Man sentenced in Zhirair Sefilyan's case goes on hunger strike

In Yerevan, the court has postponed the consideration of a motion for release of four persons sentenced in the case against Zhirair Sefilyan, the leader of the movement "100th anniversary without regime". Nerses Pogosyan went on hunger strike in protest.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that Zhirair Sefilyan was sentenced to ten years and six months of imprisonment on the charge of organizing illicit arms trafficking, plotting riots and preparing to seize a police building in Yerevan. The rest of the defendants were sentenced to 2-5.5 years of imprisonment.

Today, the court has been presented the guarantees of Armenian MPs from the "Elk" bloc, who requested to release Nerses Pogosyan and Gevorg Safaryan.

Public prosecutors did not object to the above requests. After the change of power, the danger to society from the release of the defendants decreased, and MPs suggested their guarantees, prosecutor Petros Petrosyan explained.

Despite the position of the public prosecutor, the panel of judges refused to consider the motions filed by the defence. "The court will return to their consideration when passing a judicial act," stated Judge Ruzanna Barsegyan.

That aroused discontent of Nerses Pogosyan, who declared a hunger strike.

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