COURT REACHES VERDICTS IN ‘COUP’ TRIAL
By Ruzanna Stepanian

Radio Liberty, Czech Rep.
Aug 6 2007

An Armenian court on Monday reached verdicts in the controversial
trial of opposition activists charged with calling for a violent
regime change in public.

Judge Mnatsakan Martirosian acquitted Zhirayr Sefilian of the charge,
but found him guilty of another charge pressed by the prosecutors —
illegal arms possession. Thus, he sentenced the prominent Karabakh
war veteran to 18-month imprisonment.

Vartan Malkhasian, a senior member of Sefilian’s hard-line pressure
group opposed to territorial concessions to Azerbaijan, was found
guilty on the sole charge of calling for a violent overthrow of
government and was sentenced to two years in prison.

The third defendant in the case, Vahan Aroyan, who was charged only
with illegally carrying weapons, was found guilty and sentenced to
18-month imprisonment.

The public in the court vehemently protested the verdicts and called
for Sefilian and his fellow group members to be set free immediately.

Malkhasian, from the dock, called out to his supporters in the
court-room: "Don’t be discouraged." And Sefilian added: "It’ll be
alright."

While the guards were escorting the convicts out, RFE/RL approached
Sefilian for a comment.

"It was expected," he said.

"The verdicts are connected with [President Robert] Kocharian’s..,"
Sefilian added, leaving the sentence half-finished as the guards
convoyed him off.

Sefilian and Malkhasian were arrested after setting up a pressure
group opposing allegedly planned land concessions in the Karabakh
conflict. The National Security Service claimed the two planned
to mount an armed uprising against the government ahead of the
parliamentary elections in May.

The criminal case against the two men was in the main based on the
speeches they made during the December 2, 2006 founding congress of
their Alliance of Armenian Volunteers.

Both protested their innocence all along and denounced the case as
politically motivated.

Sefilian’s lawyer Ara Zakarian called the verdict ‘unlawful’ and said
they are going to appeal it at the higher court. He said his client
was taken into custody eight month ago and, therefore, in any case
will remain imprisoned only until June 2008.

After the end of the trial a group of the Karabakh war veterans’
supporters organized a march towards the government building. They
demanded that the government should release all political prisoners.

The demonstrators also staged a protest near the French embassy in
Yerevan calling on the French government to respond to "unhealthy
processes" in Armenia.

Member of parliament Zaruhi Postanjian representing the opposition
Heritage party described Sefilian as another victim of political
persecutions in the pre-election year after jailed newspaper editor
Arman Babajanian and opposition activist Alexander Arzumanian. "I
think this chain will continue. These are preventive measures applied
through the judiciary that acts on government orders," she charged.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress