UNEXPECTED VERDICT
Support A1+!Today the Kentron-Nork Marash district court presided by Judge Gayane Karakhanyan reached an unexpected verdict and approved the arbitration to release former Minister of State Revenues, member of the “Republic” party political council Smbat Ayvazyan and his lawyers. The court clarified the verdict with the rather substantiated reasons stated in the text written by the lawyers, according to which on September 10 Gayane Karakhanyan had received the case, yet she had not defined the procedure and deadlines for sending arbitrations and/or appeals to court. The verdict was sent to the lawyers on September 15 and they did not have the chance to present the arbitrations before the court hearing.
Gayane Karakhanyan has selected Ayvazyan’s pretrial measures once and delayed them twice; however, lawyers claim that he was kept in prison illegally. The arbitration states that with the approval of the three pretrial arbitrations, the presiding judge already has biased opinions regarding the guiltiness of the prisoner, the outcome and she can’t be subjective about the case in question. The judge had to dismiss the court taking into account the circumstances.
Those present in the court-room applauded the judge on her way out. Smbat Ayvazyan stated that this is also a fight and is yet another victory for the opposition. “Next time the plaintiff will give up. They have no other way out; this is not a case. This is yet another loss for the criminal regime,” said Smbat Ayvazyan.
Perhaps the verdict was unexpected for the plaintiff as well, but he wasn’t really surprised. “It is up to the court to decide,” said Hovsep Sargsyan. Is it possible to see the plaintiff step down? In response to that he said: “They have not dismissed us. If they do and if it is substantiated, then I will accept it. If not, then I will obviously not accept it,” plaintiff Hovsep Sargsyan told “A1+” .
