ZHIRAYR SEFILIAN’S DEFENDERS TO HOLD DISCUSSION ON CORRESPONDENCE OF A NUMBER OF CRIMINAL CODE’S ARTICLES WITH CONSTITUTION WITH PARTICIPATION OF RA OMBUDSMAN
Noyan Tapan
Jul 19 2007
YEREVAN, JULY 19, NOYAN TAPAN. The defence party on the case against
Zhirayr Sefilian, the Coordinator of the In Defence of Liberated
Territories public civil initiative, will hold a discussion with
participation of the RA Ombudsperson, Armen Haroutiunian, next
week. Vahe Grigorian, Z. Sefilian’s lawyer, at the July 19 press
conference, said that the issue of correspondence of a number of
articles of the RA Criminal Code with the Constitution, including
the article on seizing the state power and the possibility to apply
to the Constitutional Court will be discussed.
The defence party considers the accusation of making "appeals for
seizing the state power" as absurd. According to the defenders, the
investigation had no ground to suppose that these appeals will be
followed by concrete actions. To rise with arms against the machinery
of state, in the opinion of Armen Aghayan, the Political Secretary
of In Defence of Liberated Territories, is a suicide and absurd. As
he evaluated, in general, this case is even lower than the level of
a divisional inspector.
The defence party also expressed bewilderment in connection with
the fact that the case against Vardges Shahinian accused of illegal
keeping of arms within the framework of the same case has been quashed
with the motivation that the latter has taken part in the Artsakh war.