Saturday, October 15, 2011

Zaruhi Petrosyan: Victim of Domestic Violence

Domestic violence is never an answer to solve any problem. Unfortunately many couples around the world endure domestic violence and most don’t know how to get out of it. A recent case in Armenia was no different. 
Zaruhi Petrosyan was a 20 year old wife and mother who’s life was cut short because she was beaten to death by her husband and mother-in-law. The reasons behind the  beatings were due to the fact that her husband and mother-in-law wanted to extort money from Zaruhi and her family. Anytime they would ask for money and their demands were not met, Zaruhi would be severely beaten. Zaruhi’s sister, Hasmik remembered the hardship her sister had to encounter:
“My sister was constantly beaten to the point that many times, with her nose and mouth full of blood, she would faint and fall on the floor”
Seeing what their loved one was going through, the Petrosyan family reached out to law enforcement a numerous amount of times emphasizing to them the severity of the situation. However,  the law enforcement in Armenia did absolutely nothing. According to Hasmik, the neighbors provided endless amounts of eyewitness statements and evidence of the abuse, but they were told that the evidence weren’t important and that it didn’t matter. The most disturbing part of it all was that during the time of the abuse, Petrosyan was pregnant. Instead of the government stepping in helping the situation they became blind to it. If dealing with domestic violence isn’t important, then what is? After much speculation, her husband, Sarkisov, was soon arrested but of course denied committing any crimes stating that he did not do anything and that “she fell and died”.
Though there are many stories similar to that of Zaruhi Petrosyan, none of have become public and received as much attention as that of Petrosyan’s. According to the Amnesty International Report, there are over a quarter of women in Armenia who have been victimized by domestic violence and authorities have time and time again failed to “investigate and punish violence against women”. The main reason for this, one that I think is unjustifiable and a bit coward-like, is because there is this onset taboo in the Armenian community when it comes to the issue of domestic violence. The man in the relationship is often looked at as superior to the women, and thus any power ensued on the woman is seen as tolerable. Hence the reason as to why authorities in Armenia see domestic violence issues as none too worthy of investigating. This mentality took at turn with Zaruhi Petrosyan’s story going viral and grabbing the attention of the diaspora who raised their voice against domestic violence. 
Hundreds of men and women gathered in Little Armenia to march to end violence against women. Many angered Armenians both in the homeland and the diaspora demanded that the “government pass comprehensive domestic violence legislation and work to prevent and punish familial violence.” On October 14, Yanis Sarkisov, who was accused of beating his 20- year old wife to death was sentenced to 10 years in prison with the “maximum penalty under the Armenian penal code’s Article 112: Intentional serious or heavy damage to health”. 
The government in Armenia has come a long way and it is finally good to see that they are taking initiative to investigate and sentence those guilty of committing domestic violence. To know that Zaruhi Petrosyan’s death was not in vein sets some sort of closure in helping ensure that those involved in unhealthy relationships will be able to gather strength to leave and seek help.

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