IS JUDGE WAITING FOR PACE DECISION? /Video/
Support A1+!
Today Judge Mnatsakan Martirosyan adjourned the trial of seven Armenian opposition figures, known as “the case against seven.”
The Judge noted the defendants’ misbehaviour during the previous court sittings and their disrespect for law and scheduled the next hearing for by January 30.
Today A1+ asked Prosecutor Koryun Piloyan to comment on the Judge’s decision but Mr. Piloyan declined to say anything. “How long can an offended court adjourn trials?” he observed. Asked who insults the court, Piloyan said: “I don’t know. Ask me no more questions.” Then he left the courtroom with the court escort.
Today the court escort did its best to prevent the defendants’ contact with their relatives.
Armenian MP Zaruhy Postanjyan thinks the adjournment of the trial till the PACE January session is not accidental. “The Court has appeared in a deadlock and is uncertain as to how to proceed with the court ruling. The Court is well aware that the indictment is unfounded,” Mrs. Postanjyan said to A1+.
Referring to the authorities’ statement that the opposition is excited at the thought that the Monitoring Committee may suspend Armenia’s voting right at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, the Heritage MP said: “The March 1 events were a real tragedy. The death of close relatives, imprisonment of innocent people and appliance of torture cannot arouse excitement.”
People waiting in the court yard flew into a range after learning the Judge’s decision. “Shame on you! Freedom!” the crowd kept shouting.
The number of policemen guarding the court building trebled in a trice. They chained the presentees dividing the crowd into three parts. They forced people off the site elbowing women and children. Representatives of the Armenian National Congress tried to calm down the indignant crowd saying no one had a right to exert pressure on them and drive them away.
It is due to mention that the police not only pushed and beat the presentees but also railed at them.
