of goddesses of love is both dangerous and difficult. The same was true about 36-year-old Arpine Margaryan, who was murdered by her client Vahram Zakaryan.
According to the materials of the inquest, the relations of the murderer and the victim began in January of 2005. At that time Yerevan resident Vahram met Arpine and evidently having strong feelings for her, suggested that she move to his flat on Khristophor Street. The prostitute that was renting poor flats agreed with pleasure. Vahram accepted her two underage daughters with her. It could become an example of altruism if not for the subsequent events. Arpine and Vagram lived peacefully for five months; Arpine left her profession and became an exemplary housewife, but the idyll did not last long. Aprine again returned to her profession, which extremely dissatisfied her civil husband and he started battering his mistress. Soon Vahram found himself in prison – he had beaten one Hamazasp. The First Instance Court of Center and Nork-Marash community sentenced him to imprisonment for almost half a year. All this time Aprine continued living in his house with her daughters.
After being set free Vahram found out that Arpine used to take clients to his house. On that ground the cheated partner started battering his mistress every day to teach her a lesson. Nevertheless, he did not turn her out of home. The woman did not apply to the police either. At the end of the last year Vahram came home violently drunk and beat the woman to death. The jealous altruist pleaded guilty. The materials of the case are passed from the Prosecutor’s Office of Erebouni and Noubarashen to the Firsts Instance Court…
Margarita Haroutyunyan Published in: “Novoye Vremya”, 1457, 22 March 2007 (Unofficial translation)
Former Family
Contributed by Eduard Grigoryan, Women's Rights Center Former family The joint life of young spouses has been interrupted as suddenly as they fell in love and decided to get married.
Years have passed from that day, the years of common joy and sorrow. To make it short, a life where they were the main heroes. Then their two children were born and so the family had obtained its final shape and strength. But the achievement of the years disappeared just in a couple of days. They divorced. Yes, there were children, but that fact did not prevent them from their decision...
The reason was the husband’s two convictions. There were disagreements on that issue among the spouses; as a result they divorced. By the way, husband was in prison that time. When he got back, they continued living by the same address, but nothing stayed the same. And it could not have stayed intact.
However, they could not avoid seeing each other every day, and that caused permanent reciprocal tension. And that was the environment in which their children were growing, but this did not relax the tension. They quarreled often and it seemed there would be no end to that. The ex-husband was unable to find himself due to imaginary jealousy. He could not tolerate that his former wife spoke with strangers, even when she held business conversations. But how could she avoid communicating with people, even though her ex-husband did not like it? Work required such contacts, but the former husband…
He got angry each time, making scenes. As a result of the last scene, the ex-wife was injured and her health was damaged for quite a long time. That day ex-husband noticed that his ex-wife was speaking with some stranger. Immediately he entered into his ex-wife’s rented studio and demanded her interlocutor to get out. Then he started to hit his ex-wife with fists and feet, forced her into his car and took her home. The beating was about to be continued at home, but he could not wait and started to beat her right in the car, and then in the lift. So such unruly behavior finally got an appropriate reaction, envisaged by the Armenian Criminal Code…
The Nor Nork Investigation Department has already finished the inquest under the first part of Article 113 of the Armenian Criminal Code.
Published in: “02” RA Police Daily (http://www.police.am), 19(818) (Unofficial translation)
An Extract From the Article “Criminal Mosaic”
Contributed by Eduard Grigoryan, Women's Rights Center An extract from the article “Criminal mosaic” April 30 The Arabkir police department has been informed by a hospital that Haykanoush A., living on the Kasyan Street, was brought there with burns on her hand and shoulder. The operative group found out that it was Gagik Badeyan, her husband, who had poured gas on his wife Haykanoush A. and lit it in the process of a domestic quarrel.
The case is being investigated by the Prosecutor’s Office of Arabkir and Kanaker-Zeitoun communities.
H.I. Published in: “02” RA Police weekly (http://www.police.am), 17 (816), 4 May 2007 (Unofficial translation)
H.V., 27 Years Old
Contributed by Eduard Grigoryan, Women's Rights Center H.V., 27 years old The woman is subjected to psychological violence by her mother and father-in-law. When she visited the Women’s Support and Drop-in Center, she was very anxious, helpless and nervous, as the day before her mother- and father-in-law let their son and grandson in, but closed the door in front of her. The reason was that the woman decided to have the second child, while her mother- and father-in-law tried to force her to terminate the second pregnancy, but the woman would not agree. The husband wants to have the second child as well, but he cannot prevent his parent’s violent actions and tells the wife to give up to the pressure.
They constantly insult the woman, do not allow her to heat the room in the winter, use hot water, took her jewelry. She does not want to apply to the police as her father-in-law has friends there. Her husband takes no steps. He was forced to take her back to her parent’s. Now the woman does not know how to restore her rights.
The Women’s Rights Center lawyer has prepared a letter to be submitted together with the woman’s application to the police.
Published in: the Women's Rights Center NGO (http://www.wrcorg.am/), 29 May 2007 (Official translation)
Together With the Family
Contributed by Eduard Grigoryan, Women's Rights Center Together with the family The young man was “strongly in love” with his female co-villager. He loved her with such “strength” that could not even sleep. But he lacked the appropriate imagination to fascinate her. If he did he would cover her path with flowers, sing serenades for her at midnight or would write poems. No, he was not that romantic, he chose a short way of “winning her heart.” He did not have enough time to write poems, he just wanted to get married at once, and that’s all. Understanding that he would not be able to convince her parents, he decided to kidnap her. By the way the place of the incident was not one of the streets of the village, but the very house his beloved lived in.
