Court sitting on "case of the seven" postponed until January 30
YEREVAN, JANUARY 16, NOYAN TAPAN. The January 16 court sitting on "the
case of the seven" lasted only a few minutes and was postponed until
January 30. As at the previous sittings, the accused persons did not
stand up when the judge entered the courtroom, which was considered by
the court as disrespectful attitude. Postponing the sitting for 14
days, the presiding judge Mnatsakan Martirosian stated that this period
will not be included in their punishment term. He said that the
previous sittings were postponed for the same reason. There were
neither incidents nor attempts to file petitions at the court sitting.
The NA deputy, member of "Heritage" faction Zaruhi Postanjian said
during a talk with reporters that the court has reached a deadlock and
is trying to break it by delaying the trial.
In response to the question about whether the postponement of court
sittings has any relation to the discission of Armenia’s issue at the
upcoming session of the PACE, she replied that regardless of the
process of this trial, those in the PACE are well informed about what
is going on in Armenia, and the development of the draft resolution on
depriving the Armenian delegation of voting rights is conditioned by
this fact. As regards the visit of the PACE Monitoring Committee’s
co-rapporteurs, according to Z. Postanjian, their purpose was to
discuss this issue once again with the country’s authorities.
In the words of Melania Arustamian, defence lawyer of the accused Hakob
Hakobian, the removal of the accused persons from the courtroom for 14
days because of not standing up before the judge is not an adequate
measure. She said that the judge might use another punishment and
continue the sitting.
She said that H. Hakobian is in poor health and bringing him to court
hearings is an inhuman attitude and a means of torture. H. Hakobian has
repeatedly asked to be taken to hospital, but to no avail. The defence
lawyer added that the RA ombudsman has dealt with this issue, and his
appplication to the Council of Justice has remained unanswered.