The roundtable participants will also discuss the Draft Law on domestic violence, elaborated by the Center.

Marietta Malumyan

“Novoe Vremya”, Unofficial translation from Russian

22.04.2008

N 1600

53-year old Levon Grigiryan has spent years of his conscious life in jail. Imprisonment has become his way of life: he has been convicted and imprisoned 7 times. Once for possession of drugs, all other times – for theft. In 2006, he was granted parole. Ever since he has had no regular job, but from time to time he did some construction.   

In autumn of 2006. he met G. and got into a close relationship with her. His girlfriend had neither place to live, nor job. She used to sleep on the street and in underground stations, she was hungry very often. Levon, as a caring boyfriend, tried to ease her burden, however, not by his own work, but at the expense of others'  property.  

In May 2007, he was wandering around the Kanaker hydroelectric power station, planning to steal something. Finally he noticed an electric handsaw on a window sill. He broke the window glass with a stone and snatched it. He sold the handsaw for 2500 drams and enjoyed the “earned” money with his girlfriend.

The next theft was from a summer in the “Korean gorge” – a locksmith’s press.

At the end of 2007, Levon, with his girlfriend, was in the park near Arabkir market. There they met some friends, bought some food and alcohol, and enjoyed all that. After parting with friends around 16:00, they headed for Levon’s place. They chatted while walking, but the chat grew into quarrel, then into a fight. “A caring boyfriend” was beating his girlfriend with his hands and feet. They ceased fighting only with the interference of the police. Both were brought to Arabkir Police station, where the woman filed a complaint, demanding that Levon be brought to justice for causing physical injuries.  

Criminal proceedings were instituted on this case.          

As the investigator of this case, Vagharshak Mkrtchyan stated, other misdeeds of Levon Grigoryan were revealed. He pled guilty of all accusations and wrote a frank confession.  

Charges against Levon Grigoryan were presented by Article 177, part 3, point 3 and Article 177 of RA Criminal Code.

Anna Aslanyan 

A Stool Hit

The young man get married years ago. Life was beautiful, days that passed by – fabulous. Soon his son, the Eighth Wonder, was born. The family became complete and grew stronger. Yet, there were trials as well.   

Several months before, his son received treatment in one of the hospitals. After a week of nightmare the man took his son and his wife home. On that very day he, for some strange reason, also drank a couple of bottles of vodka. The amount of alcohol drove the young man away from reality. In such a condition, he could hardly comprehend anyone. Thus, he didn’t comprehend his wife and had an argument with her. It was all about everyday life. The woman, trying to avoid the quarrel, went to the neighbors’, but she couldn’t stay there for a long time. Her husband followed her there and demanded his wife to return home. Yet, his wife didn’t express any wish to return and preferred to stay for some time with her parents, who lived in the same building.

Stalking his wife, the man followed her there. The argument resumed, and soon his wife’s parents became a part of it.  А scuffle started. The sea, indeed, is knee-deep for a drunken man: he started to swear. Furthermore, the obscene language was addressed not only to his wife, but to mother-in-law as well. That’s when the father-in-law interfered and tried to get his son-in-law in line. All in vain, though: the son-in-law cursed again. At that moment the mother-in-law took a stool and hit her son-in-law, causing bodily injuries.

The son-in-law didn’t bear his mother-in-law a grudge. Yet it didn’t release her from liability….        

The investigation, instituted by Shengavit investigation agency, is over.        

Karine Muradyan

“02” weekly, Unofficial translation

5 (584)

By the same clause

24-year-old Karapet Karapetyan, a resident of Yerevan, is a student. He got married in December 2006, before graduating the University and starting his career.  Two months later he registered his marriage officially, and in a few more months his first child – a daughter, was born. Yet, even the birth of a child couldn’t improve the couple's strained relations. Domestic, everyday problems that occurred were deepening, instead of receiving solutions. Intolerance only made difficult relations worse.

Finally, in August 2007, the woman took her baby and left for her parents’ place, without telling her husband. When she returned, the decision to divorce was made. The decision wasn’t final, though. They could avoid divorce, if the husband agreed to rent an apartment for young family to live separately from his parents.

Stipulating that, woman didn’t take into consideration the fact, that her husband was a student and that she didn’t work either. The question - at whose expense and how was the rent supposed to be paid? – remained unanswered.

Before September 2007,  the spouses met a few times, conversed and tried to resolve the situation, but all in vain. Relations deteriorated.       

The regular rendezvous was set for September 7^th by mutual agreement. On the evening before that, when the woman called to set up a meeting for the next day, Karapet was still thinking that things were not hopeless, that his child and wife shall be with him, at his house.          

At the set time, Karapet with his friend went to his wife’s parent's place. His friend stayed outside, while Karapet went up the stairs. His wife, mother-in-law and their daughter, sleeping in her cradle, were at home. The spouses separated for a talk. A conversation that lasted almost 10 minutes resolved nothing. Again, no agreement was reached. A little later, the mother-in-law joined their conversation. This intervention irritated an already angry Karapet even more, and he started to talk in an arrogant and rude manner. After mutual biting remarks Karapet took his daughter and said that he is taking his baby with him, even if his wife is not coming. The situation burst into a scuffle, argument and fight. Karapet pushed his mother-in-law and then kicked her leg, causing light body injuries.

The mother-in-law, in her turn, scratched Karapet’s neck, and furthermore, thinking that it wasn’t enough, bit the little finger of his left hand….    

Yet, this was not the end. Karapet started swearing, grabbed the baby and ran out, demanding his wife to follow him. The woman, though, managed to convince him again and he gave back the baby. After that Karapet and his friend took off. Of course, at home he told nobody about the occurrence of the day, but…   

On the same day, his mother-in-law reported the incident to Arabkir district Police station. A criminal investigation was instituted.

During the investigation charges were brought not only against Karapet, but also against his mother-in-law – by the same 117 clause of RA Criminal Code.

The investigation is over; the case was forwarded to the court.

Anna Aslanyan

“02” weekly, 3 (852)

Unofficial translation.

Another “strong” husband from Kapan battered his wife on 31st of December, when everybody else was busy with preparations for the New Year. The woman didn’t forgive her husband and on the 7^th of January went to the police.

“02” weekly, 11.01.2008, 1 /850/.

 23.11.2007, 45 /844/

23.11.2007, 45 /844/

            In certain cases the beaten lady, driven to despair, resolved her problems under the lynch law. A couple of such avengers are serving their sentence in Abovyan female correction facility. Its warden, Arsen Afrikyan, in his interview with the correspondent of “NV” said that, as the experience shows, women’s vengeance is more terrifying then men’s, and is remarkable for its cruelty. According to Ani Dallakyan, representative of Turpanjian Center for Policy Analysis of American University of Armenia, 1006 women took part in the survey. 281 of them (25%) were subjected to beating not only by husband, but also by mother-in-law. Survey was conducted among 18-75 years old married women and women who had partners. 3% of respondents refused to give any information at all, fearing that the compromising information will reach the husband’s ears and he won’t like it. Let us remind, though – the survey was anonymous.

            Besides, not only experienced husbands prefer to raise their hand on their wives. For example, of the young men told the following to the “NV” correspondent: “Yes, I shall hit my future wife. Not all the time though. Only when it is needed”. That is to say, that being unmarried he is already programmed to violence. Specialists say that in these cases boys take over the model of their father’s behavior.

            61% of interviewed think, that wife should obey to her husband even if she disagrees with him. Only 39% of interviewed women concurred that a woman can choose her friends by herself. 22% respondents consider it right that their husband forbids them to work. Thus, says A.Dallakyan, it is possible to conclude that Armenian women’s conception of domestic violence mostly doesn’t concur with that of women of the world.