So, one day he took a car and drove towards the house of his beloved. He was not alone. One might think he was accompanied by his friends, but not at all – his mother and sister were with him. They entered the yard over the wall, then opened the door and entered the house. The girl and her mother were astonished and they started quarreling with the uninvited guests, who said they would leave the house only if they took the girl with them. So the boy’s mother tied the girl’s mother’s hands, while the boy took his beloved girl out of the house. The mother’s cries would not stop them. They left and the mother continued crying out for help…
The Baghramyan police department was informed about the incident. Days later, thanks to the measures taken, the bride was found in one of the villages. Now she is in her father’s house, and the experts found the bridegroom irresponsible.
The inquest of the criminal case, instituted by the above-mentioned fact, is now over.
Published in: Official website of RA Police (http://www.police.am, Armenian version available at http://www.police.am/02.php?news=1&txt=&id=2329), 15 May 2007 (Unofficial translation)
Criminal Mosaic
Contributed by Eduard Grigoryan, Women's Rights Center Criminal mosaic 11 April 2007 Svetlana Rosova, a resident of the Gyulbekyan Street in the capital city, called the police at 22:40 and informed that Samvel Hakobyan, her husband, had beaten her on the Khachatryan Street and run over her by the car.
The operative group found out that at 22:00 Samvel Hakobyan, with the aim of murder, opened the door of the car, which he was driving, pulled his wife out of it, then tried to run over her by the car, as a result of which the woman got bodily injuries.
Samvel Hakobyan has been brought to the Police department of Arabkir.
H.I. Published in: “02” RA Police weekly (http://www.police.am), 14(813), 13 April, 2007 (Unofficial translation)
Extracts From “Alarming Statistics” Article
Contributed by Eduard Grigoryan, Women's Rights Center Extracts from “Alarming statistics” article Cases of infliction of willful damage to health mainly happen among spouses, relatives, close persons as a result of quarrels on domestic matters. Those cases are very illogical and alarming; domestic dramas are small tragedies that unfortunately have taken and will always take place every day as long as homo sapiens has not understood the advice ‘love your neighbor as yourself.’ The case registered in the Police department of Vardenis on 9 March had the most tragic end. The quarrel of the spouses on domestic matters became so heated that those people had estranged themselves from everything – children, each other. The people, who shared joy and sorrow for many decades, have lost the sense of reality, and Mikhail Ghoukasyan, husband, bitterly beat up his wife with a wooden stick and other things. The woman writhed with pain for a week at home, and husband, wishing to save his skin, did not take her to a doctor thinking that his wife’s injuries and pain would pass with time. He knew that they would ask at the hospital what and how happened, then they would inform the police. But the pain did not pass; and a week later the woman died of injuries.
Cases of bodily injuries registered at Police departments of Vanadzor and Stepanavan on 29 March were domestic dramas. In both cases sons beat… their mothers. Eduard Sargsyan, resident of Stepanavan, hit his 78-year-old mother so strongly that she was taken to the hospital with a broken nose. As for Shavarsh Torosyan, a Vanadzor town resident, he beat his 72-year-old mother with a wooden stick.
Hasmik Ispiryan Published in: “02” RA Police weekly (http://www.police.am), 13 /812/, 6 April 2007 (Unofficial translation)
Secrets of Family Life
Contributed by Eduard Grigoryan, Women's Rights Center Secrets of family life Violence against women in Armenian families, a theme that has an outstanding significance in the social context, has been revealed in The Hidden Pages of Family Life, a book (in Armenian) written by PhD of Psychology Karine NALCHAJYAN. A unique study follows up catastrophic cataclysms, grasping Armenian families, as a mirror of society, on the whole. What distinguishes modern Armenian families from traditional ones? How have the basic roles of man and woman been changed? How differently are the ideas about violence considered among males and females? What does the paradox and peculiarity of each form of violence consist of (the author singled 16 types)? The answers to these and many other questions were given based on a sociological survey which the author carried out among 1626 individuals in 58 inhabited areas of Armenia.
By the way, violence in the family according to consideration of women, affected 6.3 per cent of families, and by consideration of men, only 1.5 per cent of families.
The heavy frustration suffered by husbands due to the loss of the traditional image of a father, as an embodiment of strength, stability (including material) and defender of the family from social instability, has resulted in the growth of aggressiveness (implicit and explicit) of both - the wife and the husband, according to the author. The author sees a great threat of the collapse of family in father’s departure abroad in search for a job. In such situation the social role of the woman, who is far from arousing any envy of others, sharply increases. She is either “forgotten” or explicitly “aggressive,” or acquires a manlike image, being deprived of the opportunity to lean on the strong shoulder of man, according to the author of the book.
The composition of the Armenian family has changed as well. The intention of the young to live separately in their own house has become more and more approved both by the parents and the newly-wed. In the meantime, there are many cases when such reparation, as in the patriarchal model, continues to be perceived by parents as a personal injury and expression of ingratitude. In some situations children are doomed to remain in the status of children forever and are treated by parents as their property.
