“In a highly controversial but anticipated ruling, a Yerevan court on Monday sentenced Gagik Jahangirian, a former deputy prosecutor-general linked to the Armenian opposition, to three years in prison for allegedly resisting police during his arrest last year,” RFE/RL reports.
Watching Jhangiryan demanding justice, I could not help, but smile at the irony of the situation. Jhangiryan, formerly also Armenia’s chief military prosecutor, knows very well what the Armenian law-enforcement and judicial systems are capable of.
As RFE/RL puts it: “Jahangirian himself was accused of resorting to torture and committing other human rights abuses during his decade-long tenure as Armenia’s chief military prosecutor.”
Such allegations marred, in particular, the criminal investigation into the October 1999 deadly seizure of the Armenian parliament led by Jahangirian.
Jahangirian also presided over the extremely controversial prosecution of three Armenian army conscripts arrested in 2004 on charges of murdering two fellow soldiers in Nagorno-Karabakh. One of those conscripts claimed to have been brutally tortured into falsely confessing to the charges. The three young men were sensationally set free by Armenia’s Court of Appeals in December 2006, just seven months after being sentenced to life imprisonment.
Sadly though, Jhangiryan is not sentenced for 3 years because of all the evil he has caused while on high government posts. He is being sentenced to 3 years for what appears to be ridiculously falsified charges and only because on February 23, 2008 he voiced support for the opposition.
And while one hopes, that the Armenian juduciaries will learn a lesson by Jhangiryan’s sentencing, a lesson that would teach them to commit themselves to true justice, for one day they might seek justice, and be denied it like the deputy ex-prosecutor did, I’m not sure that’s what they’ll learn.
That’s the biggest problem with the anonymous commenters on Jhangirian’s sentencing. While they claim to know his crimes, they rejoice that he deserves it.
But they fail to understand that a person should not be sent to jail for something s/he did not do even if s/he is sinful as hell. That’s one of the basic principals of modern law and order.
Who is nazarian to tell people not to rejoice at this criminal’s sentencing. Perhaps nazarian has forgotten that jangirian found guilty and sentenced 3 innocent Armenian soldiers for death’s they did not commit and were later released. People who live in glass houses should learn not to throw stones at other people’s homes, and in this case justice has prevailed!
Armen, there is no justice here. You want him to be investigated and charged for the 3 soldiers’ trial, go ahead.
But don’t tell me that sentencing someone on flimsy and politically motivated charges is justice. it is thinking like yours that is the root cause of the complete breakdown of law and order in Armenia.
I have to support Nazarian on this actually. That’s what the whole point of my post was about, in fact.
As far as I can see, now all is needed for someone to go to jail in Armenia is to be arrested by police. There is no need for evidence of any action by the arrestee – just have the police testify that they were assaulted.
With this precedent, any Armenian citizen is now vulnerable. It is probably like the 1937 Stalinist justice system although I am told that even then the NKVD tried to generate evidence. It was fake but at least they put some effort to give it a guise of legitimacy. The regime in Armenia is too lazy/arrogant to do even that.
The list of people “who deserve what’s coming to them” is endless and subjective, and we all might be on somebody else’s list. What Armen is expressing is Schadenfreude, which everyone experiences now and then. But it’s vital for courts of law only to rule on the charges as presented, not other past or present actions. Otherwise, the courts and the society no longer have the possibility of justice. And for the religious here, check your Bibles and you’ll see this same opinion, and you’ll leave the scale-balancing to God, not to Armenia’s Prosecutor General.
Are you sure this is not Mr. Bean’s chubbier brother?
Jangiryan is one of the persons who lost the right to live on the Earth. Unfortunately he is imprisoned only for such a short term and will be released in 2 years.
By the way he should be killed during the arrest and not to participate in this comedy called armenian judicial system.
Wasn’t that the banditocracy plan? They shot and wounded his brother even though they did not resist.
Police couldn’t even manage to do THAT right.
Pigh, Matthew 7:1-5–thought you were the Biblical scholar, did you miss that sermon?
They probably were unwilling. A large proportion of the police are still normal people.
I’ll reply in front of God,not you,Ani jan:)
Matthew 7:6–you had to know that was coming… 😉
Matthew 7
Judging Others
1″Do not judge, or you too will be judged. 2For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
3″Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 4How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? 5You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.
6″Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and then turn and tear you to pieces.
||| Is this what we are talking about? |||
Have to admit, Jesus sets a very high standard!!
Nazarian jan
Fortunately Jangiryan is not my brother:)
So much for being a Christian, eh?
Guilt-ridden is on this guy’s face, just one look at him, you could tell he’s guilty! Armenia’s judicial system needs a lot of fixing but they got this one right.
That’s the last thing the judicial system needs right now — guilt by the expression of the eyes.
This is the kind of misplaced joy that could be seen when Grzo’s businesses started being attached by the tax authorities. Chances are that he was a big tax cheat, but the problem is that his troubles started only after he came out in support of LTP. This kind of selective “justice” is only hurting the situation. There’s no reason to rejoice unfortunately.