Her husband started to unmercifully beat Lusine P. when a couple of months after their marriage, she discovered that he suffered from enuresis. As a rule, the majority of men vent on their closest ones their weakness in certain circumstances. Mostly these circumstances are of social character. Domestic violence evokes anger of 80% of interviewed women, 48% experience self-underestimation, 47% women notice indications of depression, 46% feel ashamed, 42% - scared. Furthermore, for 40% the display of aggression in the family causes chronic insomnia, 33% fear for their children. On a common level a victim of violence evokes the feelings of compassion and sorrow, but when it comes to public censure, the truth turns always to be on the man’s side. Thus the victim appears one to one with her troubles. In civilized countries there are special shelters for these women. Here they will be provided with rehabilitation assistance of a social and psychological character. In Armenia not many people have enough courage to go counter to the circumstances, and the concept of “namus” (honor), which is elevated to the level of national “idee fixe,” takes over. As A.Dallakyan noted, the main aim of the survey was to gather reliable data on the situation in Armenia. It is necessary, in particular, to elaborate the draft law on the protection of women’s rights.

Marietta Malumyan

 “Novoje Vremya”, 13/11/2007, 1541

The extent of usage of bad language in Armenian families was not the only goal of the survey, which was sponsored by the Ministry of Labor and Social Issues, National Statistics Agency and UN. It became clear that the most prevalent form of violence in the country is beating. Women are the main object for beating, then – children, and in the third place – mothers of husband or wife. 16% of interviewed women consider themselves ignored in the family. 16.1% of mothers-in-law also consider themselves ignored. Children deprived of attention amounted to 13.6%. Among men, only 11.9% think that their household doesn’t consider their opinion.

Compiled from:  “Novoe Vremya” newspaper 08/11/2007, N 1539,

Unofficial translation from Russian.         

            The tranquility of a once peaceful family has been disturbed. By mutual consent and the will of both husband and wife - each of them followed their own way. So one family is less in the world now. However, the happiness didn’t vanish at once, but over the years. They couldn’t even remember how it all happened. After all, they had been living together for years, without complaining. But the moment for complaining, intolerance and incomprehension has come. Maybe it was inevitability of the moment, that they couldn’t overcome?

            True, they were divorced, but they would still meet from time to time. Those ‘meetings’ were usually accompanied with mutual insults and discrediting. They couldn’t avoid it. That day was no exclusion; as usual ex-husband visited his ex-wife. As soon as he opened the door and entered the room, the atmosphere in the flat immediately changed. The tension rose, but the “exes” didn’t expect that the day would finish by committing a penal action, for which not only the former husband and wife, but their daughter also would be charged with a proper article of the RA Criminal Code.       

            So, as soon as the former husband entered, he started quarrelling with his ex-wife about some domestic issue. Then he struck her first with his hands and then with a wooden stick; furthermore, when their daughter interfered, he hit her too.

           The quarrel became so intense that words were useless. The girl took a vacuum cleaner tube and struck her father. While the man was under the shower of strikes, the woman managed to grab the stick out of his hands and then started to beat him mercilessly.  

            In Nor Nork investigation department the preliminary investigation of the case against members of the former family has been finished.

            The bill of particulars has been forwarded to the Court of  first Instance.

     By Karine Muradyan

           A newly created family has just unexpectedly collapsed. Also unexpectedly, a husband and a wife discovered that the love and respect that they had for each other was shallow and insincere.

            That unexpectedness made them say ‘goodbye’ to each other. Two years of coexistence showed that they have nothing in common. From now on the only common thing they had was dispute. Yes, the ex-spouses had a  dispute related to their property to be settled only with mediation of the court.   

            When the court hearing was over, 34-year old Armen approached his ex-wife to say a couple of words and to unburden his heart. The woman was not alone, but with her representative and neighbor. The “heart-unburdening” process took place in their presence. He started to insult the woman, told her indecent things and spat in her face.  

            For that behavior Armen S. was charged by 136/1 article of RA Criminal Code.

            However, he didn’t admit his guilt. According to him, he had neither approached his wife, nor insulted her. Yet, the facts, elicited during the preliminary investigation showed the opposite.

            The preliminary investigation of the case at Kanaker-Zejtun investigation department is over.

  By Karine Muradyan

Published in “02” weekly, 21.09.2007, 36 (835)

11 cases of domestic quarrels, which frequently resulted in the deliberate cause of physical injuries, were registered. For instance, Vardenis Police Department registered a case: 35 years old son, Vardan Vatyan - resident of Kakhakn village, beat and caused body injuries to his 72 years old mother. The woman was taken to the hospital, her son escaped.   

            At midnight the Erebuni police department received information from the hospital about Arshalujs Stepanjan (born in 1927), who arrived with second and third-degree burns on 10% of her body. The 80-year-old lady told the operative group that she was set on the fire by her nephew Benik Stepanyan.

8 July 2007
The Police Department of Nor Nork was informed by the hospital at 1 o'clock in the morning that a female resident of Jrvezh Majak district was delivered to the hospital with abdominal injuries. As it turned out, the victim's husband beat her in a domestic quarrel.

Summer heat is at its peak. Laziness and idleness are in the air. Meanwhile, a police summary report shows that between the 1st and 5th of July, 60 cases of deliberate physical cruelty were registered in different police departments.

Relaxing and calming heat, in fact, has had no such effect on one particular group of people. To the contrary, it seems that dulling heat irritated scrappers, those who prefer to use fists, those who tend to turn a simple domestic misunderstanding into a fight. “Authors” of such cases have turned their families’ internal issues into a subject of police interference.

Meanwhile, the amount of deliberate physical cruelty cases in domestic quarrels continues to grow, regardless of the season of heat that makes one lazy, and irregardless of appeals of the police to be tolerant.

Unfortunately injuries become statistics. Intolerance and unfriendliness stay dominant in relationships, sadly – between the dear ones, between relatives. “Love your neighbor like yourself” – this principle still remains ignored.

Published in: “02” RA Police Weekly , 06.07.2007

 26 (825) (Unofficial translation)

Extracts from the article “Women love to be beaten? Some Armenian women consider it normal when their husbands beat them”

“22% of the respondent women think that a husband has the right to beat his wife. Women are mostly beaten for the following reasons: forgetting about the food in the oven, failing to pay proper attention to children, contradicting their husbands or rejecting intimacy.” This was said yesterday during the presentation of “2005 Demographic and Health Survey” (DHS) project. The survey was conducted among 6566 women and 1447 men, aged 15-49.

Compiled from: “Aravot” Daily (http://www.aravot.am), 107/2973, 8 June 2007 (Unofficial translation)

Extracts from “Criminal mosaic” article

27 May

A domestic quarrel in one of the families of the capital ended up in a knifing – Manvel Mouradyan hit his wife with a kitchen knife and caused an injury on her leg.

30 May

Kanaker-Zeitoun police department was informed by the hospital that Tamara Arakelyan, born in 1932, has applied to them with injuries on different parts of her body. It became known that the elderly woman was battered by Arsen Galstyan, her 17-year-old grandson.

An extract from “Criminal mosaic” article

April 30

Hospital staff informed Arabkir police department that Haykanoush A., a resident of Kasyan Street, has been brought to the hospital with burns on her hand and shoulder. The operative group found out that Gagik Badeyan, her husband, had poured gas on her and lit it in a domestic quarrel at home.

The investigation is being held by the Prosecutor’s Office of Arabkir and Kanaker-Zeitoun communities.

H.I.