The author comes to a conclusion that in the Armenian society family violence is perceived as something extremely negative and is not regarded as an ordinary phenomenon. For women the most severe form of aggression is violence, adultery is in the second place, and sexual assault is in the third. For men the most severe forms of violence against a woman are adultery and physical violence, as well as pasing the physical responsibility for the family on the woman’s shoulders.
In a special section Karine Nalchajyan presents real cases of difficult family situations (following ethic norms and changing names and certain circumstances), told by the personages. Armenians are not used to applying to a psychologist; they think that they can tackle everything themselves. But when a person is in a state of hard frustration, as in the cases, presented below, and does not see any way out, Nalchajyan’s qualified assistance was very important for them. Below, extracts of the appendix of the book are presented for the attention of the reader.
***
Karine is 47 and has two daughters: the elder is a student, the younger is finishing school. Arshak, her husband, is extremely aggressive towards her and the daughters. He is educated and is a leading specialist in his sphere. Karine distinguishes his intellectual and human virtues. They used to be a loving couple, he used to be a wonderful father. But husband started showing uncontrollable jealousy from the very first day of their family life. Years later jealousy became stronger and took unhealthy forms. It has reached the peak now and the husband claims to do the analysis of the DNA to make sure he is the father of the daughters. The wife is ready for that, but she considers the procedure humiliating for herself and daughters. Besides, the analysis is expensive enough, and the family, which is not very rich, is now looking for money.
The husband’s jealousy takes unpredictable forms. He looses control, batters his wife, and even tried to strangle her at night. Karine says that it is already for a long time she cannot sleep, all night through she is waiting for the mortal hit. It had happened once, and she hardly saved herself scratching his face to blood. When the girls try to interfere, that makes him furious. Everybody is in fear. His relatives show no interest to the family.
***
28-year-old Gohar is married. She thinks that her mother-in-law is to blame for the failed happiness. Her husband is the only son. The father-in-law is a weak, weak-willed person, and the mother-in-law is the “boss” of the house. She is stubborn and consistent in her wish to be aware of all details of the young couple’s life; she follows every step of her daughter-in-law. She can appear on the threshold of their bedroom every moment. She claims not to lock the bathroom door when her son or daughter-in-law are taking shower. She opens the door and stares straight even at her son without a sign of embarrassment.
At the end of the second year of their marriage the wife’s life became unbearable – she could not get pregnant. Doctors found out that the woman is healthy and it is husband who can be the cause of barrenness. But the mother-in-law categorically rejected such a possibility, thinking that the daughter-in-law, whose presence in the house was unnecessary, and blamed her for that. The mother-in-law was choking with anger when the spouses showed tenderness and care towards each other. There were even cases when she would forbid them to eat, and the husband used to secretly bring food into the bedroom.
For some time the couple moved to the wife’s house and they could live peacefully. But the mother-in-law managed to win and make the couple divorce. However, their marriage has not been officially divorced yet; the wife still loves her husband, who already shows no interest towards her.
***
Anahit is 35 and she used to live in the capital before getting married. She got her higher education there. When she was 16 she lost her parents in two months and had suffered the whole bitterness of the orphan life. After the death of parents her brothers sold the house, offering her to stay in turn at her brother’s. They thought “she is a girl and will get married some day.” One day her relatives find her a fiancé – a country boy. But when the girl shyly tried to contradict, her family made a decision: “he is a good guy, don’t loose your chance”.
All hardships of family life were imposed on the girl who did not know the village life. She was responsible for the most difficult work – carrying heavy water buckets, watering the garden, looking after the stock. Black nails and cracked hands that are shrunken tell a lot about that woman who seems to be much older. The mother-in-law is particularly cruel to her daughter-in-law, and the husband, who comes home from work very late, does not care about anything – he does not dare to object the parents. That’s why she stopped telling her husband about anything, stopped complaining. She has already four times lost her baby in late terms of pregnancy – and it is another reason for his parents to mock her. Now she is waiting for a baby again, humiliated, burdened with family problems.
***
A story by 39-year-old Aida. After finishing the school, she applied to a University. “I met my future husband right during the entrance exams. He was conducting an examination and noticed me from far away. He was a pleasant, educated young man. I was truly surprised when some time later he proposed to marry him, as I was a common village girl. He was much older than me and I liked it, although I was a little embarrassed. We got married. Everything had happened so quickly that my parents were shocked. I became the third member of the family, as the husband lived with his mother. Everything seemed to be fine at first. We had a house; soon I noticed that the neighbors started strangely whispering to one another, when they saw me. I was embarrassed and told my husband about that, but he told me not to pay attention at them. I thought it was all about my country origin. My husband and mother-in-law advised me not to deal with the neighbors. Then they insisted on quitting the study; I tried to persuade them, but in vain. They made a decision for me that I did not need higher education, I hardly managed to the housework, and the mother-in-law was working.
At first the mother-in-law, a well-groomed, nice woman, was very kind to me. Although, I could not understand why she singled out for me and my husband a half-ruined balcony as a bedroom, while she herself slept in a cozy bedroom. But I did not pay attention to that, as my husband loved me and I felt myself a happy woman. My husband was very cold with me in the presence of his mother and did not like that, but then I thought it was normal. If we sat together with my husband, she would come, sit between as, hug his son and change the conversation to attract attention. It became common enough.
