In Armenia, advocates of participants of "Millions Mask March" appeal against conviction

The defence of Shant Arutyunyan, the leader of "Tsegakron" Party, and of other figurants in the "Millions Mask March" case has appealed against the conviction, demanding to cancel the verdict of the first instance court and acquit the activists.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on October 17 the court of general jurisdiction of Kentron-Nork-Marash sentenced Shant Arutyunyan, the organizer of the "Millions Mask March", to six years in prison, while other defendants received punishments from a fine to up to seven years in prison.

The Court of Appeal (CoA) will begin hearing the appeal in "about 20 days", said the defender of Shant Arutyunyan, his minor son Shagen and activist Vardan Vardanyan.

"It has taken long to persuade our clients and receive their consent for addressing the CoA," said Ovhannes Kocharyan, the advocate of activists Vage Mkrtchyan, Albert Margaryan and Misak Arakelyan. According to his story, his clients "do not hold any hope for a fair judgment of the CoA."

In the opinion of Kocharyan, the court of first instance had violated the Code of Criminal Procedure: the accusation of hooliganism was not proved at the trial.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.