22:00, 12 January 2009

President of Armenia pardons 9 convicts for disorders in Yerevan

President of Armenia Serzh Sarkisyan has pardoned nine convicts accused of participating in mass disorders in Yerevan on March 1, 2008.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that earlier criminal cases on the fact of clashes with the police on March 1 against 4 activists of the opposition were stopped because of insufficiency of evidences.

Today, the "Interfax" was informed at the press service of the President of Armenia that Mr Sarkisyan's decree of January 12 "pardoned Egishe Grigoryan, Karen Tarkhanyan, Avetik Gredzhyan, Karlen Manucharyan, Armen Movsisyan, Arutyun Mkrtchyan, Norik Arutyunyan, Sargis Parunakyan and Radzhu Petrosyan, who were serving from two to four years of imprisonment."

The "Panorama.am" reports that President of Armenia made this pardon decision with account of both the convicts' petitions and absence of their prior convictions, as well as peculiarities of their criminal cases and other circumstances - family situation and state of health.