ARMENIA: ANOTHER DELAY IN THE "CASE OF THE SEVEN"
EurasiaNet
March 6 2009
NY
A Yerevan court has postponed to March 9 a hearing for seven supporters
of ex-President Levon Ter-Petrosian who are charged with organizing
deadly post-election clashes in March of 2008.
In a heated exchange with the judge, defendant Shant Arutyunian,
a former mayor of the town of Abovian, questioned the court’s
competence and objectivity. Arutyunian was eventually thrown out of
the courtroom. Calling the judge "an idiot," former foreign minister
Alexander Arzumanian left the courtroom in protest, followed by the
other five defendants, news agencies reported.
The defendants make up a who’s-who list of former senior Armenian
officials. Aside from Arzumanian and Arutyunian, the group includes
three parliamentarians, another onetime Abovian mayor and the
ex-security chief for the minister of internal affairs.