A1 Plus | 21:38:05 | 30-06-2004 | Politics |
EDGAR ARAKELYAN SENTENCE REMAINS UNCHANGED
The Court of Appeal made a decision on Wednesday to leave unchanged
compliant filed by Edgar Arakelyan, 24, who had been sentenced by the
first instance court to a year and six months in jail for hitting a
policeman with an empty plastic bottle in self-defense while attacked
by the police at one of the opposition-staged rallies.
Many times during the court session the accused stressed he had been
reluctant to resort to self-defense after having been severely beaten
by the police.
Edgar tried to tell how he had been beaten in Prosecutor Office in an
attempt to extract false testimony from him.
The judge Suren Ghazaryan interrupted him saying his story was
irrelevant to the case and has no connection with his appeal.
Sahak Martirossyan, the policeman hit with the bottle, said he hadn’t
been hurt and urged the court to display clemency toward Edgar. But it
was in vain.
Prosecution side voiced alarm at the incident saying it can set a
precedent for future cases and putting special emphasis upon the fact
that not ordinary man but law enforcement officer was hit.