Armenian Court of Appeal upholds verdict of lower instance court

Arminfo
12 Jul 04

YEREVAN

The Armenian Court of Appeal on criminal and military cases refused to
satisfy a complaint by Artak Gabrielyan, who is being accused of calls
for forced change of the constitutional order. The court also decided
to add to Gabrielyan’s punishment term the 56 days that he spent in
the National Security Ministry’s investigation isolation cell.

Let us say that the first instance court in the Nor-Nork community
found Artak Gabrielyan guilty under Article 301 of the criminal code
of the Armenian Republic. He was given a one year suspended sentence
for making calls to forced change of the constitutional order in
Armenia. The Court of Appeal found arguments of the prosecutor
convincing and the fault of the accused was proven.

“This is purely a political process. In my case, the authorities
staged a demonstrative process in order to frighten the Armenian
people and to prevent them from manifesting their massive
dissatisfaction with the anti-people line of the country’s
leadership. I have not committed a crime and I am planning to obtain a
verdict of not guilty,” Artak Gabrielyan told our correspondent.

He is planning to appeal to the Armenian Court of Appeals, he said.