The investigation of the case of violence in Shurnukh has not been completed in 1.5 years after the incident. The complaints against a number of illegal decisions by the Preliminary Investigation Body should have been examined on January 24, within the framework of judicial supervision of the investigation. However, the complaints were not heard and the hearings were again postponed.
The decision to terminate the criminal case of Shurnukh has been virtually dismissed and the proceedings reopened. Despite that fact, the investigative body does not undertake any steps to restart the actions of the case.
Applications of the injured party to restart the proceeding are not taken into consideration, additionally, the obligation to examine the case within a reasonable time is not being fulfilled by the investigator. Thus, about 1.5 years after the violent attacks in Shurnukh, a number of substantive evidence have not been examined within the case, no one has been accused, and the extent of mental suffering caused to the victims has not been ascertained.
On the other hand, the hearings of other complaints against the unlawful decisions of the investigative body were postponed by the court on January 24th again without any grounds provided by the RA legislation. The hearings in the court sometimes are delayed because the court sends notifications only within such deadlines that they reach the injured party after the due date of the hearing.
The investigation of the case also is delayed by the prosecutor’s office, which, as a supervisor of the preliminary investigation, does not take any appropriate steps to restart preliminary investigations and restore the violated rights of victims, at the same time it does not ensures a prosecutor’s presence during hearings.
Such behavior of the State – the inaction of the RA Investigation Committee, the RA Prosecutor’s Office, the Court of First Instance of the Syunik province, violates the right of the injured party to have their case investigated in a fair and reasonable manner guaranteed by the RA Constitution.
Pink human rights defender organization calls the State to undertake appropriate steps to fulfill its international obligations and to restore violated rights of the victims.
