PARTICIPANT OF MARCH UNREST IN YEREVAN GETS SUSPENDED 4.5-YEAR IMPRISONMENT SENTENCE

Interfax News Agency, Russia
June 10 2008
YEREVAN

The Yerevan Criminal Court sentenced Vage Kazarian, a participant
of the March unrest in Yerevan, to four years and a half in jail,
Armenian Appeal Court spokeswoman Alina Yengoyan told Interfax.

The court pronounced Kazarian to be guilty of the crime qualified as
"mass disorder" under the Armenian Criminal Code.

The sentenced was pronounced guilty in the case when on "March 1,
the accused jointly with his accomplices, armed with iron rods,
attacked police and also participated in pursuing the police officers
who sought refuge from the opposition’s violence," Yengoyan said.

After the presidential election of February 19, 2008, the Armenian
opposition headed by former president Levon Ter-Petrosian organized
large-scale protest actions because it said it did not recognize the
election results. On March 1 opposition activists clashed with police,
ten people were killed and 250 were wounded in the clashes.

Some 45 people are under a preliminary arrest.