An executor from Nor-Kharberd

Recently a sadist that has beaten 1.5-year-old baby nearly to death has been arrested. The doctors hardly managed to save the baby.

58-year-old Gor Karapetyan left school after 8 grades, has been twice convicted and is unemployed. He tried sadistic propensities on little Aramais and the latter’s mother Narine Atoyan, with whom he lived in the country district of Nor-Kharberd. It was not the first time he had beaten the baby; the execution took place periodically - every time Narine was disobedient. Gor would beat the baby and with pleasure watch the mother’s reaction. One might say he had double pleasure of the baby’s cry and the mother’s pain. Last time drunk Karapetyan surpassed himself – out of strong hits on the head the baby lost consciousness and was taken to the hospital in grave condition. Fortunately it was saved. The sadist-torturer was arrested.

Margarita Aroutyunyan

Altruist-murderer

The profession of goddesses of love is both dangerous and difficult. The same was true about 36-year-old Arpine Margaryan, who was murdered by her client Vahram Zakaryan.

According to the materials of the inquest, the relations of the murderer and the victim began in January of 2005. At that time Yerevan resident Vahram met Arpine and evidently having strong feelings for her, suggested that she move to his flat on Khristophor Street. The prostitute that was renting poor flats agreed with pleasure. Vahram accepted her two underage daughters with her. It could become an example of altruism if not for the subsequent events. Arpine and Vagram lived peacefully for five months; Arpine left her profession and became an exemplary housewife, but the idyll did not last long. Aprine again returned to her profession, which extremely dissatisfied her civil husband and he started battering his mistress. Soon Vahram found himself in prison – he had beaten one Hamazasp. The First Instance Court of Center and Nork-Marash community  sentenced him to imprisonment for almost half a year. All this time Aprine continued living in his house with her daughters.

After being set free Vahram found out that Arpine used to take clients to his house. On that ground the cheated partner started battering his mistress every day to teach her a lesson. Nevertheless, he did not turn her out of home. The woman did not apply to the police either. At the end of the last year Vahram came home violently drunk and beat the woman to death. The jealous altruist pleaded guilty. The materials of the case are passed from the Prosecutor’s Office of Erebouni and Noubarashen to the Firsts Instance Court…

Margarita Haroutyunyan

Former family

The joint life of young spouses has been interrupted as suddenly as they fell in love and decided to get married.

Years have passed from that day, the years of common joy and sorrow. To make it short, a life where they were the main heroes. Then their two children were born and so the family had obtained its final shape and strength. But the achievement of the years disappeared just in a couple of days. They divorced. Yes, there were children, but that fact did not prevent them from their decision...
The reason was the husband’s two convictions. There were disagreements on that issue among the spouses; as a result they divorced. By the way, husband was in prison that time. When he got back, they continued living by the same address, but nothing stayed the same. And it could not have stayed intact.

However, they could not avoid seeing each other every day, and that caused permanent reciprocal tension. And that was the environment in which their children were growing, but this did not relax the tension. They quarreled often and it seemed there would be no end to that. The ex-husband was unable to find himself due to imaginary jealousy.  He could not tolerate that his former wife spoke with strangers, even when she held business conversations. But how could she avoid communicating with people, even though her ex-husband did not like it?  Work required such contacts, but the former husband…

He got angry each time, making scenes. As a result of the last scene, the ex-wife was injured and her health was damaged for quite a long time. That day ex-husband noticed that his ex-wife was speaking with some stranger. Immediately he entered into his ex-wife’s rented studio and demanded her interlocutor to get out.  Then he started to hit his ex-wife with fists and feet, forced her into his car and took her home. The beating was about to be continued at home, but he could not wait and started to beat her right in the car, and then in the lift. So such unruly behavior finally got an appropriate reaction, envisaged by the Armenian Criminal Code…

The Nor Nork Investigation Department has already finished the inquest under the first part of Article 113 of the Armenian Criminal Code.

An extract from the article “Criminal mosaic”

April 30

The Arabkir police department has been informed by a hospital that Haykanoush A., living on the Kasyan Street, was brought there with burns on her hand and shoulder. The operative group found out that it was Gagik Badeyan, her husband, who had poured gas on his wife Haykanoush A. and lit it in the process of a domestic quarrel.

The case is being investigated by the Prosecutor’s Office of Arabkir and Kanaker-Zeitoun communities.

H.I.

H.V., 27 years old

The woman is subjected to psychological violence by her mother and father-in-law. When she visited the Women’s Support and Drop-in Center, she was very anxious, helpless and nervous, as the day before her mother- and father-in-law let their son and grandson in, but closed the door in front of her. The reason was that the woman decided to have the second child, while her mother- and father-in-law tried to force her to terminate the second pregnancy, but the woman would not agree. The husband wants to have the second child as well, but he cannot prevent his parent’s violent actions and tells the wife to give up to the pressure.

They constantly insult the woman, do not allow her to heat the room in the winter, use hot water, took her jewelry. She does not want to apply to the police as her father-in-law has friends there. Her husband takes no steps. He was forced to take her back to her parent’s. Now the woman does not know how to restore her rights.

The Women’s Rights Center lawyer has prepared a letter to be submitted together with the woman’s application to the police.

Together with the family

The young man was “strongly in love” with his female co-villager. He loved her with such “strength” that could not even sleep. But he lacked the appropriate imagination to fascinate her. If he did he would cover her path with flowers, sing serenades for her at midnight or would write poems. No, he was not that romantic, he chose a short way of “winning her heart.” He did not have enough time to write poems, he just wanted to get married at once, and that’s all. Understanding that he would not be able to convince her parents, he decided to kidnap her. By the way the place of the incident was not one of the streets of the village, but the very house his beloved lived in.

So, one day he took a car and drove towards the house of his beloved. He was not alone. One might think he was accompanied by his friends, but not at all – his mother and sister were with him. They entered the yard over the wall, then opened the door and entered the house. The girl and her mother were astonished and they started quarreling with the uninvited guests, who said they would leave the house only if they took the girl with them. So the boy’s mother tied the girl’s mother’s hands, while the boy took his beloved girl out of the house. The mother’s cries would not stop them. They left and the mother continued crying out for help…

The Baghramyan police department was informed about the incident. Days later, thanks to the measures taken, the bride was found in one of the villages. Now she is in her father’s house, and the experts found the bridegroom irresponsible.

The inquest of the criminal case, instituted by the above-mentioned fact, is now over.

Criminal mosaic

11 April 2007

Svetlana Rosova, a resident of the Gyulbekyan Street in the capital city, called the police at 22:40 and informed that Samvel Hakobyan, her husband, had beaten her on the Khachatryan Street and run over her by the car.

The operative group found out that at 22:00 Samvel Hakobyan, with the aim of murder, opened the door of the car, which he was driving, pulled his wife out of it, then tried to run over her by the car, as a result of which the woman got bodily injuries.

Samvel Hakobyan has been brought to the Police department of Arabkir.

H.I.

Extracts from “Alarming statistics” article

Cases of infliction of willful damage to health mainly happen among spouses, relatives, close persons as  a result of quarrels on domestic matters. Those cases are very illogical and alarming; domestic dramas are small tragedies that unfortunately have taken and will always take place every day as long as homo sapiens has not understood the advice ‘love your neighbor as yourself.’

The case registered in the Police department of Vardenis on 9 March had the most tragic end. The quarrel of the spouses on domestic matters became so heated that those people had estranged themselves from everything – children, each other. The people, who shared joy and sorrow for many decades, have lost the sense of reality, and Mikhail Ghoukasyan, husband, bitterly beat up his wife with a wooden stick and other things. The woman writhed with pain for a week at home, and husband, wishing to save his skin, did not take her to a doctor thinking that his wife’s injuries and pain would pass with time. He knew that they would ask at the hospital what and how happened, then they would inform the police. But the pain did not pass; and a week later the woman died of injuries.

