On March 1 the communication, stored on the RA General Procuracy website, informed about the institution of criminal proceedings on the case of assault at “Kosh” penitentiary versus Nikol Pashinian, Chief Editor of “Haykakan Zhamanak” daily. (On January 19, 2010 the court of general jurisdiction found Nikol Pashinian guilty in mass riots of March 1, 2008 in Yerevan, and sentenced him to seven years of imprisonment. On March 9, 2010 the Criminal Court of Appeal, by applying an amnesty on Nikol Pashinian, cut down his unexpired term of imprisonment by half.) As it has been reported, the incident with the head of “Haykakan Zhamanak”, serving his punishment at “Kosh” penitentiary then, occurred on the early morning of November 11, 2010. According to Nikol Pashinian, at about 2.30 the journalist was beaten by two men in black, who entered the cell in masks. Meanwhile, the statement of RA Ministry of Justice of November 11, 2010 the incident was assessed as “an insatiable desire to create an illusion of violence against Nikol Pashinian in any way” (see YPC Weekly Newsletter, November 12-18, 2010). On December 30, 2010 the investigative bodies resolved not to institute criminal proceedings on the case for absence of corpus delicti.
As the communication of General Procuracy notes, the ruling of RA General Prosecutor Aghvan Hovsepian on canceling the December 30, 2010 decision is stipulated by the fact that while examining the “Kosh” incident, the investigative bodies had not undertaken necessary investigative and criminal procedural measures, besides the case files were not duly worked up.
The criminal case on the assault of Nikol Pashinian of the early morning of November 11 2010 at “Kosh” penitentiary was instituted upon Article 118 of RA Criminal Code (“Beating”). The preliminary investigation is entrusted to the investigative department of Aragatsotn region of the Chief Investigative Department of the RA Police.