She would not do any work at home. I did everything, and she would only put forward requirements and reproach me. When we used to go to bed my mother-in-law would constantly enter our room, as if she controlled us. Several times I woke up in the night and saw that my husband was not there. I could not explain that, but I felt that something was wrong. I started having insomnia. And once, on that faithful day I followed his night adventures. He carefully got off the bed (I pretended to be sleeping) and went to his mother’s room. At first I seemed to turn into stone, then when I came to my senses, I was shaking. I was afraid, but I second later I stood up, and I can’t remember how I appeared there and saw them together in the bed. I returned to the balcony and fell down to the bed, shivering with cry; that is all I remember.
When I woke up, my husband was at my side. It was almost morning. He tried to justify himself, but I was quickly getting dressed not seeing anything around myself. There was only one thought in my head – I had to get out of there as soon as possible.”
*** Alina is 40, she is mother of two children. Her husband used to be tender and careful with her until the birth of the second child. After the second child he suddenly changed. He did not want to have a daughter at all, he was dreaming of a son, and they had already the second daughter. He took it as a hard blow of the fate, started hating both his wife and children. Alina is a nice, pretty educated woman. She says she still loves her spouse very much, but she is afraid she won’t be able to stand that for a long time, as now he started to beat her. Her husband has a very high position at work, he is educated, and the family has no financial difficulties, but there is no happiness.
Recently he has strongly demanded that his wife and children not be seen by him too often. They were also ordered not to ask him for anything and keep silence. Every day mother goes with her children to another room and plays there carefully, so that their voices do not bother the father, watching TV. The children absolutely do not communicate with their father, not seeing any care from him. They started being afraid of the father, growing up unconfident and vulnerable.
*** Lousine is 33 years old, has five children. She lives at her husband’s parents’ – 9 people in a two-room flat. It has already been for five years that her father-in-law pays special attention to her, wishing to have intimate relations. For some time Lousine tried to hide that being in constant fear and nervousness. Then, when she could not stand that any more, she told her husband about everything. The husband told his brothers about that and when they asked their father whether it was true, he said yes. And that was all: her husband does nothing to protect his wife from sexual harassment of his father. When Lousine cries and protests, he keeps silence. Lousine says that her husband is a respected man, has a responsible job, his word is like a law for his subordinates, but at home he is voiceless.
Lousine is completely alone in her grief. Her mother-in-law knows about everything and mocks her daughter-in-law, giving her bad names, although the whole family knows what kind of a man the father is. Now Lousine is bothered by another thing – her elder daughter is already a teenager and her femininity attracts obscene glances of the father-in-law.
*** Anoush is about 40, she has three children. The elder daughter is married, the younger daughter goes to school, the son is a student. The family had been living peacefully and prosperously for long years. The husband is from a very famous family, and the wife, being from a lower social layer, has always been proud of being a daughter-in-law of such a well-known family.
When the economic situation worsened in Armenia, Arthur, her husband, sold the flat and used the money to establish his own business. But his business went wrong and he went bankrupt. Now they are renting a flat. The husband does not have a job, and the wife works all day and night through to earn money for the family and study of her son. So, they managed to get used to such conditions, but the situation changed when Anoush heard rumors that her husband had an affair abroad, and her husband’s girl-friend was guilty in his bankruptcy. As soon as all the money had been spent, she left Arthur, so he returned home with nothing.
Moreover, Arthur confessed that he has become impotent recently, making her understand that there can be no intimate relationship between them. Anoush took that also, until one day in the pocket of her husband she found a receipt on electricity payment of an unknown address. She checked and found out that a single woman lived by that address. It meant that Arthur had some money that did not reach the family and he cheated his wife about being an impotent. Despite all this Anoush cannot divorce, because “children are already grown-up, and their family is known to be a successful one”.
*** Ripsime is 68 years old, her husband is 76. They have two children who have their own families and live separately from the parents. Ripsime says that her family life can be hardly called happy, but she stood everything for the sake of the children. Her husband is well-educated and is known as a good man. He has always been rude to his wife at home, groundless quarrels, bad words and threatening have always been usual for him. The wife, who got used to everything, says that now she loses control because of another thing. It has already been for 8 months that her husband is in love with a 55-year-old woman. Although he does not meet her, he talks to her by the phone for hours and from morning till night cries at his wife’s shoulder, complaining about his unrequited love. He says that she has to comfort him and give him hope. All day long he keeps repeating “I have only just understood what love means.” When Ripsime tries to protest, he starts quarreling and beating her. Ripsime’s leg is bandaged - her husband hit her with his stick, when she told him bitterly: “You are not a boy any longer, go to the village, work for some time in our garden, maybe you would feel better.”
The wife wishes to divorce, her sons do not object, but she is afraid of rumors – what would people say? She is not ready yet for such a turn in her life. Prepared by Lilit Yepremyan Published in: “Novoye Vremya”, 1393, 23 September 2006 (Unofficial translation) Comment from the Women's Rights Center The Women's Rights Center does not share the theories of Ms. Nalchajyan and believes that reasons for domestic violence are the same all over the world, regardless of the economic stress or social problems of the victim or the country, which can, however, have negative impact on the causes of domestic violence. Everyone who is working in the field of domestic violence knows that the main and only reasons for domestic violence are the wish to establish power and control over the partner's behavior.
