A couple of events were taking place at the same hour on Monday in Yerevan. Three political prisoner cases had to be examined in the Kentron and Nork-Marash first instance court. The National Security Service had filed for intercession with the purpose of extending the term of former RA Foreign Minister and founder of the “Civil Disobedience” movement, Alexander Arzumanyan, for another two months.
The cases of commander of the special squadron of Shushi, Zhirair Sefilyan, and freedom fighter Vardan Malkhasyan were foreseen to be examined immediately after this court hearing. Parallel to all this, “heated” discussions were going on at the National Assembly regarding the reform proposals for the “State Taxes” and “TV and Radio Broadcast” laws as a result of which “Liberty” radio will no longer broadcast its programs on Public Radio. Some oppositionists had decided to organize protest demonstrations together both at the Kentron and Nork-Marash first instance court and the National Assembly buildings. As expected, “the world’s most independent and fairest court” approved the intercession of the preliminary investigation body behind closed doors and extended former foreign minister Alexander Arzumanyan’s term in prison for another two months.
Let us recall that Arzumanyan, who was imprisoned on May 7, is accused of “money-laundering”. The former minister’s term has been extended because the court found that since there are still no investigative operations taking place, being free Arzumanyan may impede the preliminary investigation and “will commit other crimes while in freedom”. So, as expected, the court did not pay attention to the intercession of the 19 deputies of parliament for freeing the former RA foreign minister. Arzumanyan’s attorneys are getting ready to appeal the verdict of today’s court hearing at the Cessation Court.
After the meeting of Serge Sargsyan and Melissa Brown, Arzumanyan’s wife, Arzumanyan’s relatives have been totally prohibited to see him; however, they were allowed to see him before that meeting from time to time. In fact, the fact that the sentencing of Arzumanyan was based exclusively on political incentives proves the recent announcement of the National Security Service, according to which a group of investigators have been commissioned and are now in Moscow with the purpose of finding out who transferred money to Arzumanyan, where the money came from, and why it was transferred. So, the National Security Service officials don’t know who and how the money was transferred to Arzumanyan, and only after sending Arzumanyan to jail is the National Security Service trying to find out what money the former Foreign Minister “laundered” or whether he really “laundered” at all. After all this, it is kind of hard to imagine a case more difficult than this.
About half a year before Arzumanyan’s sentencing, special squadron leader of Shushi, Zhirair Sefilyan, was charged with something absurd and was sent to jail after a pushing-and-shoving match in a restaurant in front of his pregnant wife. At about the same hour, his soldier friend Vardan Malkhasyan was also imprisoned. The absurdity here is that the above-mentioned people are accused of “after a private meeting making public proclamations to do away with the RA constitutional order, through means of violence”. Even if we go along with what the National Security Service claims, according to which Sefilyan and Malkhasyan have made public proclamations to do away with the constitutional order of Armenia, it is hard to picture how they could have made such a public announcement during a private meeting. They could have imprisoned a considerable part of the Armenian population on the same “grounds”; those who express their opinions by saying “this man should be sent to jail” or they should at the least “cut his head off” after seeing some top-ranking government official on “HyeLur” (Armenian News). But let’s get back to the court hearing of Sefilyan and Malkhasyan, which has already kicked off. It was postponed on Monday, and will continue on July 6. Right at the beginning of Monday’s court hearing, Sefilyan’s attorney, Vahe Grigoryan, filed a complaint to Judge Mnatsakan Martirosyan. Afterwards, the court hearing was postponed for three hours, after which Judge Martirosyan informed that the hearing would continue on July 6, and that is when the fate of the complaint will be decided. Perhaps there is no doubt that the complaint will be rejected. Those present in court on Monday greeted the special squadron commander at the court hall with applause, screaming “Liberty”. Leader of the National Assembly “Heritage” faction, Raffi Hovhannisian, and former National Assembly Deputy, Hmayak Hovhannisyan, were also present. Parallel to the above-mentioned court hearings, the protest demonstration of more than ten NGOs kicked off at the gates of the National Assembly building, and it was aimed against the bills being “discussed” at the National Assembly. Several citizens had duck-taped their mouths as a sign of protest.
A series of NGO representatives and “Radio Liberty” listeners moved towards the National Assembly building with posters reading “Liberty for you, Armenia”, “Liberty for Robert Kocharyan, Serge Sargsyan, Tigran Torosyan and the rest”, “Death or Liberty” and more. The demonstrators were taking the “Independent Dependents” poster with them with the faceless pictures of 79 deputies with the first and last names. It included the names of the 79 Republican, “Prosperous Armenia” and ARF deputies who had voted “for” the bills posing a threat to “Liberty” during the first reading of the bill. A couple of days ago, many reputable international organizations dispersed an announcement on the occasion of the bills limiting the broadcast of “Radio Liberty” in Armenia. During those days, when the prime hour of “Liberty” was about to start at 7:00 p.m., nearly 100 “Radio Liberty” listeners gathered at Freedom Square and listened to the daily broadcast of “Liberty”. The broadcast of “Liberty” will be heard every day at Freedom Square until Friday, and a public meeting is foreseen on Friday in defense of “Radio Liberty”.