Judge orders to resume 2016 Yerevan hostage crisis hearing in camera

15:11, 6 February, 2019

YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 6, ARMENPRESS. During the ongoing court hearing of the 2016 Yerevan police station attack, judge Mesrop Makyan ordered to continue the hearing in camera.

Prior to this, the judge ordered to remove one of the defendants from the courtroom, which sparked anger among those in the audience.

The judge said that the citizens in the courtroom are obstructing the hearing and ordered them to clear the room.

Earlier, Police Chief Valeriy Osipyan testified in court in the case. He was among those taken hostage during the 2016 attack when he was serving as deputy chief of the Yerevan Police Department.

Two of the 10 assailants are currently under arrest. The remaining seven were released on bail.

Edited and translated by Stepan Kocharyan

Emil Lazarian

“I should like to see any power of the world destroy this race, this small tribe of unimportant people, whose wars have all been fought and lost, whose structures have crumbled, literature is unread, music is unheard, and prayers are no more answered. Go ahead, destroy Armenia . See if you can do it. Send them into the desert without bread or water. Burn their homes and churches. Then see if they will not laugh, sing and pray again. For when two of them meet anywhere in the world, see if they will not create a New Armenia.” - WS