ZaruhieMedjlumyan
EdikBaghdasaryan 

Hetq continues its coverage of the case of 26 year-old Ashot Shahzadyan who recently ended a forty day hunger strike to protest his guilty sentence of the attempted rape and murder of 58 year-old Gayaneh Asoyan.

Shahzadyan claims he’s innocent and hunger strike was a cry for a fair retrial.

Claims he was beaten and pressured into pleading guilty

Shahzadyan has told Hetq that not only was he beaten into pleading guilty of the charges but that law enforcement threatened to harm the children of his brother if he didn’t.  He also claims that Asoyan was murdered by TemourDjavoyan, a fellow Ayntap villager.

A forensic examination of the dead woman revealed bruises on the nipples  which could have been caused by bites, in which case there also should have been saliva and teeth marks. Nevertheless, the examining body never took a sample of Shahzadyan’s saliva for DNA testing. Neither did they compare the teeth marks with those of Shahzadyan.

No one affiliated with the case can say why such measures weren’t taken.

The only scientific evidence presented by the prosecution was that threads found under the finger nails of the dead woman matched those of the underwear worn by Shahzadyan on the day of the incident. Based on this, the prosecution argued that Asoyan had struggled with Shahzadyan to break free.  However, it was also revealed that Asoyan’s son had a pair of blue jeans of the same material and that the threads under her nails could have come from when she washed the pants. This possibility wasn’t taken into account.

Also presented as evidence was the comparison of five of the seven strands of hair found on Asoyan. A forensic specialist claimed that they matched the hairs of Shahzadyan’s forearms and chest. But only a DNA test could make a scientifically confirmed match.

What was left out in the indictment was the fact that none of the fingerprints found at the scene of the crime matched Shahzadyan’s.

Throughout Armenia, physical evidence related to serious assault crime cases continues to be destroyed. While a new legal clause mandating that such evidence be preserved is included in the new judicial code, it has yet to be affirmed as law.

Had the physical evidence related to this case been preserved, a DNA examination today would tell us who actually murdered GayanehAsoyan.

In the meantime, Ashot Shahzadyan continues to serve his sentence in the Artik Correctional Facility.

He told Hetq that he got married in prison last year and sees his new wife once a year, as allowed by law.

Shahzadyan added that he’ll fight to the end to prove his innocence.