Cases of bodily injuries registered at Police departments of Vanadzor and Stepanavan on 29 March were domestic dramas. In both cases sons beat… their mothers. Eduard Sargsyan, resident of Stepanavan, hit his 78-year-old mother so strongly that she was taken to the hospital with a broken nose. As for Shavarsh Torosyan, a Vanadzor town resident, he beat his 72-year-old mother with a wooden stick.

Hasmik Ispiryan

Secrets of family life

Violence against women in Armenian families, a theme that has an outstanding significance in the social context, has been revealed in The Hidden Pages of Family Life, a book (in Armenian) written by PhD of Psychology Karine NALCHAJYAN. A unique study follows up catastrophic cataclysms, grasping Armenian families, as a mirror of society, on the whole. What distinguishes modern Armenian families from traditional ones? How have the basic roles of man and woman been changed? How differently are the ideas about violence considered among males and females? What does the paradox and peculiarity of each form of violence consist of (the author singled 16 types)? The answers to these and many other questions were given based on a sociological survey which the author carried out among 1626 individuals in 58 inhabited areas of Armenia.
By the way, violence in the family according to consideration of women, affected 6.3 per cent of families, and by consideration of men, only 1.5 per cent of families.

The heavy frustration suffered by husbands due to the loss of the traditional image of a father, as an embodiment of strength, stability (including material) and defender of the family from social instability, has resulted in the growth of aggressiveness (implicit and explicit) of both - the wife and the husband, according to the author. The author sees a great threat of the collapse of family in father’s departure abroad in search for a job. In such situation the social role of the woman, who is far from arousing any envy of others, sharply increases. She is either “forgotten” or explicitly “aggressive,” or acquires a manlike image, being deprived of the opportunity to lean on the strong shoulder of man, according to the author of the book.

The composition of the Armenian family has changed as well. The intention of the young to live separately in their own house has become more and more approved both by the parents and the newly-wed. In the meantime, there are many cases when such reparation, as in the patriarchal model, continues to be perceived by parents as a personal injury and expression of ingratitude. In some situations children are doomed to remain in the status of children forever and are treated by parents as their property.

The author comes to a conclusion that in the Armenian society family violence is perceived as something extremely negative and is not regarded as an ordinary phenomenon. For women the most severe form of aggression is violence, adultery is in the second place, and sexual assault is in the third. For men the most severe forms of violence against a woman are adultery and physical violence, as well as pasing the physical responsibility for the family on the woman’s shoulders.
In a special section Karine Nalchajyan presents real cases of difficult family situations (following ethic norms and changing names and certain circumstances), told by the personages. Armenians are not used to applying to a psychologist; they think that they can tackle everything themselves. But when a person is in a state of hard frustration, as in the cases, presented below, and does not see any way out, Nalchajyan’s qualified assistance was very important for them. Below, extracts of the appendix of the book are presented for the attention of the reader.

***
Karine is 47 and has two daughters: the elder is a student, the younger is finishing school. Arshak, her husband, is extremely aggressive towards her and the daughters. He is educated and is a leading specialist in his sphere. Karine distinguishes his intellectual and human virtues. They used to be a loving couple, he used to be a wonderful father. But husband started showing uncontrollable jealousy from the very first day of their family life. Years later jealousy became stronger and took unhealthy forms. It has reached the peak now and the husband claims to do the analysis of the DNA to make sure he is the father of the daughters. The wife is ready for that, but she considers the procedure humiliating for herself and daughters. Besides, the analysis is expensive enough, and the family, which is not very rich, is now looking for money.

The husband’s jealousy takes unpredictable forms. He looses control, batters his wife, and even tried to strangle her at night. Karine says that it is already for a long time she cannot sleep, all night through she is waiting for the mortal hit. It had happened once, and she hardly saved herself scratching his face to blood. When the girls try to interfere, that makes him furious. Everybody is in fear. His relatives show no interest to the family.

***
28-year-old Gohar is married. She thinks that her mother-in-law is to blame for the failed happiness. Her husband is the only son. The father-in-law is a weak, weak-willed person, and the mother-in-law is the “boss” of the house. She is stubborn and consistent in her wish to be aware of all details of the young couple’s life; she follows every step of her daughter-in-law. She can appear on the threshold of their bedroom every moment. She claims not to lock the bathroom door when her son or daughter-in-law are taking shower. She opens the door and stares straight even at her son without a sign of embarrassment.
At the end of the second year of their marriage the wife’s life became unbearable – she could not get pregnant. Doctors found out that the woman is healthy and it is husband who can be the cause of barrenness. But the mother-in-law categorically rejected such a possibility, thinking that the daughter-in-law, whose presence in the house was unnecessary, and blamed her for that. The mother-in-law was choking with anger when the spouses showed tenderness and care towards each other. There were even cases when she would forbid them to eat, and the husband used to secretly bring food into the bedroom.

For some time the couple moved to the wife’s house and they could live peacefully. But the mother-in-law managed to win and make the couple divorce. However, their marriage has not been officially divorced yet; the wife still loves her husband, who already shows no interest towards her.

***
Anahit is 35 and she used to live in the capital before getting married. She got her higher education there. When she was 16 she lost her parents in two months and had suffered the whole bitterness of the orphan life. After the death of parents her brothers sold the house, offering her to stay in turn at her brother’s. They thought “she is a girl and will get married some day.” One day her relatives find her a fiancé – a country boy. But when the girl shyly tried to contradict, her family made a decision: “he is a good guy, don’t loose your chance”.

All hardships of family life were imposed on the girl who did not know the village life. She was responsible for the most difficult work – carrying heavy water buckets, watering the garden, looking after the stock. Black nails and cracked hands that are shrunken tell a lot about that woman who seems to be much older. The mother-in-law is particularly cruel to her daughter-in-law, and the husband, who comes home from work very late, does not care about anything – he does not dare to object the parents. That’s why she stopped telling her husband about anything, stopped complaining. She has already four times lost her baby in late terms of pregnancy – and it is another reason for his parents to mock her. Now she is waiting for a baby again, humiliated, burdened with family problems.

***
A story by 39-year-old Aida. After finishing the school, she applied to a University. “I met my future husband right during the entrance exams. He was conducting an examination and noticed  me from far away. He was a pleasant, educated young man. I was truly surprised when some time later he proposed to marry him, as I was a common village girl. He was much older than me and I liked it, although I was a little embarrassed. We got married. Everything had happened so quickly that my parents were shocked. I became the third member of the family, as the husband lived with his mother. Everything seemed to be fine at first. We had a house; soon I noticed that the neighbors started strangely whispering to one another, when they saw me. I was embarrassed and told my husband about that, but he told me not to pay attention at them. I thought it was all about my country origin. My husband and mother-in-law advised me not to deal with the neighbors. Then they insisted on quitting the study; I tried to persuade them, but in vain. They made a decision for me that I did not need higher education, I hardly managed to the housework, and the mother-in-law was working.

At first the mother-in-law, a well-groomed, nice woman, was very kind to me. Although, I could not understand why she singled out for  me and my husband a half-ruined balcony as a bedroom, while she herself slept in a cozy bedroom. But I did not pay attention to that, as my husband loved me and I felt myself a happy woman. My husband was very cold with me in the presence of his mother and did not like that, but then I thought it was normal. If we sat together with my husband, she would come, sit between as, hug his son and change the conversation to attract attention. It became common enough.

