AGHVAN HOVSEPIAN: IF NIKOL PASHINIAN IS NOT GRANTED AMNESTY, PROSECUTOR’S OFFICE WILL APPEAL THIS DECISION

Noyan Tapan
Feb 24, 2010

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 24, NOYAN TAPAN. Everybody understands that the
general amnesty applies to the unserved term of the punishment imposed
on the editor-in-chief of Haykakan Zhamanak daily Nikol Pashinian, and
it will be indicated in the final court decision which has not come
into force yet. Prosecutor General of Armenia Aghvan Hovsepian made
this statement during the February 24 briefing with reporters. He
explained that there is still no final court decision on Nikol
Pashinian’s case which has been examined by two courts – the Court
of Appeal and the Cassation Court, while amnesty can be granted only
in case of meting out a punishment. "Amnesty is a law and everybody
must obey it," A. Hovsepian said, adding that if Pashinian is not
granted amnesty, the prosecutor’s office will appeal this decision.

With respect to the issue that the murders of 10 people during the
mass disorder in Yerevan on 1 March 2008 were not disclosed, A.

Hovsepian said that the investigation body has done considerable
work, but the case has not been disclosed: the public failed to give
efficient assistance for the case disclosure, while foreign partners,
to whom Armenian law enforcement bodies had applied in anticipation
of help, considered it impossible to reveal those guilty through
expert examinations.