Deadly Pattern: Gulyan death not the first to raise suspicion about police treatment
Levon Gulyan’s death May 12 raises attention to a pattern of suspicious deaths during incarceration that reaches back more than a decade.
ArmeniaNow collected this partial list.
January 21st 1993 Rudik Vardanyan, 22 was invited to Spandaryan (now Kentron) department of internal affairs (now the police) for alleged apartment robbery. The same day his body was returned to his parents with obvious traces of violence. Two police officers were sentenced for misfeasance and disorder.
While mourning the death of her brother, Levon Gulyan, Lilit Gulyan told a reporter: “If this case is not solved then we are all at risk: your brother might be the next. I can’t return my brother but I want nobody else to suffer this pain. Let my brother be the last.”Levon Gulyan’s death May 12 raises attention to a pattern of suspicious deaths during incarceration that reaches back more than a decade.
ArmeniaNow collected this partial list.
January 21st 1993 Rudik Vardanyan, 22 was invited to Spandaryan (now Kentron) department of internal affairs (now the police) for alleged apartment robbery. The same day his body was returned to his parents with obvious traces of violence. Two police officers were sentenced for misfeasance and disorder.
Artavazd Manukyan, a suspect on the ‘Dro’ case, died under undisclosed circumstances in the National Security Service isolation cell in 1995. According to official report, he died of haemorroids. No one was brought to responsibility.
In April 1997, Samvel Virabyan, 17 was brought to the Khorhrdayin (now Nor Nork) department of internal affairs. His body was returned to the parents several days later with obvious traces of violence. No one was brought to responsibility.
In August 1997, Galust Dilanyan, 23 was brought to the department of internal affairs in Gyumri. The relatives got his body the next day. According to the official statement he committed suicide by hanging himself. Due to the Dilanyans consequent efforts between 1998 and 2002 the Supreme Court sentenced four police officers to conditional as well as 2, 3 and 5 years of imprisonment for power abuse. Dilanyan’s relatives, discontent with the sentence, have sent the case to the European Court through the Helsinki Association of Armenia.
In 1998 Eduard Vardanyan was killed in the internal affairs department in Abovyan. According to the official statement he died in an attempt to escape from the window on the third floor. No one was brought to responsibility.
On April 2 1998, Stepan Gevorgyan and Oleg Arishin underwent beatings at the Yerevan Shahumyan department of internal affairs (the forensic medical examination says), then were transported to the Artik reformatory. April 15th Gevorgyan died of burns and traumas without coming to conscience in the Nor Nork first aid hospital. Arishin died of the same condition in the Republican hospital on April 27th. Both bodies carried various types of bodily injuries. No one was brought to responsibility.
July 23rd 1999 Arsen Stepanyan was taken to the Yerevan Arabkir department of internal affairs and underwent beatings. Stepanyan died of a heart attack two hours later after he returned home. The bodily injuries included hemorrhages and ruptured ribs. No one was brought to responsibility.
Artyusha Ghazaryan, in 1999, military commissioner of Tashir region, began a hunger strike against his imprisonment in Vanadzor isolation cell. Five men tied up his hands and legs to the bed and beat him and force fed him. Ghazaryan died of brain hemorrhage. Sentences were issued for abuse of power.
June 30th 2000 Babken Soghomonyan, a resident of Norashen village, was taken to Artashat police department as a suspect in murder. On July 5th his father was told in the prosecutor’s office his son committed suicide by hanging himself. No one was brought to responsibility.
August 29th 2000, Norayr Yeghiazaryan, charged with regard to the ‘October 27th’ case was killed in the Nubarashen prison. According to the forensic medical examination he died of 220 Volts electricity. According to another source, his head carried traces of blows. No one was brought to responsibility.