She would not do any work at home. I did everything, and she would only put forward requirements and reproach me. When we used to go to bed my mother-in-law would constantly enter our room, as if she controlled us. Several times I woke up in the night and saw that my husband was not there. I could not explain that, but I felt that something was wrong. I started having insomnia. And once, on that faithful day I followed his night adventures. He carefully got off the bed (I pretended to be sleeping) and went to his mother’s room. At first I seemed to turn into stone, then when I came to my senses, I was shaking. I was afraid, but I second later I stood up, and I can’t remember how I appeared there and saw them together in the bed. I returned to the balcony and fell down to the bed, shivering with cry; that is all I remember.

When I woke up, my husband was at my side. It was almost morning. He tried to justify himself, but I was quickly getting dressed not seeing anything around myself. There was only one thought in my head – I had to get out of there as soon as possible.”

***

Alina is 40, she is mother of two children. Her husband used to be tender and careful with her until the birth of the second child. After the second child he suddenly changed. He did not want to have a daughter at all, he was dreaming of a son, and they had already the second daughter. He took it as a hard blow of the fate, started hating both his wife and children. Alina is a nice, pretty educated woman. She says she still loves her spouse very much, but she is afraid she won’t be able to stand that for a long time, as now he started to beat her. Her husband has a very high position at work, he is educated, and the family has no financial difficulties, but there is no happiness.

Recently he has strongly demanded that his wife and children not be seen by him too often. They were also ordered not to ask him for anything and keep silence. Every day mother goes with her children to another room and plays there carefully, so that their voices do not bother the father, watching TV. The children absolutely do not communicate with their father, not seeing any care from him. They started being afraid of the father, growing up unconfident and vulnerable.

***

Lousine is 33 years old, has five children. She lives at her husband’s parents’ – 9 people in a two-room flat. It has already been for five years that her father-in-law pays special attention to her, wishing to have intimate relations. For some time Lousine tried to hide that being in constant fear and nervousness. Then, when she could not stand that any more, she told her husband about everything. The husband told his brothers about that and when they asked their father whether it was true, he said yes. And that was all:  her husband does nothing to protect his wife from sexual harassment of his father. When Lousine cries and protests, he keeps silence. Lousine says that her husband is a respected man, has a responsible job, his word is like a law for his subordinates, but at home he is voiceless.

Lousine is completely alone in her grief. Her mother-in-law knows about everything and mocks her daughter-in-law, giving her bad names, although the whole family knows what kind of a man the father is. Now Lousine is bothered by another thing – her elder daughter is already a teenager and her femininity attracts obscene glances of the father-in-law.

***

Anoush is about 40, she has three children. The elder daughter is married, the younger daughter goes to school, the son is a student. The family had been living peacefully and prosperously for long years. The husband is from a very famous family, and the wife, being from a lower social layer, has always been proud of being a daughter-in-law of such a well-known family.

When the economic situation worsened in Armenia, Arthur, her husband, sold the flat and used the money to establish his own business. But his business went wrong and he went bankrupt. Now they are renting a flat. The husband does not have a job, and the wife works all day and night through to earn money for the family and study of her son. So, they managed to get used to such conditions, but the situation changed when Anoush heard rumors that her husband had an affair abroad, and her husband’s girl-friend was guilty in  his bankruptcy. As soon as all the money had been spent, she left Arthur, so he returned home with nothing.
Moreover, Arthur confessed that he has become impotent recently, making her understand that there can be no intimate relationship between them. Anoush took that also, until one day in the pocket of her husband she found a receipt on electricity payment of an unknown address. She checked and found out that a single woman lived by that address. It meant that Arthur had some money that did not reach the family and he cheated his wife about being an impotent. Despite all this Anoush cannot divorce, because “children are already grown-up, and their family is known to be a successful one”.

***

Ripsime is 68 years old, her husband is 76. They have two children who have their own families and live separately from the parents. Ripsime says that her family life can be hardly called happy, but she stood everything for the sake of the children. Her husband is well-educated and is known as a good man. He has always been rude to his wife at home, groundless quarrels, bad words and threatening have always been usual for him. The wife, who got used to everything, says that now she loses control because of another thing. It has already been for 8 months that her husband is in love with a 55-year-old woman. Although he does not meet her, he talks to her by the phone for hours and from morning till night cries at his wife’s shoulder, complaining about his unrequited love. He says that she has  to comfort him and  give him hope. All day long he keeps repeating “I have only just understood what love means.” When Ripsime tries to protest, he starts quarreling and beating her. Ripsime’s leg is bandaged - her husband hit her with his stick, when she told him bitterly: “You are not a boy any longer, go to  the village, work for some time in our garden, maybe you would feel better.”
The wife wishes to divorce, her sons do not object, but she is afraid of rumors – what would people say? She is not ready yet for such a turn in her life.

Prepared by Lilit Yepremyan

Published in: “Novoye Vremya”, 1393, 23 September 2006 (Unofficial translation)

Comment from the Women's Rights Center

Contributed by Eduard Grigoryan, Women's Rights Center

“A Hand Grenade in the Bed of Artsroun from Lejan Village?”

Artsroun’s wife brought her husband to the door of the court, presenting an “F-1” hand grenade, which was kept at home, as evidence.

Artsroun Varosyan, a 39-year-old resident of Lori region Lejan village, married Olga Grigoryan from Jrashen two years ago. Their marital life was for some reason unsuccessful. In the First Instance Court of Lori region, Olga stated that her husband used to beat and humiliate her every day; and all this was accompanied with curses and threats to blow up her relatives.

In November 2006 in Jrashen, Artsroun pushed his wife down and beat her. That day became decisive for Olga – first she ran away to one of her co-villager’s, and then she returned to Lejan, took her things from the husband’s house and returned to her parents’. When collecting her things, she also took a hand grenade with her to show to the Spitak town police. A wife of Artsroun’s brother, who lived in the neighborhood, was the first to find out about the grenade 13 years ago. When she asked Artsroun about it, he answered that it was just a “piece of iron;” and that “piece of iron” was kept with tools for many years.
At the court Olga said that one day she found the hand grenade under the pillow on her bed and knew from her sister-in-law that it was Olga’s husband who had placed it there. Then she put the grenade onto the armchair. The story surprised both the wife of Artsroun’s brother and Andranik Moukoyan, the Prosecutor. Both of them heard that for the first time: nothing was said about it during the inquest testimony. The husband characterized his wife’s act as blackmail, but did not deny that he had kept a hand grenade at home.   He had received it from his friend Manvel Meliksetyan, who died about fifteen years ago.

The First Instance Court of Lori region sentenced Artsroun Varosyan to a conditional sentence for illegal keeping of weapons. When finding the verdict, the court took into consideration the fact that the defendant had positive references, had never been convicted before and had parents at his guardianship.

Artsroun Varosyan is not going to leave his 24-year-old wife and newly born child. His wife agreed to that only if their marriage was registered, and they lived separately from parents. Otherwise she will bring up her baby alone.

