Armenia's Human Rights Defender Karen Andreasyan has asked his Russian counterpart Vladimir Lukin to protect Hrachya Harutyunyan, the Kamaz driver who has been arrested for causing the July 13 bus accident in Podolsk.
In his letter Andreasyan says that the Constitution of Russia prohibits anybody from humiliating a person's human dignity whatever he has done. Earlier Spokesman of Armenia's Foreign Ministry Tigran Balayan told ArmInfo that the Embassy of Armenia in Russia is taking measures to help Harutyunyan.
According to Russian mass media, Harutyunyan's lawyers said that they will not dispute the verdict of the Tver court of Moscow to keep him in custody till Sept 13.
"We believe that the preventive measure applied against my client was too tough, but he is a foreign citizen and has no permanent residence in Russia, so, we did not expect the court to let him free," one of the lawyers Erik Chabanov said after the verdict was announced.
He told ITAR-TASS that Harutyunyan was not going to appeal against the verdict because it was all the same to him.
Chabanov said that the Kamaz Harutyunyan drove was not drivable. "It might have been a brake failure. The vehicle was made from three different cars and was not drivable. But the owners of his company told him to drive it. It was not his duty to keep the car in proper condition. It was the duty of his employers. We are going to prove this," Chabanov said, adding that the problem is that Harutyunyan does not know who exactly he worked for.
"Of course, indirectly he is guilty because he agreed to drive an unfit vehicle, but the direct blame rests with his employers," Chabanov said. To remind, on July 15 Harutyunyan was brought to court from hospital in a colored housecoat. This fact has raised a wave of discontent in Armenia and among the Armenians living in Russia.
On July 13 Harutyunyan's Kamaz drove into a bus with 64 passengers. 18 people were killed. If found guilty, Harutyunyan may face seven years in jail.