Interfax News Agency, Russia
Oct 23 2008
Former official jailed for participating in opposition protests in
Armenia
YEREVAN Oct 23
A criminal court in Yerevan sentenced former chief of the Penitentiary
Department Musheg Sagatelian to five years in prison for participation
in March protests in Yerevan.
Sagatelian was indicted of confronting and using force against a law
enforcement officer and illegal storage of a weapon.
The court also imposed a fine of 900,000 drams (about $3,000).
Sagatelian was a representative of the campaign headquarters of former
presidential candidate and leader of the opposition Armenian National
Congress Levon Ter-Petrosian.
As a result of clashes between opposition and law enforcement officers
in Yerevan on March 1 ten people were killed and over 200 injured. The
opposition was protesting the results of the February 19 presidential
election.