“Frustrated Dreams”

A 26-year-old resident of Yerevan, Narek, (all real names have been changed in this publication) has been sentenced twice on a series of articles of the Criminal Code. The last time the court sentenced him to imprisonment, but he was put on probation.
In December of 2002 he met a girl, a neighbor of his, in the street. Days later, he used an opportunity and got acquainted with her. Their acquaintance grew into a mutual affection and intimacy. Narek’s relatives were very glad about that, hoping that the boy would get married, create a family and start caring for the newly-created family. But everything had an absolutely different finish.
A year later Sona left for Germany (her parents stayed there), but promised to come back after a time. They decided they would get married after her return. The couple communicated with each other by letters and phone calls. It all continued until the beginning of 2004, when their communication ended by Sona’s initiative. Sona got married in Germany; she informed Narek about it and asked him not to bother her any more.
But Narek did not accept the prospect of losing the girl. In the middle of the spring of 2005, Sona returned to Yerevan. Narek knew about it the same day, and he called her and asked to meet, but the girl refused him. Narek, however, was not one who would give up soon: from the next day on he started “watching” by Sona’s home's entrance.
Sona, who was going shopping, noticed Narek approaching her. To avoid meeting him, she entered the nearest drugstore. After some time, noticing that the ex-boy-friend had left, she hurried home, but in the entrance she met Narek face-to-face, and he offered to talk. The girl was forced to agree. They walked in the direction of some garages near the building. Sona naturally did not want to have any connection to Narek, but the latter did not care about that – he had decided to marry Sona. So, he was rejected for the second time. Infuriated, he hit the girl on the face with his fist. Sona fell down. The boy hit once on her legs and escaped…
On the grounds of Sona’s claim, who applied to the Malatia police department, a criminal case was instituted, and days later Narek was found and brought to the police department.
 Investigation of the criminal case is now over.

Shahoum Shahnazaryan

Noisy Man

Early in the morning of October 30, Albert T., a resident of Karashamb village of Kotayk marz (region), made some inhabitants of Khanjyan Street witnesses of his family matters. Being drunk, Albert, who chose the street as a place for solving his domestic problems, beat his mother-in-law, made noise, cursed, violated public order, and bothered other families that had nothing to do with his domestic quarrel.
The police, who appeared at the place of the incident due to the report of witnesses, took the noisy and aggressive son-in-law to the police department, where as a result of a search they found a knife with a secret closure. The young man, who was under the influence of alcohol, thought he was almighty, and tried to continue what he had started, but…
The investigation found out that the “noisy” son-in-law was wanted by police department of Shengavit, charged with part 1 of Article 113 of the Criminal Code (he had deliberately inflicted medium-gravity damage to health of his mother-in-law).
Albert T. is under arrest now.

H.I.

“I Became I, and You Became You”

According to the decision of the court, a 27-year-old young man from Vanadzor town was allowed to see his child twice a week after the divorce…
After one of meetings he said goodbye to his child and went home. Some time later he noticed his ex-wife with her relatives. The child was not with her. He approached her to find out where their child was and his ex-wife answered indifferently, “Isn’t it all the same for you?” The answer made the young man mad and he started to curse and beat her with hands and legs.
“Finishing” with the ex-wife, he turned to her brother, called him “girl” and ordered him to come nearer. Then he hit the boy too. However, the “show” did not last long: seeing the policemen, he escaped. His “Marathon race” was interrupted by policemen, who brought the young man to the police department of Vanadzor.
Investigation of the criminal case is now over.

Love and Hate

On 28 October, when it was close to noon, Moushegh E., a 48-year-old resident of one of the villages in the Gegharkounik marz (region), applied to the police department of Shengavit and informed them that he had murdered his wife the day before.
Why, what was the reason?… In the morning of December 27 it was their turn to care for the village herd. At first they turned the herd out to pasture nearby and then they moved to the pasturelands of the neighboring village.
In the meantime their conversation turned into a quarrel, which was caused by Moushegh’s groundless jealousy. The husband started cruelly beating the wife and, thinking that hands and legs were not enough, used his wooden stick…
In the evening Moushegh turned the herd to the village, hoping that his wife would follow him, but she was unable to go, lying helplessly on the ground.
After coming home he saw that the woman was late, and together with his two sons and his wife’s brother, he set out to the pasture to take her back home by car. However… before reaching the place, the husband probably felt that something bad had happened to his wife, so he got out of the car and ran away. The relatives transported the woman’s corpse to the village.
Moushegh spent the night in a chapel in the neighboring mountains, and in the morning took a bus to the capital to inform the police department of Shengavit about the incident. The police of Gegharkunik marz (region) were immediately informed about the murder.
A criminal case was instituted in the regional Prosecutor’s Office. An operative group composed of police and Prosecutor’s Office representatives visited the place of the incident.
Moushegh E. is now under arrest; investigation of the case is in process.

Two days after this incident, Armen Gh, born in 1972, applied to the police department of Ararat and informed them that he killed his wife with a hunting rifle.
They formed a family long ago, but their family life was not all peace and harmony. Not long after their marriage some rumors started to circulate in the village about the behavior of the woman…
A new quarrel in the midday of October 31 had another reason:  the mother did not care about the children in a proper manner, leaving them on their own.
So Armen finally lost his patience, took his hunting rifle and shot his wife three times, and she died. A criminal case was instituted, and the operative group confiscated a double-barreled hunting rifle (16 mm), one cartridge and three packs of the same cartridges.
The investigation is still in process.

Shahoum Shahnazaryan

An Extract From “Criminal Mosaic” Article

March 13

A murder has been registered by the police department of Hrazdan town. In the morning, Hovhannes Hayrapetyan, a Hrazdan town resident, surrendered to the police and informed them that he had hit his wife's neck with something sharp, then her head with an obtuse tool and strangled her with a curtain as a result of a domestic quarrel.

Hovhannes Hayrapetyan is under arrest, and an investigation is being made by the Prosecutor’s Office of Kotayk.

Extracts From “Criminal Mosaic” Article

February 24

A murder attempt has been registered at the police department of Masis. An operative group, which rushed to Getapnya village due to an anonymous call, found out the following: Yerevan resident son-in-law, “visiting” 74-year-old Roza Mkrtchyan, who lived in the village, threw a grenade at his wife in the garage with the aim of killing her. As a result of the blow, he himself and his wife received injuries in different parts of the body.

The spouses have been taken to the hospital, and the police are investigating the details.

February 25

A family from Vanadzor town tried to solve their disagreements, which became a problem for the police. In a domestic quarrel at home the husband, trying to kill his wife, hit her with an axe and inflicted injuries. The woman was taken to the hospital and her husband is now under arrest.

February 27

Cases with bodily injuries have been registered by Police Departments of Kanaker-Zeitoun and Mashtots. In the first case the ex-husband beat his ex-wife and her grandfather in the street, and in the second one - the beating took place at home. The woman was taken to the hospital with a brain concussion.

Investigation of both cases is in progress.

An Extract From “Domestic Tragedies” Article

In the period of 22 January – 5 February, 6 cases of murder were registered in the Republic; 4 of them have been disclosed. In the same period 71 cases of willful infliction of heavy damage to health were registered; 59 cases have been disclosed. These cases of murder were committed on domestic ground. The actors were relatives who fell under the control of evil, immorality, and intolerance. In the recent past those people were connected by warm relationships. Those people chose the worst, the most inhuman way to solve domestic problems.

On 31 January the Malatia district police department was informed that Napoleon Ayvazyan, a resident of Gagarin Street, had committed suicide in a stable, situated near the house. The operative group, which got to the place of the incident, saw and heard an illogical tragedy. They say that family is a dark forest, and no one can know when and where the story, often created and extremely complicated by both spouses, would find its way out. No one can also know just when patience will be lost and a tragedy will happen. The Ayvazyans had passed a long way, and the joys and sorrows they lived during that time should have made their family firm and stable regarding any uncontrollable incidents. Unfortunately, in the absence of will-power the mind is under stress, and relations of families that have been firm and stable for years end in indescribable, unpredictable ways. This means that one should always keep his mind sober to suppress the beast that suddenly wakes up in unknown depths of man’s soul.

