Court sitting on "case of seven" postponed again
YEREVAN, DECEMBER 27, NOYAN TAPAN. Having lasted only a few minutes,
the court sitting on "the case of the seven" presided over by the judge
Mnatsakan Martirosian in the court of general jurisdiction of Yerevan’s
Shengavit community on December 27 was postponed until January 9, 2009.
Based on the fact the 7 accused persons did not rise and thus showed a
disrespectful attitude to the judge, the latter made a decision to
remove them from the courtroom, postpone the trial for 13 days and "not
to include these days in the term of punishment of the accused persons".
The former foreign minister of Armenia, defendant A. Arzumanian
demanded that he should be addressed as "Mr. Arzumanian" or "the
political prisoner Arzumanian" because he is not an accused person. The
National Assembly deputy, defendant Myasnik Malkhasian demanded that
the authorities should make a decision on "the case of the seven"
immediately, without delay so as to save the nerves of the trial
participants, journalists and the relatives of the defendants.
It is noteworthy that the Armenian National Congress called on the
activists and the relatives of the defendants not to enter the
courtroom, as a result of which the courtroom was almost empty when the
trial began. The journalists were forbidden to enter the courtroom, and
they were working in a separate room, following the trial by means of
three monitors. Based on the circumstance that the courtroom was
half-empty, the journalists tried to persuade the court instructors to
allow them to enter there. After an argument, the journalists applied
to the RA ombudsman Armen Harutyunian, saying that the monitors’ sound
and images are of low quality, and they can work properly only in the
courtroom. The ombudsman promised to speak immediately with the judge
regarding the issues of journalists and the trial’s delay.
A few minutes later A. Harutyunian came out of the judge’s room, saying
that he officially declares that it is inadmissible not to let the
journalists in under conditions of a half-empty courtroom. He promised
to apply to the court department on this issue. As regards the trial’s
delay due to the fact that the defendants did not stand up, in the
words of A. Harutyunian, "the judge considers himself a procedural
person, and he cannot start a sitting in case of a disrespectful
attitude to him". During a talk with journalists, the lawyer Hovik
Arsenian in his turn said that not to stand up is the right of an
accused, and it may not be a reason for delaying a court sitting.
Representatives of the ARF party Artsvik Minasian and Artyusha
Shahbazian attended the court sitting. As during the previous sittings,
a crowd gathered outside the court, chanting "Freedom to the Heroes!"
all the time.