Cassation Court of Armenia returns the case of ANC activists for re-investigation

Today, the Cassation Court of Armenia has cancelled earlier decision to the court on the claim of the advocates of four young activists of the oppositional party "Armenian National Congress" (ANC), sentenced to imprisonment for hooliganism, and returned the case to the Court of Appeal for a new investigation.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that July 20, 2012, the court sentenced ANC activists to prison terms: Tigran Arakelyan - to six years, Artak Karapetyan - to three years, and David Kiramidjyan and Sarkis Gevorkyan - to two years of imprisonment each. All of them were charged under Articles 316 (resistance to power through use of violence or threat of violence) and 258 (hooliganism) of the Criminal Code of Armenia. On November 13, the Criminal Court of Appeal upheld the sentence; however, the advocates filed appeals against the verdict.

The reason for the judicial persecution of the oppositionists was in the incident that occurred on August 9, 2011, between seven ANC activists and the police in Yerevan. A police spokesman said that the ANC activists committed acts of hooliganism and resisted the police. The ANC claims that the incident was provoked by policemen.