Concerning Hrachya Harutyunyan, who spent several years in a traffic accident in New Moscow, in which 18 people died, a criminal case has been opened again, the Armenian publication Zhokhovurd reported. According to available information, he is charged under Part 1 of Art. 243.1 of the Criminal Code of Armenia (“Driving a vehicle by a person deprived of the right to drive a vehicle”).
In 2014, the Trinity City Court of the Moscow Region sentenced Harutyunyan to six years and nine months in a penal colony and a year of corrective labor, and also deprived him of the right to drive vehicles for three years after his release.
In 2017, Harutyunyan was extradited to Armenia, where a local court officially confirmed the sentence of the Russian court. In early November 2018, the man was released under an amnesty dedicated to the 2800th anniversary of Yerevan and the 100th anniversary of the proclamation of the First Republic of Armenia. However, the court decision on the deprivation of the defendant’s driver’s license remained in force, which, according to the Zhokhovurd publication, was officially notified to the authorities in December 2018.
However, as Zhokhovurd writes, law enforcement agencies established that from June to November 2019, Harutyunyan regularly drove his Mercedes car. At the same time, he violated traffic rules 17 times.
Now the man faces a fine in the amount of 200 to 300 minimum wages, which in Armenia from January 1 is 68 thousand drams (about 9 thousand rubles). That is, it may be required to pay from 1.8 million to 2.7 million rubles. While awaiting trial, Harutyunyan is on his own recognizance.
- Hrachya Harutyunyan
- RIA News
- © Alexey Kudenko
“Perhaps he got behind the wheel to feed his family”
Recall that the last few months of imprisonment Harutyunyan was in the so-called open regime - he could leave the correctional facility in the daytime. Then the media reported that the man allegedly got a job in a taxi, but he denied this information.
“I do not work as a taxi driver, my driver’s license was not returned to me. Now I’m looking for some kind of work, because I have a family, I need to feed her. I’m not allowed to enter Russia for five years, so I don’t plan to return there, I will work here, ”Harutyunyan said.
He also once again asked to convey to the families of those who died in the accident his sincere and deep condolences. It is worth noting that during the investigation and during the trial, Harutyunyan asked for forgiveness from the relatives of the victims as soon as possible.
Lawyer Ruben Markaryan, who represented Harutyunyan in a Russian court, said in an interview with RT that he did not maintain contact with his former client.
“Of course, he was very worried about the accident, which he involuntarily became the culprit, but he didn’t have any thoughts about the fact that he would no longer be behind the wheel because of this. I can assume that since he is a driver by profession, this is for him the easiest and most obvious way to make money. I think he got behind the wheel to feed his family, ”said Markaryan.
At the same time, he noted that the presence of Harutyunyan’s 17 fines “doesn’t mean anything”, since they could be written out for minor violations. The lawyer recalled that after the tragedy, Harutyunyan behaved very dignified.
“He always admitted his guilt in the accident itself, always wanted to somehow compensate the victims and more than once asked the investigator to issue a power of attorney for someone so that they could withdraw two thousand dollars from there, if anyone needs it,” said Marcarian.
He recalled that Harutyunyan came to Russia to earn money for a monument to his dead son.
“And the fact that so many more people died because of this made him especially depressed,” the lawyer emphasized.
The tragedy near Podolsk
The accident, which was recognized as the culprit by Hrachya Harutyunyan, occurred on July 13, 2013 in New Moscow. He controlled the overloaded crushed stone KamAZ, whose brakes failed while driving along the slope. A multi-ton truck from an adjacent road flew onto the highway, where the LiAZ bus, which was carrying more than 60 passengers, rammed along the route from Podolsk to Kurilovo.
At the same time, Harutyunyan tried to avoid a collision and turned the steering wheel, after which the car banked, lost traction on the left wheels and crashed into a bus, actually breaking it in half. The victims of the clash were 18 people, about 40 more received various injuries.
The investigation found that earlier he had been brought to administrative responsibility for traffic violations several times. It was also found that Harutyunyan’s labor patent was fake.
The man’s defense noted that, despite the apparent fault of the driver, the investigation did not evaluate a number of related factors that led to the tragedy, in particular, there was no “Steep Descent” sign on the adjacent road, and there were no scales at the rubble loading point.
In addition, no charges were brought against the owner of the faulty truck, which not only allowed a significant overload of the car, but also did not monitor its technical condition.
Harutyunyan as a result received almost the maximum period prescribed by law. While he was serving his sentence, a monument was erected on the grave of his son by relatives.