Judge turned 6 years into 7
Judge Mnatsakan Martirosyan sentenced Editor-in-chief of "Haykakan Zhamanak" daily Nikol Pashinyan to 7 years in prison. Judge Martirosyan's verdict was unprecedented. He demanded a stricter punishment than the prosecutors. Prosecutor Koryun Piloyan had demanded 2.5 year sentencing under Article 316 of the Penal Code and 6 years under Article 225.
Mnatsakan Martirosyan recognized Pashinyan as innocent under Article 316 of the Penal Code and turned the 6 years demanded by the prosecutor under Article 225 into 7. Mnatsakanyan had not finished announcing the verdict when he heard screams of "shameless", "traitor" from the audience.
Before Nikol Pashinyan's verdict was announced, the court yard was surrounded by policemen who did not let representatives of the Armenian National Congress to enter the courtroom. Many of the representatives hoped that judge Mnatsakanyan would announce a fair verdict. "To be honest, I believed that he was a human being and that he would feel remorse and not be sold. Sentencing an innocent man is the same thing as a crime" Congress supporter Ofelya Margaryan told "A1+".
Leader of the People's Party of Armenia Stepan Demirchyan was also in court today. "This was a special order. In other words, they want to keep Pashinyan in prison by all means. This is another loop of the chain of humiliating trials, but the real culprits of the events of March 1 are still in liberty," he said. Could Pashinyan's verdict have been different if the results of the January 10 elections at polling station #10 were different? In response, Demirchyan said: "The results of the elections could not have been different."
Congress representative David Shahnazaryan said that Pashinyan's verdict was a political order.
Former political prisoner Jirair Sefilyan said that he was not surprised by the verdict. "There is no justice in our country and the verdicts are all political orders. This is another illegality and a acrime for which they will unquestionably be held responsible for."
Present at court today was member of the Central Electoral Commission Zoya Tadevosyan who confessed that she was awaiting a fair verdict. "Sentencing a fair person is hard. I was expecting a fair verdict, especially when Nikol was released of the charge under the first article. But they sentenced justice, an honest man, our struggle, the future of our country, our children and everyone. We are all under an open sky, but they sentenced all of us," said Mrs. Tadevosyan.
Nikol Pashinyan's advocates told "A1+" that they are preparing to appeal the verdict, even though they have no expectations.
After the announcement of the verdict, Nikol Pashinyan's supporters and Armenian National Congress representatives were in the court yard and screaming "Serzhik, leave", "shame", "cannibals". Despite the rainy weather, policemen weren't able to disperse the crowd. Police commander Robert Melkonyan ordered his men to form a barricade and remove the crowd from the court by pushing them. The people announced that they would not leave the court as long as Nikol Pashinyan had not been taken away and that's exactly what they did.
