New details have emerged in a controversial criminal case against a young environmental activist accused of slander in reporting a child abuse and mistreatment in one of Armenia’s boarding schools.
In 2008, Mariam Sukhudyan, a 29-year-old member of the “S.O.S. Teghut” environmental group, gave a video material to the Haylur news program of the Armenian Public Television (H1), where a former pupil at Nubarashen Boarding School 11 for mentally retarded children told of her ordeal in suffering a sexual harassment from an Armenian language teacher, Levon Avagyan.
Sukhudyan was at the school, among other volunteers, as part of a United Nations project to boost educational standards in Armenia. As Sukhudyan reported, at a lesson several girls of the school told her that they suffered sexual harassment from their teacher. Sukhudyan recorded the confession of one of the school charges, Diana Amirkhanyan, and gave the material to the TV channel.
In February 2009 a criminal case was instituted against the teacher, however, later Amirkhanyan withdraw her testimony saying that she “had been forced by Sukhudyan to falsely accuse the teacher.” As a result, Sukhudyan was charged with slander.
At the meeting with journalists on Friday Sukhudyan stated that four more girls told her and her fellow volunteers that they had been subjected to sexual harassment by the teacher, however only two former students decided to speak about it openly.
“Investigator in charge of the case Vigen Mkrtchyan called me and told me that if I admit to the charge that I forced Diana to slander the teacher, then I would be convicted on the charge of slander and amnestied and everything will be over this way. I, of course, turned down that offer,” said Sukhudyan.
The investigation of the case is over. The trial is expected to start soon.
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