In "Sasna Tsrer" case, defendants refuse to participate in court hearing

Today, during court hearing on the second case against members of the "Sasna Tsrer" unit, the judge has removed from the courtroom defendants Aram Manukyan, Oganes Arutyunyan, and Tatul Tamrazyan, who refused to participate in the trial in protest against the use of sanctions against other 15 defendants.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on July 4, by the judge's decision, 15 out of 18 defendants were temporarily removed from the trial for contempt of court.

Defendant Aram Manukyan has demanded from the court to return to the courtroom other defendants. However, Judge Artush Gabrielyan stated that sanctions were used against them. Aram Manukyan has noted that he then refuses to participate in the court consideration. Oganes Arutyunyan and Tatul Tamrazyan, other two defendants, have supported Aram Manukyan and, in particular, accused the court of bias. The judge treated the defendants' statements as contempt of court and removed them from the courtroom.

The sanctions were also used against advocates Lusine Sahakyan and Yervand Varosyan, who left the courtroom. The court hearings continued in the absence of all the defendants, the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent reports.

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