Rejected Claims, International Appeal and New Prosecution

July 10, 2025 Satenik Balayan has been trying to get justice in the case of his father's death through legal means for several years. The well-known businessman Suren Balayan died in May 2022 as a result of a collision, which the family considers not a traffic accident, but an intentional murder related to his business activities, or rather, gaining control over his business. As part of the criminal case initiated after the incident, on June 28, 2024, the court sentenced the accused Sergey Mnatsakanyan to one year of probation and one year of driving license deprivation, while the law provides for 2-5 years of imprisonment for that act. This verdict caused great dissatisfaction among Balayan's family, considering the imposed punishment to be highly disproportionate. Satenik Balayan continued the fight through legal means, trying to achieve a complete and fair examination of the case. He filed an appeal through a lawyer, but in November 2024, the appeals court left the verdict of the first instance unchanged. The family continues to claim that the true circumstances were not revealed and that the case was not properly investigated. The Court of Cassation did not proceed with the case in general. "I believed that Nikol Pashinyan, who came to power with the revolution, would eliminate the previous corrupt state and judicial systems, but unfortunately, nothing has changed, only the names," notes Satenik Balayan. In March 2025, Balayan's lawyer submitted a claim to the European Court of Human Rights, trying to raise the circumstances of Suren Balayan's death on the international stage. According to Satenik, from the moment he started speaking publicly about the real circumstances of his father's death and preparing an application to the ECHR, new pressures began on him: threats to his life, as well as legal prosecution. Currently, a criminal proceeding has been initiated in the Investigative Committee, by which Satenik Balayan has been charged with perjury and spreading false information. "All these steps are aimed at silencing me and preventing me from continuing to speak about the real circumstances of my father's death, as well as about those who ordered and carried out his murder. At the core of all this was Ashot Arsenyan, who, thanks to his close ties with the authorities, is able to influence the course of this case," emphasizes the daughter of Suren Balayan, who died in a car accident 3 years ago. Satenik Balayan declares that even under pressure and not having the opportunity to return to Armenia, he will continue to achieve justice by all legal and international means, to prove that his father was killed by the corrupt authorities and criminal oligarchic elements connected with them.