That morning the domestic quarrel between the spouses was getting hotter – neither of the spouses gave up, put an end to the useless quarrel and started everyday work. This would have been the only way to put down the conflict. But it became hotter and hotter, so the husband took an axe and hit his wife on the head. The injured woman managed to escape from the house, and the husband, probably thinking that he had killed his wife, and terrified of what he had done, hanged himself.

On 28 January, the Vagharshapat police department was informed by the hospital that 48-year-old Alvard Shirvanyan was brought there with gunshot injuries to the belly; she died without recovering consciousness.

It took only one hour for the criminal investigators from the Vagharshapat police department to discover the murderer. The operative-investigative measures let the police go in the correct direction from the very beginning, looking for the cause-and-effect of the murder in the unsuccessful relations of the family. Long-lasting quarrels between his sister and brother-in-law were solved by Vahagn Kirakosyan, and solved in a bloody way. The woman again escaped from her husband’s indecent behavior to her parents' house, who lived in the neighborhood. In the meantime her infuriated brother left to “teach” the incorrigible brother-in-law how to behave. They quarreled, calling each other bad names, after which Vahagn put an end to it with a hunting riffle, which he had taken with him.

Vahagn Kirakisyan is under arrest. The inquest of the criminal case is still in progress. We would only like to add that during the search some marijhuana and psychoactive drugs were found at Alvard Shirvanyan’s flat.

Hasmik Ispiryan

When Uncontrollable Feelings Rule

On 1 January the Nor Nork police department was informed that 18-year-old Lousine M. was taken to the hospital with a gunshot injury to the leg. The details of this grave crime on the first day of the year became known to the policemen soon after they reached the hospital. The incident, the cause-and-effect of which stemmed from feelings of love, rejection, hurt dignity and unjustified revenge, might have resulted in a tragedy, becoming an unbearable pain for some families due to the thoughtless act of a young man. Fortunately, the woman’s life was saved, although she is still under medical observation.

The engagement of two young people in Jrvezh district was either a result of love or a result of finding a convenient candidate. Nevertheless, there was a matter of mutual agreement and feelings, otherwise the 18-year-old student would have disagreed, proving that there was no future for her and Apres Gabrielyan. The engagement ceremony took place in December, but several days later the woman’s boyfriend came back from Russia; her feelings for that boy were real, not artificial or calculated. They met and their love, which had been forgotten because of misunderstanding, was reborn. Being engaged to another boy did not prevent her from escaping with her boyfriend. She did not care about other’s feelings; her boyfriend, who was absent for some time, had suddenly appeared again, so without thinking for long, the girl followed her love.

Days later the ex-fiancé and his relatives seemed to calm down – life is life, everything could happen and in this case maybe it was high time it did happen. They comforted they boy saying that every cloud has a silver lining. Apres, who seemed to calm down at first glance, was, however, guided by hurt feelings overriding his mind.

On 1 January, Lousine and her actual husband were on their way to relatives to congratulate them on the occasion of the New Year. They met Apres who, after a short conversation asked the girl an ambiguous question: “Are you happy now?” and then “You will see your happiness now”. Then Apres took out a rifle and without waiting any longer shot his ex-fiancée.

Fortunately, Khachik, the woman’s actual husband, kept his head, and took the rifle from Apres, who ran away. The injured woman was transported to the hospital.

Would it be logical to refer to this absurd inhuman act as one of  jealousy or revenge? Even if we try to understand the young man’s feelings, he did commit a crime. It is impossible to consider common human feelings – jealousy, insult in the context of a human approach, when such feelings are so maliciously altered and brought to criminality.

As a result of the young man’s act, he has chosen the dullness of imprisonment, and he will probably understand the advantage of relying on common sense. Any unpleasant situation in which a person can find himself or herself has a sensible solution. The ability to forgive, or to bear the insult noble-mindedly, is much more serious and manly than giving oneself over to one's feelings without knowing where they would take you.

Apres Gabrielyan is under arrest.

The investigation of the instituted criminal case is held by the Nor Nork district Prosecutor’s Office.

H.I.

The “Insulted”

23-year-old Robert Babakhanov has been convicted eight times. He had not yet served his last sentence when he committed another crime.

The divorced man has not cared about anything in this life. The only thing he “cared for” was quarreling with his brother’s wife on domestic matters.
He has been addicted to drinking. Alcohol and loud music – this is what “comforted” him. As usual that day he was absorbed with alcohol and music. His brother’s wife, according to him, reproached him for the loud music, which deeply insulted him. This “insult” was the reason that he “advised” his brother’s family to leave the house. Otherwise, he promised to burn the flat, but nobody paid any attention to this threat. Their carelessness was used by Robert, who poured petrol on the floor, lit it up, took his things and tried to get out.
At that moment his brother’s wife stopped him and demanded an explanation. But the man, instead of answering, hit her with his fists and caused bodily injuries.
Neighbors succeeded in putting out the fire, and the incendiary was charged with the appropriate article of the RA Criminal Code.

Robert Babakhanov is under arrest. The inquest of the criminal case in the Nor Nork investigation department is now over.

The Murder Has Been Found Out

On the midday of 1 December, the Erebouni Police Department informed that a corpse had been found in a flat on Rostovyan Street. At the mentioned flat, the operative group found that the corpse belonged to A.Sargsyan (the flat owner, born in 1941). There were cut wounds on different parts of the body.

A criminal case has been instituted in the Prosecutor’s Office of Erebouni and Noubarashen communities.

As a result of a serious of operative-investigative measures, police officers of the Erebouni Police Criminal Investigation Department found out the suspect. Simultaneously with searching for the latter, police also checked other versions as well, which allowed them to clarify the cause-and-effect of the case and the identity of the suspect. On 9 December, thanks to joint operative-investigational actions of the Erebouni and Arabkir police departments, the suspect Aram Khachikyan, born in 1980, was arrested in the town of Tsaghkadzor. The young man, previously convicted for banditry, not only confessed, but also described the crime in detail.

There are crimes when a series of circumstances do not allow making the details public; those details remain in the pages of criminal cases. The approach and moral considerations, required here, are based on avoiding making internal family relations public, violating a person’s rights, as well as out of moral considerations; allowing details of the case is impossible.

Without going into the details of that family history, we can say that Aram was the husband of 65-year-old murdered woman’s granddaughter. To avoid the endless daily domestic quarrels of the young family, the woman took her baby and escaped to her grandmother’s one-room flat.

Aram followed them, allegedly for reconciliation. However, reconciliation mixed with quarrels was doomed from the very beginning. Drunk, Aram was uncontrolled; in addition, there was another fact –grandmother sold the flat, which meant that she had money.

Peaceful demands to give money did not work; the grandmother was uncompromising. The perspective of having such a big sum of money made Aram lose self-control and made him a cruel beast – he took out a knife and attacked 65-year-old woman. With each hit on the body the line between the human and the beast faded away.

After hitting the woman with the knife for more that twenty times and seeing that she was breathless, he took $3300 and ran away, forcing his wife and child to come with him.

Aram Khachikyan is under arrest now.

H.I.

Ex-Husband

After living together for twenty years, the spouses understood quite late that their joint life is impossible, and as they have had enough of permanent quarrels and jealousy scenes, they decided to live separately.

The husband started drinking more especially after leaving the family. As always, the day when everything happened, he was occupied with his “business.”
While he was drinking, he heard some sounds from outside – someone’s car stuck in a hole and the driver was trying to get it out. By they way, the man’s wife was also there, trying to help the unknown young man. But a little later the helping woman needed help herself:  her husband approached her and hit her, causing her bodily damages…

The inquest of the criminal case by the Investigation Department of the Shengavit Police, instituted on the above-mentioned facts, has already finished.

