Resonating with societal distrust toward law enforcement in this former Soviet republic, an Armenian family’s claim that police tortured their son until he died is quite gruesome.
“They made crosses on his chest with a knife and stabbed him in the abdomen twice. How could my boy make such crosses on himself?” asks the mother of 24-year Vahan Khalafian disputing the police explanation that the young man committed suicide while in detention on suspicion of theft.
While Khalafian’s death is under Prosecutor General’s investigation, an earlier inquiry into a similar injustice had no success.