Armenia: defence of oppositionists accused of hooliganism prepare complaint to Cassation

The advocates of the young activists of the Armenian National Congress (ANC) will appeal to the Court of Cassation to challenge the verdict of the Appeals Court, said Vage Grigoryan, the advocate of Tigran Arakelyan, who was sentenced to 6 years in prison for hooliganism. ANC supporters believe that the accused oppositionists can become political prisoners.

If the complaint to the Court of Cassation fails, then, apart from Tigran Arakelyan, who is kept at the criminal-corrective institution "Nubarashen", three other defendants will be imprisoned, namely: David Kiramidzhyan, Sargis Gevorkyan and Artak Karapetyan, Mr Grigoryan has noted.

Sargis Gevorkyan, who is also accused of hooliganism, said in his comment on the decision of the Appeals Court on Arakelyan that he had no hope for a fair verdict of the Cassation Court.

"Waiting for a fair decision from Armenian courts is just a naivety. The problem can be solved only when the illegal power is stopped in Armenia – the power that pursues the path of persecution and torture. While this power rules Armenia, trials like ours are inevitable," said Sargis Gevorkyan.

"Four political prisoners have appeared in our country. Armenia has ever had them. In this case, I'd even use a better term – 'prisoners of conscience'. This decision is a manifestation of the parochial petty political revenge of the authorities," Mikael Danielian, a human rights activist and the chairman of the Helsinki Association, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.