Opposition activists' case remitted to Appellate Court
Armenia's Court of Cassation has partially upheld the appeal by opposition activists and remitted the case to the Appellate Court for additional hearing.
The verdict was announced today by David Avetisyan, Chairman of the Chamber on Criminal Cases of the Court of Cassation.
While the Court was in the consultation court to issue a verdict, a group of opposition activists were staging a protest outside the court building despite the heavy rain.
Activists of the opposition Armenian National Congress (ANC), Tigran Arakelyan, Artak Karapetyan, Sargis Gevorgyan, and Davit Kiramijyan, are accused of disorderly conduct and violence against government representatives during an encounter with Yerevan police in August 2011.
On July 20, 2012, the Court of General Jurisdiction of Kentron and Norq-Marash administrative districts of Yerevan sentenced them to between two to six years in prison on charges of violent resistance or threat of violence against government authorities and hooliganism. On August 20, the defense filed an appeal based on substantive and procedural violations in the activists' case. On November 13, the Court of Appeal rejected the appeal.
