ARMAN BABAJANIAN NOT TO SUBMIT APPLICATION ABOUT EARLY CONDITIONAL RELEASE THIS MONTH

Noyan Tapan
Nov 12 2007

YEREVAN, NOVEMBER 12, NOYAN TAPAN. The editor-in-chief of the
newspaper "Zhamanak Yerevan" ("Time Yerevan") Arman Babajanian has
decided not to submit an application about early conditional release
to he interdepartmental commission in November. Nikolay Baghdasarian,
defence lawyer of Arman Babajanian who has been sentenced to 3.5 years’
imprisonment for evasion of military service, told NT correspondent
that the issue of constitutionality of the regulatory norms of the
activity of the commission on issues of early conditional release
shall be dicussed by the RA Constitutional Court. In case of these
norms’ being recognized as anticonstitutional, A. Babajanian will
have the opportunity to apply to court with the request of his
early release. The delay is due to A. Babajanian’s health, which,
according to his lawyer, has become worse: he had a stroke before being
imprisoned. The lawyer expressed a hope that the management of the
detention place will take into account the activity characterizing
positively Arman Babajanian: he created a library in the prison
hospital and organized English courses.

N. Baghdasarian said that his second application – about an unduly
severe punishment, which he has filed to the European Court of
Human Rights, has been attached to an earlier application about
A. Babajanian’s preliminary detention and transferred to a judge of
the European court. According to the lawyer, the court is expected
to respond quickly to these applications.