by Taguhu Matevosyan

The doors to the house in the small Syunik region village of Verin Xotanan have been closed to neighbors since April 9, 2018.

“Sometimes relatives come to the village and go in," said Artur Arghamanyan. "But nothing and no one can return our neighbors.”

Arghamanyan, 44, teaches in the village school. He has lived in the village all his life and knows everyone and everything.

He remembers the tragic events of last April 9 like it was yesterday.

”I was at school. At 11.30 I got a call from my neighbor Murad. He said that he had killed Siranush. Then he turned off the phone.  I tried to call him back, but he did not answer.

"I called my friend Edik Matevosyan, who lives near Murad. "I said Murad had told me something unbelievable. I ask Edik to check. Then I left for Murad's house and arrived after 15 minutes.

“I saw a crowd gathered at the entrance to Murad’s yard. When I walked in, I was shocked. I saw blood, ax and a bleeding woman. At first, I could not recognize who it was, but then I realized it was Siranush lying on the ground.  

"She was breathing. Neighbors had already called for ambulance and police."

Siranush Galstyan, 79, and Murad Matevosyan, 59, were neighbors. The distance between their houses is only a couple of meters. The entire village is 60 people living on 14.67 square kilometers.

“Everyone in the village lived in peace until that day," said village administration head Karen Hakobyan. "We still cannot believe it really happened."

Galstyan's husband died a few months earlier. She had three sons, one daughter and 11 grandchildren, but none lived in the village. They visited from time to time, but mostly she was alone.

Matevosyan has two children, His daughter has married. He lived with his son Artur, who said his father has mental problems. He didn't work, and every month he got an illness pension.

“That day for us was like any other day," Artur said. "We woke up and started doing our daily tasks. But I remember that my father forgot to drink his medicine, which he had to do."

According to Armenian police investigators, Matevosyan has been registered with a Syunik region mental clinic since September 4, 2017.

Artur was at a store at the time of the murder. He said that when police arrived, his father told police he killed her after they began fighting over who had thrown stones at her house.

"I think that Siranush also had mental problems, may be connected with her age ’’ said her daughter-in-law Anush Arzumanyan, 57. She said Siranush would insult people without any reason.

“She called me at 9 am that morning and said that someone threw stones at her windows and that she thought Murad did it. I said Murad is a good neighbor and it probably was someone else.

"She wants out to buy bread. Murad was in his yard cutting wood with an ax. They started screaming at each other. Murad got angry and started hitting Siranush, first with stones and then the ax," said Arzumanyan, who heard the story in court.

According to Shamshyan com, the Kapan police department received a call at 12:40 pm on  April 9 from the Norashenik district ambulance. Victim Siranush Galstyan had been transported to Kapan center hospital with a diagnosis of "head injury, dying".

According to the hospital, Galstyan suffered eight blows to the head. She died after three days.

had only 8 traces of the blow on his head,  but after 3 days she died.

Neither family chose to have a lawyer at the Syunik region court. According to case documents, on April 20, 2018, an expert testified that Matevosyan suffered from schizophrenia and was extremely disturbed at the time of the crime, and unable to comprehend the danger of his actions.

He was declared insane on June 4. On June 18, the court released Matevosyan from criminal responsibility and punishment. The court decided that he is a danger to society and to himself. He was sentenced to six years of mandatory treatment in a prison mental hospital.