Armenian authorities search house of linguist-expert

ArmInfo.  Yesterday, December 11, a search was conducted at the home of a linguist -  scholar, an expert, who had provided expert opinion on the absence of  a call to seize power in Tashir Group CEO Samvel Karapetyan's public  statement "we will do it our way." Karapetyan made this statement in  defense of the Armenian Apostolic Church's clergy from government  persecution. 

Arshak Vardanyan, Karapetyan's defense attorney, who shared this  information during a press conference in Yerevan, recalled that as  part of the businessman's case, the defense presented to the pretrial  investigation body and the court the opinions of linguists who had  analyzed the statement at an expert level, as well as the findings of  psychologists who had studied his gestures and facial expressions.  "The experts asserted that this public statement contained no call  [to seize power - ed.]. Under these circumstances, Karapetyan should  not have been arrested, nor should criminal proceedings even be  instituted against him," the lawyer noted.

Vardanyan mentioned that initially, all defense arguments regarding  Karapetyan's statement were rejected due to the lack of expert  opinions. However, as the lawyer noted, five months after these  opinions were submitted, searches began unexpectedly. He also  expressed dissatisfaction with the fact that the search motions were  sanctioned by the court. "Under these circumstances, when searches  are already being conducted even in the homes of experts, it's very  difficult to talk about fairness and objectivity," Vardanyan added.

Another lawyer, Armen Feroyan, highlighted an interesting incident in  the Samvel Karapetyan case. He recalled that the Investigative  Committee serves as both the prosecuting authority and the structure  that confirms a person's innocence. Meanwhile, according to Feroyan,  Karapetyan's defense team was able to justify that in this case, the  Investigative Committee only accepts forged and incriminating  evidence.

"And when the defense tried to clarify why some witnesses were being  questioned and others not, we received the following answer: because  there are concerns that they may testify in your favor. This  statement was made by the head of the investigative team, Spartak  Poghosyan, which exceeds his authority and contradicts the laws  governing criminal proceedings. This statement is illegal," Feroyan  concluded.