K.M.

“Protection of Victims is Still Low,” - RA Minister of Justice David Haroutyunyan Claims

The 27th summit of the Ministers of Justice of the Council of Europe member-states, dedicated to the issues of “Victims, their status, rights and assistance to them,” adopted the final document, according to which the officials of 43 countries called upon the Ministerial Committee of the CoE to develop better mechanisms for assistance and reimbursement to the victims of crime, and in particular, domestic violence.

The Armenian party is planning to be a party to the international convention “On reimbursement for the victims of violence”, which will be a serious impetus to the above-mentioned field.

Referring to the issue of domestic violence, D.Haroutyunyan claimed that the Armenian mentality contributes nothing special in the attitude to the issue. The point is that along with development of society, the above-mentioned phenomenon is becoming visible.

“We cannot ignore the phenomenon. Children, everybody suffers from it.” - summarized Mr. Haroutyunyan, stating that steps should be taken to tackle the problem at its roots.

D.Haroutyunyan mentioned that opinions of the summit and experience of other countries will be analyzed, and legislative changes based upon them should be made in our countries.

The issues of assistance and reimbursement to victims were a priority in the agenda of the summit; participants analyzed what financial means and mechanisms should be applied to addressing the problem.

The next summit of the Ministers of Justice of the CoE member-states will take place on the Canaries in the end of 2007 or at the beginning of 2008.

ARMENIAN WOMEN ARE SILENT VICTIMS
Thousands endure beatings but lack means to protect themselves.

By Gayane Abrahamian in Yerevan and Gavar

Almost half of Armenia's women have suffered domestic abuse, say researchers, yet this disturbing problem is being hushed up because of traditional attitudes.
"Armenian women suffer violence, but they are afraid and keep silent, as they don't believe that anything can be done about it," said Consuelo Vidal, United Nations resident coordinator in Armenia at the launch of a 16-day programme Campaign Against Gender Violence that continues until December 16.

For 13 years, Hasmik Hakobian has been married to a man from a traditional Armenian family in the town of Gavar around 100 kilometres from Yerevan.
She was just nineteen when her father married her off to a young man, whom she'd only ever seen from the window of her house.

"I have a black eye permanently so the neighbours have long stopped asking me what the matter is," said Hasmik. "Happiness for me means not being beaten and blood not gushing from my nose."

Hasmik said she was beaten for the first time three days after her wedding, and since then she has lost count of the number of times she has suffered abuse.
"I was pregnant then,' she recalled. "I was baking bread. I don't know what my mother-in-law had told my husband, but he was mad with rage when he rushed into the bakery. He snatched the rolling pin from my hands and hit me on the back and head with it. I came round in hospital, having already delivered the baby."

Hasmik decided to leave her husband, but her father refused to take her back home, saying that wives were always beaten by their husbands and advising her to put up with it and raise her child.

Ethnographer and sociologist Mihran Galstian said that traditional denigrating attitudes towards women in Armenia has made such violence possible. Armenian folk proverbs actively encourage beating by promoting the idea that "a woman is like wool - the more you beat it, the softer it becomes" or "a woman is made to cry".

Officials and parliamentarians also refuse to acknowledge there is a problem.
For example, Armen Ashotian, a member of parliament from the governing Republican Party, said, "Domestic violence is not a feature of our families. I think that people who want to raise this problem are really not bothered by the issue but just want to get new grants. They are lowering the image of Armenia for the sake of their own pockets.  There are occasionally cases of it, but domestic violence is not on a big scale in our society. They shouldn't present Armenia as some kind of African tribe, where people eat one another."

Data collected suggests otherwise. In 2004-2005, the Sociometer Centre for Independent Sociological Studies conducted a poll of 1200 women in Yerevan and eight towns and eight villages. Forty six per cent said they were exposed to violence in their family, a quarter in the presence of their children.

"Our officials refuse to admit that violence does exist in Armenian families and that serious measures need to be taken to fight it," said Susanna Vardanian, director of the Women's Rights Centre in Yerevan. "Moreover, they accuse others of destroying our traditionally strong families in order to get grants."

"Unfortunately, many see the abuse of women as normal. The belief that violence is an integral part of married life originates in early childhood: first a girl is beaten by her brother, then by her husband, and she comes to think that that's the way it should be," said Adibek Aharonian, director of the Sociometer centre.
According to Sociometer, 45 per cent of the women suffering abuse in their families keep quiet about their problem. Only 0.3 per cent resort to divorce, and no more than 0.4 per cent contact the police.

Vardanian said women had no faith in the police to protect them and they were afraid of the consequences, "After the police leave, [a victim] may be subjected to still greater violence, as it's shameful to wash your family's dirty linen in public."
Gulnara Martirosian (not her real name) now lives in an old people's home in Yerevan, although she is only 45. Her 25 years of married life were an endless series of fights not only with her husband, but also with his mother and brother.
"Anyone who felt like it could beat me," she told IWPR. "If something was wrong in the house, I was the one who got the blame. They pounced on me and beat me - all together. Once I tried to defend myself, I grabbed a chair and hit my husband over the head with it."

This incident, which happened in 2002, cost Gulnara her sight. "I hit him and darted out of the house, but there was nowhere to run - my parents are dead, I have no relatives, and I sought refuge in my neighbour's house," she went on. "My husband came for me there, and when he saw me, he splashed acid in my eyes. I remember my face burning, the pain was so bad I lost consciousness. I was taken to Yerevan and operated on there, but my sight never returned."

No one from the family comes to see Gulnara and she says her children have been told that she is dead. "I couldn't stand up for my rights, as I had no money, no relatives to run around the courts for me. That's how my life has passed," she said.

Since the Centre for Women Rights opened seven years ago, more than 10,000 women, including over four thousand victims of domestic violence, have called its hotline, asking for help. Another organisation, the Motherhood Foundation, has been open for four years and has dealt with 3,000 women, who said they were exposed to abuse.

"These are rather high figures for Armenia, considering that women suffering violence tend to seek help from their relatives and friends, and only those in a hopeless situation turn to organisations like ours," said Anna Badalian, a psychologist at the foundation.

IWPR randomly polled ten women in Yerevan on the street. Four of them said they had been beaten by their husbands more than once. And there was a clear difference in outlook between the generations.

"If couples divorced because of beatings and abuse, there would be no families left in Armenia," said accountant Satik Kintoian, 78.
"I remember my grandfather saying that a man, when choosing a wife for himself, should beat her first, and if she cowered in the corner, that meant she would make a good wife, and if she ran away, then she wouldn't. I was beaten and loved too. They say the more he beats you, the more he'll love you. I have no regrets about my life. I'm not saying that a wife should be beaten every day, but when she crosses the line, she should have a beating."

Zaruhi Minasian, a 26-year-old translator, takes a different view. She said she has never been subjected to physical abuse but she has experienced psychological pressure. "I have no respect for men who want to prove themselves by taking it out against women," she said. "That only proves that these men are weak."

Fatal Jealousy

On 28 October,2006, Moushegh Yegoryan, a resident of the village of Tazagyugh (Gegharkounik marz -province) and born in 1955, surrendered himself to the Shengavit police department and confessed that on 27 October around 16:00 in the field of the village Lichk (Gegharkounk marz) he had beaten his wife Sofik Yegoryan (born in 1958) with a stick and kicked her, and left her in the field, and all that was out of jealousy. When the same day around 19:00 he came back and found his wife dead, he took her body home. Moushegh Yegoryan surrendered to the Police of Martouni. A criminal case has been instituted. M.Yegaryan is under arrest.

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