VAHAGN CHAKHALIAN NOT ALLOWED TO SEE HIS LAWYER

Noyan Tapan
Aug 19, 2009

TBILISI, AUGUST 19, NOYAN TAPAN – ARMENIANS TODAY. On August 17, 2009,
Stepan Voskanian – Armenian lawyer of Javakheti Armenian political
activist Vahagn Chakhalian – made an attempt to visit V. Chakhalian in
a Georgian prison. However, according to a report of Yerkir union, the
prison administration did not allow S. Voskanian to see Chakhalian,
explaining that the documents, which previously gave the Armenian
lawyer a right to meet with V. Chakhalian, are no longer valid.

On the same day S. Voskanian applied to the Office of Georgian
Ombudsman, whose employees examined the documents presented by the
lawyer and considered the decision of the prison administration as
completely unfounded.

Yerkir union called the decision banning the lawyer from meeting with
Vahagn Chakhalian as "just another gross violation of the rights of
the Javakheti Armenian political activist by Georgian authorities
with the aim of hindering an efficient preparation for the August 18
court hearing on the case of V. Chakhalian".

"Yerkir union called on the Georgian Ombudsman Sozar Subari,
international human rights organizations, international structures
and displomatic missions accredited to Georgia to give a respective
assessment of this gross violation commited by Georgian authorities
and to eliminate its consequences by ensuring meetings of the defence
lawyer with his client in the future," the report reads.