13:26, 22 August 2016

CoA leaves "Sasna Tsrer" members under arrest

The rally of the "Sasna Tsrer" supporters. Iscription on a poster: "We are Sasna Tsrer! Freedom to the heroes! We demand resignation!" Photo by Tigran Petrosyan for the "Caucasian Knot"

The Criminal Court of Appeal (CoA) of Armenia has upheld the arrest of the members of the organization "Sasna Tsrer", who had captured a police building in Yerevan.

The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was informed by Liparit Simonyan, an advocate of Toros Torosyan, a member of the "Sasna Tsrer", that the CoA had upheld the judgement of the first instance court on arrest of his client, who is accused, according to Simonyan, of illegal possession of weapons and taking hostages.

The advocate finds the charges "politically motivated to some extent," because there are no specific allegations of any illegal acts. Torosyan has refused to testify.

The armed grouping of "Sasna Tsrer", organized by supporters of the movement "Constituent Parliament", kept captured the building of the police patrol-and-post service (PPS) regiment in Yerevan from July 17 to July 31. The grouping held hostages in the building until July 30. Within the criminal case, charges have been brought against 47 persons.

The CoA has upheld the arrest of other members of the "Sasna Tsrer", in particular, of Areg Kyuregyan and Varuzhan Avetisyan, Deputy Chairman of the "Constituent Parliament".

According to their advocate Mushekh Shushanyan, neither Avetisyan, nor Kyuregyan were present at the CoA’s session, despite the defence’s motion to ensure the presence of his clients.

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

Author: Armine Martirosyan

Source: CK correspondent