Grigor Voskerchyan removed from the courtroom
"I feel awfully bad," defendant Grigor Voskerchyan, ex Mayor of Abovyan City, repeated during today's court hearing on the case of seven opposition activists standing trial on charges of boisterously provoking deadly post-election violence in Armenia in 2008.
But the Judge in the case, Mnatsakan Martirosyan ignored the defendant's complaints and didn't even give him a chance to explain everything more accurately. Instead, he silenced Voskerchyan and continued the court hearing. Mnatsakan Martirosyan noted that as usual the defendant had shown contempt of court and didn't stop. "Is your misbehaviour connected with your ill health or...?" asked Mnatsakan Martirosyan. Voskerchyan replied that he wouldn't stand, anyway.
This made Judge Martirosyan vehement and he decided to removed Voskerchyan from the hall for ten days as he had done with the other five defendants. After Voskerchyan's expulsion his relatives and members of the Armenian National Congress (HAK) left the courtroom. Only policemen were seen in the courtyard.
Shortly afterwards lawyer Stepan Voskanyan motioned for a recess. He asked the Judge to invite doctors to examine his client.
"If Voskerchyan felt well, he wouldn't have been examined for an hour in prison today," noted Stepan Voskanyan. The lawyer also said that his client had had a right lung infarction but the Judge paid no attention to the fact and rejected all petitions.
Note that Grigor Voskerchyan celebrates his 52nd anniversary on March 13.
