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Demonstrators protest against possible pardon of convicted murderer outside government headquarters

Armenpress 16:04, 14 January, 2019

YEREVAN, JANUARY 14, ARMENPRESS. A group of people are protesting against a possible pardon of Mher Yenokyan, a convicted murderer serving a life sentence in Yerevan.

Recently rumors began circulating online that the justice ministry is considering granting Yenokyan clemency.

Demonstrators today initiated a petition against the possible pardon and handed it over to the governmental headquarters.

The protest is organized by the family of the young man that Yenokyan is convicted of killing. Students, lecturers and doctors of the Yerevan State Medical University are also taking part in the protest. The victim’s father is a medical professor.

According to unconfirmed reports, a pardon commission has given a positive conclusion to Yenokyan’s petition.

By law, a pardon must make its way to the Prime Minister and then the President for approval or rejection.

The justice ministry gave no comment on the matter, noting that information on pardon petitions are confidential.

Yenokyan is convicted of murdering Iosiph Aghajanov in 1996, when both were studying at the Yerevan State Medical University. A court found him guilty and sentenced to death in 1996. The court found that the murder was committed in conspiracy with an accomplice. The latter served a 15-year sentence. When Armenia abolished the death penalty in 2003, Yenokyan’s conviction was changed to life in prison. 

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan

 

 



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