“A Hand Grenade in the Bed of Artsroun from Lejan Village?”
Contributed by Eduard Grigoryan, Women's Rights Center “A Hand Grenade in the Bed of Artsroun from Lejan Village?” Artsroun’s wife brought her husband to the door of the court, presenting an “F-1” hand grenade, which was kept at home, as evidence. Artsroun Varosyan, a 39-year-old resident of Lori region Lejan village, married Olga Grigoryan from Jrashen two years ago. Their marital life was for some reason unsuccessful. In the First Instance Court of Lori region, Olga stated that her husband used to beat and humiliate her every day; and all this was accompanied with curses and threats to blow up her relatives.
In November 2006 in Jrashen, Artsroun pushed his wife down and beat her. That day became decisive for Olga – first she ran away to one of her co-villager’s, and then she returned to Lejan, took her things from the husband’s house and returned to her parents’. When collecting her things, she also took a hand grenade with her to show to the Spitak town police. A wife of Artsroun’s brother, who lived in the neighborhood, was the first to find out about the grenade 13 years ago. When she asked Artsroun about it, he answered that it was just a “piece of iron;” and that “piece of iron” was kept with tools for many years.
At the court Olga said that one day she found the hand grenade under the pillow on her bed and knew from her sister-in-law that it was Olga’s husband who had placed it there. Then she put the grenade onto the armchair. The story surprised both the wife of Artsroun’s brother and Andranik Moukoyan, the Prosecutor. Both of them heard that for the first time: nothing was said about it during the inquest testimony. The husband characterized his wife’s act as blackmail, but did not deny that he had kept a hand grenade at home. He had received it from his friend Manvel Meliksetyan, who died about fifteen years ago.
The First Instance Court of Lori region sentenced Artsroun Varosyan to a conditional sentence for illegal keeping of weapons. When finding the verdict, the court took into consideration the fact that the defendant had positive references, had never been convicted before and had parents at his guardianship.
Artsroun Varosyan is not going to leave his 24-year-old wife and newly born child. His wife agreed to that only if their marriage was registered, and they lived separately from parents. Otherwise she will bring up her baby alone.
Published in: “Aravot” Daily (http://www.aravot.am), 6 March 2007 (Unofficial translation)
“Frustrated Dreams”
Contributed by Eduard Grigoryan, Women's Rights Center “Frustrated Dreams” A 26-year-old resident of Yerevan, Narek, (all real names have been changed in this publication) has been sentenced twice on a series of articles of the Criminal Code. The last time the court sentenced him to imprisonment, but he was put on probation.
In December of 2002 he met a girl, a neighbor of his, in the street. Days later, he used an opportunity and got acquainted with her. Their acquaintance grew into a mutual affection and intimacy. Narek’s relatives were very glad about that, hoping that the boy would get married, create a family and start caring for the newly-created family. But everything had an absolutely different finish.
A year later Sona left for Germany (her parents stayed there), but promised to come back after a time. They decided they would get married after her return. The couple communicated with each other by letters and phone calls. It all continued until the beginning of 2004, when their communication ended by Sona’s initiative. Sona got married in Germany; she informed Narek about it and asked him not to bother her any more.
But Narek did not accept the prospect of losing the girl. In the middle of the spring of 2005, Sona returned to Yerevan. Narek knew about it the same day, and he called her and asked to meet, but the girl refused him. Narek, however, was not one who would give up soon: from the next day on he started “watching” by Sona’s home's entrance.
Sona, who was going shopping, noticed Narek approaching her. To avoid meeting him, she entered the nearest drugstore. After some time, noticing that the ex-boy-friend had left, she hurried home, but in the entrance she met Narek face-to-face, and he offered to talk. The girl was forced to agree. They walked in the direction of some garages near the building. Sona naturally did not want to have any connection to Narek, but the latter did not care about that – he had decided to marry Sona. So, he was rejected for the second time. Infuriated, he hit the girl on the face with his fist. Sona fell down. The boy hit once on her legs and escaped…
On the grounds of Sona’s claim, who applied to the Malatia police department, a criminal case was instituted, and days later Narek was found and brought to the police department.
Investigation of the criminal case is now over. Shahoum Shahnazaryan Published in: “02” RA Police weekly (http://www.police.am), 44 (793), 17 November 2006 (Unofficial translation)
Noisy Man
Contributed by Eduard Grigoryan, Women's Rights Center Noisy Man Early in the morning of October 30, Albert T., a resident of Karashamb village of Kotayk marz (region), made some inhabitants of Khanjyan Street witnesses of his family matters. Being drunk, Albert, who chose the street as a place for solving his domestic problems, beat his mother-in-law, made noise, cursed, violated public order, and bothered other families that had nothing to do with his domestic quarrel.
The police, who appeared at the place of the incident due to the report of witnesses, took the noisy and aggressive son-in-law to the police department, where as a result of a search they found a knife with a secret closure. The young man, who was under the influence of alcohol, thought he was almighty, and tried to continue what he had started, but…
The investigation found out that the “noisy” son-in-law was wanted by police department of Shengavit, charged with part 1 of Article 113 of the Criminal Code (he had deliberately inflicted medium-gravity damage to health of his mother-in-law).
