BABAJANYAN SUBMITS AN APPLICATION TO PAY FINE AGAINST PRISON SENTENCE
Panorama.am
16:28 06/11/06
The appeal court will hear the case of Arman Babajanyan,
editor-in-chief of Jamanak Yerevan newspaper, who was sentenced to
four years of imprisonment for faking documents and evading military
service. Three defense attorneys are going to defend Babajanyan –
Robert Grigoryan, Zaruhi Postanjyan and Haik Alumyan.
Grigoryan believes Babajanyan does not deserve punishment close to
maximum because he has seriously confessed his misconduct. "Babajanyan
is not the person who must be re-educated isolated from the society,"
Grigoryan says. He believes the court ruling is against the authority
of the Republic of Armenia and the justice system. On October 16
Babajanyan submitted an application to Shengavit military commissariat
with a request to pay a state fine and receive his military license
to which he is entitled based on law "On citizens who did not pass
military services in violation of the stipulated order."
Babajanyan’s defense attorney says his application has not been replied
yet and must be approved by a committee headed by the minister of
defense. According to Law on Freedom of Information, the application
must be replied in one-month period – still ten more days to fly. The
fine is set in the amount of 1 million 800,000 Armenian drams or 150
times of minimum salary for people who received education abroad. The
defense attorney says the committee ought to approve the application
because "our budget is not very rich to keep one more prisoner." Many
mass media outlets, deputies of parliament gave their signatures in
protection of Babajanyan. Some international organizations have also
made reactions to the case.
The defense attorneys complained today that Babajanyan is deprived
of some opportunities in prison like to engage in creative work or
use computer. Upon the mediation of the defense attorney, Babajanyan
was given a chance to use computer for only two days after which it
was taken away.