Nelly Mkrtchyan

Murder victim Mayis Kosakyan received several calls on his cell-phone before he was killed. His cousin and sister-in-law, who were with him at them time, say he was perplexed after he got the calls. The next day - June 25, 2001 -Moscowresident Mayis Kosakyan was found dead in an apartment in the 9th district of Nor Nork. He had come toArmeniato celebrate his mother’s 60th birthday, and after spending few days in Shamshadin, his father’s hometown, he came toYerevanen route toMoscow. The day before he was killed, Kosakyan went to the theater with his cousin and sister-in-law.

His cousin told the police, “There was a phone call during the performance and Mayis spoke quite nervously, then he asked me when the performance would end and told the caller he would meet him later. I didn’t dare ask who had called, and he wouldn’t answer subsequent calls, he just checked the phone numbers.” He took the women home, and then told them that he was going to meet to a friend from college. The next morning he was found dead in his apartment with multiple knife wounds.

Two short days later, the prosecutor’s office of the Avan and Nor Nork districts arrested 18 year-old Argishti Abrahamyan on suspicion of murder. The murdered man’s cell-phone, video camera, watch and wallet were found on him. Abrahamyan said in court that a stranger had brought the things to his store and offered to sell them cheaply. Since he was the only one in his family with a job, he decided to take the things and resell them for more money. He wanted to buy a present for his sister’s graduation.

Abrahamyan gave the stranger all the money in the cash register, but it wasn’t enough and the man said he would come back the next day for the rest. Two days later the stranger hadn’t shown up. When Abrahamyan tried to sell the video camera and cell-phone, he was arrested. He testified in court that investigator Gabriel Petrosyan had threatened and intimidated him in jail and demanded that he confess to the murder, otherwise he would be “sent to a cell with homosexuals and left there for the night”. Since murder victim Mayis Kosakyan was found wearing shorts, the investigators leapt to the conclusion that he was a homosexual and the murder was related to sex. At first Argishti Abrahamyan refused to say he was gay, but after severe beatings and torture he confessed to killing Kosakyan because he didn’t want “to have sex”. Abrahamyan told the court that his confession had been entirely dictated by his lawyer, Varuzhan Abgaryan, who had been recommended by Gabriel Petrosyan as an experienced professional.

Abrahamyan’s mother Zhanna told us that she asked the lawyer to arrange a visit with her son, but he refused. Instead, Abgaryan told her that if she wanted her son to get a reduced sentence, she should bring five or six thousand dollars to bribe the investigators. When Abrahamyan’s mother said that she couldn’t pay more than $500, the lawyer angrily told her it wasn’t enough. It was only at the last minute before the case went to trial that she realized that the lawyer was more interested in wringing a confession from her son than in helping him, and she declined his services and appealed to Hovhannes Pilavjyan, a member of the Armenian Bar association. Pilavjyan met with his client and after they talked for four hours Abrahamyan told him in tears how he had been forced to confess.

He was charged with premeditated murder, according to of Article 99, Clause 1 of the Criminal Code of Armenia, and theft of property, according to Article 88, Clause 2. Abrahamyan stated in his confession during the preliminary investigation that he “met with Kosakyan near Komaygi Park, offered him a cigarette and then they went to his home.” Since there was no electricity in the apartment they lit a candle and Kosakyan asked him to have sex. Abrahamyan refused and realizing that he could not leave, went to blow out the candle and approached the TV set, on which a sheathed knife lying. He blew out the candle, took the knife and cut Kosakyan’s throat.

The forensic examination found no evidence of homosexual sex. (Only at this point did the victim’s relatives begin to attend the trial, as they had been too ashamed at first). Mayis Kosakyan died as a result of several neck wounds inflicted by a cutting, thrusting object. Uniform injuries were found on the soles of his feet, leading to the conclusion that he had been dragged around the apartment. None of the hairs found in the apartment corresponded to Abrahamyan’s hair structure, and there were numerous unidentified fingerprints.

It’s hard to understand why Argishti Abrahamyan’s trial has been going on for two years when no material evidence relating to him was found in the apartment, and the murder weapon - the knife -- is missing. State prosecutor Arthur Yeritsyan, the assistant district attorney ofYerevan, declared that the absence of fingerprints doesn’t mean anything and that he will prove the guilt of the accused.

So far the court has been unable to obtain the list of calls received on Kosakyan’s cell phone during the performance, since the cell-phone is registered inMoscow. The Prosecutor’s Office of Armenia sent an inquiry to the relevant authorities in Russia a year ago, but according the prosecutors said in court that they had receive no response.

The victim’s cousin, however, discovered that a response had indeed been sent fromMoscow. But the list was never filed with the case. At the request of the court, the Ministry of Justice ofArmeniaasked the Russian Ministry of Justice for the list. But according to Abrahamyan’s lawyer, no response was ever received.

The brother of the accused told the court that he is sure Abrahamyan is not guilty, and demanded that they find the real murderer. And this is, perhaps, the rare case in which friends and family of the victim are in accordance with those of the accused. Mayis Kosakyan’s two sisters and his wife all testified that Tovmas Sahakyan, a friend of Kosakyan’s from college, owed him $15,000. Kosakyan’s wife Gayane Mardanyan stated in her testimony, “Tovmas and two friends of his borrowed money from Mayis several times and disappeared. As a result Mayis lost $15,000.” Her testimony was confirmed by Kosakyan’s sisters Alvard and Nvard.

But the court twice failed to bring in Sahakyan, the deputy director of the Shahumyan village winery in the Ararat Marz. Finally on July 30, 2003 Tovmas Sahakyan was brought to court and fingerprinted. Although he had been fingerprinted before, his prints, inexplicably, had not been filed with the case. The trial will reconvene after the fingerprints are examined.