Albert T. is under arrest now. H.I. Published in: “02” RA Police weekly (http://www.police.am), 42 (791), 3 November 2006 (Unofficial translation)
“I Became I, and You Became You”
Contributed by Eduard Grigoryan, Women's Rights Center “I Became I, and You Became You” According to the decision of the court, a 27-year-old young man from Vanadzor town was allowed to see his child twice a week after the divorce…
After one of meetings he said goodbye to his child and went home. Some time later he noticed his ex-wife with her relatives. The child was not with her. He approached her to find out where their child was and his ex-wife answered indifferently, “Isn’t it all the same for you?” The answer made the young man mad and he started to curse and beat her with hands and legs.
“Finishing” with the ex-wife, he turned to her brother, called him “girl” and ordered him to come nearer. Then he hit the boy too. However, the “show” did not last long: seeing the policemen, he escaped. His “Marathon race” was interrupted by policemen, who brought the young man to the police department of Vanadzor.
Investigation of the criminal case is now over. Published in: “02” RA Police weekly (http://www.police.am), 42 (791), 3 November 2006 (Unofficial translation)
Love and Hate
Contributed by Eduard Grigoryan, Women's Rights Center Love and Hate On 28 October, when it was close to noon, Moushegh E., a 48-year-old resident of one of the villages in the Gegharkounik marz (region), applied to the police department of Shengavit and informed them that he had murdered his wife the day before.
Why, what was the reason?… In the morning of December 27 it was their turn to care for the village herd. At first they turned the herd out to pasture nearby and then they moved to the pasturelands of the neighboring village.
In the meantime their conversation turned into a quarrel, which was caused by Moushegh’s groundless jealousy. The husband started cruelly beating the wife and, thinking that hands and legs were not enough, used his wooden stick…
In the evening Moushegh turned the herd to the village, hoping that his wife would follow him, but she was unable to go, lying helplessly on the ground.
After coming home he saw that the woman was late, and together with his two sons and his wife’s brother, he set out to the pasture to take her back home by car. However… before reaching the place, the husband probably felt that something bad had happened to his wife, so he got out of the car and ran away. The relatives transported the woman’s corpse to the village.
Moushegh spent the night in a chapel in the neighboring mountains, and in the morning took a bus to the capital to inform the police department of Shengavit about the incident. The police of Gegharkunik marz (region) were immediately informed about the murder.
A criminal case was instituted in the regional Prosecutor’s Office. An operative group composed of police and Prosecutor’s Office representatives visited the place of the incident.
Moushegh E. is now under arrest; investigation of the case is in process.
Two days after this incident, Armen Gh, born in 1972, applied to the police department of Ararat and informed them that he killed his wife with a hunting rifle.
They formed a family long ago, but their family life was not all peace and harmony. Not long after their marriage some rumors started to circulate in the village about the behavior of the woman…
A new quarrel in the midday of October 31 had another reason: the mother did not care about the children in a proper manner, leaving them on their own.
So Armen finally lost his patience, took his hunting rifle and shot his wife three times, and she died. A criminal case was instituted, and the operative group confiscated a double-barreled hunting rifle (16 mm), one cartridge and three packs of the same cartridges.
The investigation is still in process.
Shahoum Shahnazaryan Published in: “02” RA Police weekly (http://www.police.am), 43 (792), 10 November 2007 (Unofficial translation)
An Extract From “Criminal Mosaic” Article
Contributed by Eduard Grigoryan, Women's Rights Center An Extract From “Criminal Mosaic” Article March 13 A murder has been registered by the police department of Hrazdan town. In the morning, Hovhannes Hayrapetyan, a Hrazdan town resident, surrendered to the police and informed them that he had hit his wife's neck with something sharp, then her head with an obtuse tool and strangled her with a curtain as a result of a domestic quarrel.
Hovhannes Hayrapetyan is under arrest, and an investigation is being made by the Prosecutor’s Office of Kotayk.
Published in: “02” RA Police weekly (http://www.police.am), 10(809), 16 March 2007 (Unofficial translation)
Extracts From “Criminal Mosaic” Article
Contributed by Eduard Grigoryan, Women's Rights Center Extracts From “Criminal Mosaic” Article February 24 A murder attempt has been registered at the police department of Masis. An operative group, which rushed to Getapnya village due to an anonymous call, found out the following: Yerevan resident son-in-law, “visiting” 74-year-old Roza Mkrtchyan, who lived in the village, threw a grenade at his wife in the garage with the aim of killing her. As a result of the blow, he himself and his wife received injuries in different parts of the body.
The spouses have been taken to the hospital, and the police are investigating the details.
February 25 A family from Vanadzor town tried to solve their disagreements, which became a problem for the police. In a domestic quarrel at home the husband, trying to kill his wife, hit her with an axe and inflicted injuries. The woman was taken to the hospital and her husband is now under arrest. February 27 Cases with bodily injuries have been registered by Police Departments of Kanaker-Zeitoun and Mashtots. In the first case the ex-husband beat his ex-wife and her grandfather in the street, and in the second one - the beating took place at home. The woman was taken to the hospital with a brain concussion.
Investigation of both cases is in progress.
