In Armenia, advocates state forgeries in oppositionists' criminal cases

The current trials of oppositionists, and behaviour of judges and prosecutors are evident confirmations that there are plenty of falsifications in materials of the cases related to events on March 1, 2008, in Yerevan, as human rights activist Mikael Danielyan, Chairman of the Helsinki Association, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

This was Mr Danielyan's comment on the forgeries, revealed and already announced, according to his story, in criminal cases of opposition activists Vardges Gaspari and Usik Bagdasaryan.

At a session of the Appeal Court on February 17 on the case about participation in events on March 1 of oppositional activist Vardges Gaspari the defence showed a video that refuted the materials of the inquiry. According to evidences of policemen Edgar Petrosyan and Garik Ovnanyan, Mr Gaspari had rendered resistance at detention. The video showed the episode of his arrest. It is clearly seen in the film that Mr Gaspari, together with other arrested activists, was put into a bus and brought to the Arabkir police station of Yerevan. Meanwhile, Petrosyan asserted, in his evidences given to the investigation and general jurisdiction court, that he had personally transported Gaspari to the police station of the Arabkir community in a "Zhiguli" car.

"It became clear that among the policemen who brought Gaspari to the police station there were no Petrosyan and Ovnanyan, meanwhile, they evidenced on the opposite at the court," Ara Zakaryan, Vardges Gaspari's advocate, told journalists.

He has added that another fact of forgery was found in Gaspari's case. The search protocol compiled in the Arabkir police station was signed by some other person, not by Gaspari. In Zakaryan's opinion, the arrest was hasty, and policemen "just forgot in a hurry to make due documents, and then had to backdate them."

Another advocate - Vardan Zurnachyan, defender of Usik Bagdasaryan, sentenced to two years of custody for storing ordnance, told journalists that a forgery was also detected in the criminal case of his client.