Charges against Sukhudyan have no serious grounds, her lawyer finds

PanARMENIAN.Net - Proponents of "S.O.S Teghut" movement's activists Mariam Sukhudyan have organized a protest against the recently filed criminal case; they find the charges biased and unfair, lawyer Nona Galstyan told today a joint news conference with Yelena Nazaryan and Syuzan Simonyan, authors of the TV report on violence by an Armenian language teacher against children in special school No. 11.



Sukhudyan's lawyer brought several arguments to prove the accusation being artificial and false. First of all, journalist Syuzan Simonyan prepared two reports for Public Television, in which school-girls told similar stories about violence against them. There is only one video material attached to the case - the record prepared by Mariam Sukhudyan.



"Mariam was first reluctant to give me the material as she was concerned about the schoolgirl, considering Armenian national stereotype about girls subjected to sexual violence," journalist Syuzan Sionyan said, noting that her report about the other girl was not mentioned in criminal case.



In their accusations, law enforcement agencies state that Mariam Sukhudyan coerced the girl into giving false evidence. However, as mentioned by Sukhudyan's colleagues and "Hetq" newspaper's journalist Lena Nazaryan, they had just prepared a video record of the story told by the agrrieved girl.



Touching upon law enforcement agencies' gross violations, lawyer Nona Galstyan said the criminal case had been filed within nine days after the broadcast, whereas law envisages a period of three month for launching such proceedings. "That too, is an unquestionable evidence that law enforcement agencies attempt to conceal what happened at school, accusing Mariam Sukhudyan of libel."



The lawyer also denied accusations that her defendant was allegedly guided by personal interests. She worked as project coordinator in school No. 11, within the frames of "Top 10 schools" program funded by UN Office in Armenia.



"Mariam herself proposed the idea of involving the school in the project, but it was actually the school principal that asked her to manage program implementation process. Furthermore, project participants said sums were transferred to the school's account, with principal bearing direct responsibility for their realization. The matter went so far that project participants had to cover costs on their own and then submit cheques to principal to get their money back."



"Mariam had nothing to do with the financial means allocated for project implementation, hence she could not have pursued personal interests," her lawyer stated.



Criminal case was filed after the November 13, 2008 regular broadcast of Haylur on Public TV channel. There, a school-girl from Nubarashen boarding school No. 11 complained about being sexually harassed by a teacher, "Ecolur" NGO says in a press release. Sukhudyan herself finds she is being persecuted for participating in "SOS-Teghut" function aimed the protection of Teghut forest.



Initially, Sukhudyan was accused of libel (Section 1, Article 135 of RA Criminal Code). However, on August 15, Erebuni Police Office's Investigative Department replaced Article, accusing the defendant of providing false information accompanied by artificial creation of evidence. The article envisages graver punishment, i.e. imprisonment for up to 5 years.