Published in: “02” RA Police weekly (http://www.police.am), 9(808), 9 March 2007 (Unofficial translation)
An Extract From “Domestic Tragedies” Article
Contributed by Eduard Grigoryan, Women's Rights Center An Extract From “Domestic Tragedies” Article In the period of 22 January – 5 February, 6 cases of murder were registered in the Republic; 4 of them have been disclosed. In the same period 71 cases of willful infliction of heavy damage to health were registered; 59 cases have been disclosed. These cases of murder were committed on domestic ground. The actors were relatives who fell under the control of evil, immorality, and intolerance. In the recent past those people were connected by warm relationships. Those people chose the worst, the most inhuman way to solve domestic problems.
On 31 January the Malatia district police department was informed that Napoleon Ayvazyan, a resident of Gagarin Street, had committed suicide in a stable, situated near the house. The operative group, which got to the place of the incident, saw and heard an illogical tragedy. They say that family is a dark forest, and no one can know when and where the story, often created and extremely complicated by both spouses, would find its way out. No one can also know just when patience will be lost and a tragedy will happen. The Ayvazyans had passed a long way, and the joys and sorrows they lived during that time should have made their family firm and stable regarding any uncontrollable incidents. Unfortunately, in the absence of will-power the mind is under stress, and relations of families that have been firm and stable for years end in indescribable, unpredictable ways. This means that one should always keep his mind sober to suppress the beast that suddenly wakes up in unknown depths of man’s soul.
That morning the domestic quarrel between the spouses was getting hotter – neither of the spouses gave up, put an end to the useless quarrel and started everyday work. This would have been the only way to put down the conflict. But it became hotter and hotter, so the husband took an axe and hit his wife on the head. The injured woman managed to escape from the house, and the husband, probably thinking that he had killed his wife, and terrified of what he had done, hanged himself.
On 28 January, the Vagharshapat police department was informed by the hospital that 48-year-old Alvard Shirvanyan was brought there with gunshot injuries to the belly; she died without recovering consciousness.
It took only one hour for the criminal investigators from the Vagharshapat police department to discover the murderer. The operative-investigative measures let the police go in the correct direction from the very beginning, looking for the cause-and-effect of the murder in the unsuccessful relations of the family. Long-lasting quarrels between his sister and brother-in-law were solved by Vahagn Kirakosyan, and solved in a bloody way. The woman again escaped from her husband’s indecent behavior to her parents' house, who lived in the neighborhood. In the meantime her infuriated brother left to “teach” the incorrigible brother-in-law how to behave. They quarreled, calling each other bad names, after which Vahagn put an end to it with a hunting riffle, which he had taken with him.
Vahagn Kirakisyan is under arrest. The inquest of the criminal case is still in progress. We would only like to add that during the search some marijhuana and psychoactive drugs were found at Alvard Shirvanyan’s flat.
Hasmik Ispiryan Published in: “02” RA Police weekly (http://www.police.am), 5 (804) 9 February 2007 (Unofficial translation)
When Uncontrollable Feelings Rule
Contributed by Eduard Grigoryan, Women's Rights Center When Uncontrollable Feelings Rule On 1 January the Nor Nork police department was informed that 18-year-old Lousine M. was taken to the hospital with a gunshot injury to the leg. The details of this grave crime on the first day of the year became known to the policemen soon after they reached the hospital. The incident, the cause-and-effect of which stemmed from feelings of love, rejection, hurt dignity and unjustified revenge, might have resulted in a tragedy, becoming an unbearable pain for some families due to the thoughtless act of a young man. Fortunately, the woman’s life was saved, although she is still under medical observation.
The engagement of two young people in Jrvezh district was either a result of love or a result of finding a convenient candidate. Nevertheless, there was a matter of mutual agreement and feelings, otherwise the 18-year-old student would have disagreed, proving that there was no future for her and Apres Gabrielyan. The engagement ceremony took place in December, but several days later the woman’s boyfriend came back from Russia; her feelings for that boy were real, not artificial or calculated. They met and their love, which had been forgotten because of misunderstanding, was reborn. Being engaged to another boy did not prevent her from escaping with her boyfriend. She did not care about other’s feelings; her boyfriend, who was absent for some time, had suddenly appeared again, so without thinking for long, the girl followed her love.
Days later the ex-fiancé and his relatives seemed to calm down – life is life, everything could happen and in this case maybe it was high time it did happen. They comforted they boy saying that every cloud has a silver lining. Apres, who seemed to calm down at first glance, was, however, guided by hurt feelings overriding his mind.
On 1 January, Lousine and her actual husband were on their way to relatives to congratulate them on the occasion of the New Year. They met Apres who, after a short conversation asked the girl an ambiguous question: “Are you happy now?” and then “You will see your happiness now”. Then Apres took out a rifle and without waiting any longer shot his ex-fiancée.
Fortunately, Khachik, the woman’s actual husband, kept his head, and took the rifle from Apres, who ran away. The injured woman was transported to the hospital.
Would it be logical to refer to this absurd inhuman act as one of jealousy or revenge? Even if we try to understand the young man’s feelings, he did commit a crime. It is impossible to consider common human feelings – jealousy, insult in the context of a human approach, when such feelings are so maliciously altered and brought to criminality.
As a result of the young man’s act, he has chosen the dullness of imprisonment, and he will probably understand the advantage of relying on common sense. Any unpleasant situation in which a person can find himself or herself has a sensible solution. The ability to forgive, or to bear the insult noble-mindedly, is much more serious and manly than giving oneself over to one's feelings without knowing where they would take you.
