NONE OF THE ACCUSED HAVE COMMITTED MURDER

A1+
[05:19 pm] 10 February, 2009

What impact will the amendments of articles 225 and 300 have on
the "Case of Seven" and representatives of the opposition charged
with these articles? Candidate of juridical sciences, expert Hrair
Toghmasyan was not able to give an answer to "A1+".

"The amendments must have an impact on most of the prisoners, if not
everyone. The prisoners of the "Case of Seven" will feel the impact
of the amendments, if the corpus delicti are omitted, charges are
dropped and the Prosecutor General’s office finds that there should
be an extenuation," said Hrair Tovmasyan who is a member of the NA
Working Group created for making amendments to articles 225 and 300
of the Criminal Code.

According to him, the name of article 300 of the RA Criminal Code
"Usurpation of the state" contradicts the content of the article.

"The title of the article is usurpation of power and the article is
about the actions taken to usurp that power."

According to the candidate of juridical sciences, article 225 of the
Criminal Code entitled "Mass murders" is also uncertain.

None of the accused of the "Case of Seven" has committed murder. The
third part of article 225 states the murders that were committed
during the disorder. The charges pressed against the prisoners after
the events of March 1 are legally uncertain. Article 225 doesn’t
define what riots are and it only mentions the types of disturbances,
such as assaults, massacre and murders."

Thus, the murders on March 1 don’t fit in the "Case of Seven" and
articles 225 and 300 that the political prisoners are charged with.

What surprises Hrair Toghmasyan is that the CE Venice Commission has
praised articles 225 and 300. "These articles contradict one another
and they are complex."