HY RU EN
Asset 3

Loading

End of content No more pages to load

Your search did not match any articles

Ararat Davtyan

The Najarian Case Goes To Court Again

American-Armenian Philanthropists George and Carolann Najarian are Back in Court

The hearings began on March 15 in the Court of First Instance of Yerevan's Kentron and Nork-Marsh Districts, Judge Zhora Vardanyan presiding.

For the last three years the Prosecutor's Office has refused to file charges against Grigor Igityan for committing fraud in order to gain control over the Najarians' property. Now, the case has taken an entirely new direction. The Prosecutor's Office has filed charges against Igityan for the use of deception and the abuse of trust to take control of the Najarians' assets.

Hrayr Ghoukasian, who is defending the Najarians, petitioned the judge to detain Igityan as a precautionary measure. The judge rejected this request. Kromvel Grigoryan, who is defending the accused Igityan, then petitioned to have the judge dismissed. The judge overruled the move as being groundless . (The defense lawyer then demanded the overrule in writing so that, in his words," a new petition can be made to the court within the half-hour." However, upon receiving the judge's ruling, Grigoryan asked for an adjournment, claiming he had another court case to attend.)

The trial reconvened on March 22. Grigoryan petitioned the court with the demand to see the register of names of those who visited the Prosecutor's Office in February 2004. According to Grigoryan, this would allow him to reveal the false testimony of witnesses made during the preliminary hearings. The defense attorney also requested that the criminal case be sent back to pretrial hearings

These further two petitions were rejected as groundless. Judge Vardanyan duly noted in his decision that “[he] found no grounds to send the case back for pretrial hearings and that the court would proceed with the trial as currently constituted and that this was not subject to appeal."

Grigoryan, just as in the previous hearing, asked for an adjournment in the trial because the defendant had a high fever.

The trial will recommence on April 22.

The Najarians' representative, Hrayr Ghoukasian, commented on the court proceedings by stating, "By making such baseless petitions and requests of the court, the defense is attempting to employ all legal and non-legal means to thwart the normal process of this trial. I think the court should not continue to allow itself to fall victim to this ploy."

Write a comment

If you found a typo you can notify us by selecting the text area and pressing CTRL+Enter