Trial of "Million Mask March" reflects authorities' attitude, defence asserts

The decision of the Court of Appeal (CoA) in the case of the Armenian participants of the "Million Mask March" was caused by the position of the authorities on the matter, said the convicts' defence.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on November 5, 2013, the "Million Mask March" was held in Yerevan, during which there were marchers' clashed with the police. On October 17, 2014, the court of general jurisdiction of the district Kentron-Nork-Marash sentenced 14 participants of the march to various terms in prison for hooliganism. The organizer of the march Shant Arutyunyan received six years in prison, his 15-year-old son – four years of conditional imprisonment. The activists did not agree with the verdict and appealed against it. The first session of the CoA was held on December 27, 2014. On February 2, 2015, the Court of Appeal upheld the verdict.

"It should be regarded that the decision was made not by the judiciary, but the authorities," said the lawyer Ara Zakaryan.

He believes that should the verdict passed by the CoA be challenged, the Court of Cassation (CoC) will take the same decision, disregarding the exculpatory proofs of activists' innocence, which make the basis of the defence's complaint.

Still, as he noted, a complaint to the CoC should be filed, in order to pave the way to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR).

Should the ECtHR satisfy the complaint and admit violations at the trial, then, according to Zakaryan, Armenia will be obliged to eliminate such violations.

The CoA's decision was predictable, since the authorities transparently and publicly expressed their attitude to the case; and the courts have no degree of independence that would allow making a fair verdict, said Zakaryan.

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