Apres Gabrielyan is under arrest.
The investigation of the instituted criminal case is held by the Nor Nork district Prosecutor’s Office.
H.I. Published in: “02” RA Police weekly (http://www.police.am), 4(803), 2 February 2007 (Unofficial translation)
The “Insulted”
Contributed by Eduard Grigoryan, Women's Rights Center The “Insulted” 23-year-old Robert Babakhanov has been convicted eight times. He had not yet served his last sentence when he committed another crime.
The divorced man has not cared about anything in this life. The only thing he “cared for” was quarreling with his brother’s wife on domestic matters.
He has been addicted to drinking. Alcohol and loud music – this is what “comforted” him. As usual that day he was absorbed with alcohol and music. His brother’s wife, according to him, reproached him for the loud music, which deeply insulted him. This “insult” was the reason that he “advised” his brother’s family to leave the house. Otherwise, he promised to burn the flat, but nobody paid any attention to this threat. Their carelessness was used by Robert, who poured petrol on the floor, lit it up, took his things and tried to get out.
At that moment his brother’s wife stopped him and demanded an explanation. But the man, instead of answering, hit her with his fists and caused bodily injuries.
Neighbors succeeded in putting out the fire, and the incendiary was charged with the appropriate article of the RA Criminal Code.
Robert Babakhanov is under arrest. The inquest of the criminal case in the Nor Nork investigation department is now over.
Published in: “02” RA Police weekly (http://www.police.am), 8(807), 2 March 2007 (Unofficial translation)
The Murder Has Been Found Out
Contributed by Eduard Grigoryan, Women's Rights Center The Murder Has Been Found Out On the midday of 1 December, the Erebouni Police Department informed that a corpse had been found in a flat on Rostovyan Street. At the mentioned flat, the operative group found that the corpse belonged to A.Sargsyan (the flat owner, born in 1941). There were cut wounds on different parts of the body.
A criminal case has been instituted in the Prosecutor’s Office of Erebouni and Noubarashen communities.
As a result of a serious of operative-investigative measures, police officers of the Erebouni Police Criminal Investigation Department found out the suspect. Simultaneously with searching for the latter, police also checked other versions as well, which allowed them to clarify the cause-and-effect of the case and the identity of the suspect. On 9 December, thanks to joint operative-investigational actions of the Erebouni and Arabkir police departments, the suspect Aram Khachikyan, born in 1980, was arrested in the town of Tsaghkadzor. The young man, previously convicted for banditry, not only confessed, but also described the crime in detail.
There are crimes when a series of circumstances do not allow making the details public; those details remain in the pages of criminal cases. The approach and moral considerations, required here, are based on avoiding making internal family relations public, violating a person’s rights, as well as out of moral considerations; allowing details of the case is impossible.
Without going into the details of that family history, we can say that Aram was the husband of 65-year-old murdered woman’s granddaughter. To avoid the endless daily domestic quarrels of the young family, the woman took her baby and escaped to her grandmother’s one-room flat.
Aram followed them, allegedly for reconciliation. However, reconciliation mixed with quarrels was doomed from the very beginning. Drunk, Aram was uncontrolled; in addition, there was another fact –grandmother sold the flat, which meant that she had money.
Peaceful demands to give money did not work; the grandmother was uncompromising. The perspective of having such a big sum of money made Aram lose self-control and made him a cruel beast – he took out a knife and attacked 65-year-old woman. With each hit on the body the line between the human and the beast faded away.
After hitting the woman with the knife for more that twenty times and seeing that she was breathless, he took $3300 and ran away, forcing his wife and child to come with him.
Aram Khachikyan is under arrest now.
H.I. Published in: “02” Police weekly, 48/797, 15 December 2006 (official translation)
Ex-Husband
Contributed by Eduard Grigoryan, Women's Rights Center Ex-Husband After living together for twenty years, the spouses understood quite late that their joint life is impossible, and as they have had enough of permanent quarrels and jealousy scenes, they decided to live separately.
The husband started drinking more especially after leaving the family. As always, the day when everything happened, he was occupied with his “business.”
While he was drinking, he heard some sounds from outside – someone’s car stuck in a hole and the driver was trying to get it out. By they way, the man’s wife was also there, trying to help the unknown young man. But a little later the helping woman needed help herself: her husband approached her and hit her, causing her bodily damages…
The inquest of the criminal case by the Investigation Department of the Shengavit Police, instituted on the above-mentioned facts, has already finished.
K.M. Published in: “02” Police weekly, 6/805/, 16 February 2007 (Unofficial translation)
“Protection of Victims is Still Low,” - RA Minister of Justice David Haroutyunyan Claims
Contributed by Eduard Grigoryan, Women's Rights Center “Protection of Victims is Still Low,” - RA Minister of Justice David Haroutyunyan Claims The 27th summit of the Ministers of Justice of the Council of Europe member-states, dedicated to the issues of “Victims, their status, rights and assistance to them,” adopted the final document, according to which the officials of 43 countries called upon the Ministerial Committee of the CoE to develop better mechanisms for assistance and reimbursement to the victims of crime, and in particular, domestic violence.
The Armenian party is planning to be a party to the international
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