Mnatsakan Mnatsakanian again alleged a cover-up of the accident that shocked many in Armenia.
Mnatsakanian’s 29-year-old daughter Sona was struck by the police SUV while crossing a street in central Yerevan. The vehicle did not stop after the collision. Its driver, police Major Aram Navasardian, was twice arrested by investigators but freed by courts despite being charged with reckless driving and negligence. The Armenian police did not fire or even suspend him.
Navasardian continued to deny the accusations when he went on trial in November 2022. His lawyers blame the young woman for her death.
The lawyers failed to attend the latest court hearing in the case slated for Thursday, forcing the presiding judge to adjourn it. Mnatsakan Mnatsakanian decried their absence, saying that it is part of a deliberate delay tactics. He claimed that they want the judicial proceedings to drag on until the statute of limitations for the crime attributed to Navasardian expires in 2027.
“In other cases that involve issues connected with the prime minister [suspects] are punished very quickly,” he told RFE/RL’s Armenian Service.
One of the defense lawyers, Ruben Baloyan, rejected the claim as “absurd.” He said they did not show up on Thursday because they represented another client in a murder case heard by an appeals court.
Armenia- Flowers are put on a street in Yerevan on the second anniversary of the death of Sona Mnatsakanian, April 26, 2024
Sona Mnatsakanian’s parents have also been very critical of the pre-trial criminal investigation into her death. In particular, they have pointed to investigators’ failure to prosecute any members of Pashinian’s security detail or another policeman who was supposed to block pedestrians’ access to the street section where the police vehicle ran over Sona.
The victim’s family has also accused the investigators of withholding key evidence. That includes audio of radio conversations among security personnel that escorted Pashinian that day. Security services told the investigators that they were not recorded due to a technical malfunction.
“I think that the recordings were deleted because upper echelons [of authority] interfere in this case,” claimed Mnatsakan Mnatsakanian.
Forensic tests conducted during the probe reportedly found that the police car driven by Navasardian raced through Yerevan at almost 109 kilometers/hour (68 miles/hour), breaching a 100-kilometer/hour speed limit set for government motorcades. Baloyan, the policeman’s lawyer, again insisted, however, that he did not drive over that limit.
Pashinian’s limousine and six other cars making up his motorcade drove past the dying woman moments after the accident. The prime minister never publicly commented on her death.