ArmInfo.Prosecutor General of Armenia Arthur Davtyan submitted a cassation appeal regarding the judicial decisions handed down against the persons involved in the case of the March 1, 2008 events - Hovhannes Ghazaryan, David Arakelyan and Arman Shahinyan. It should be noted that the court of Yerevan Kentron and Nork-Marash communities in 2008 found the above- mentioned persons guilty under the article "Use of violence against a government official>.
According to the press service of the department, the court found it reasonable that in the early morning of March 1, 2008, during the events on Freedom Square, these persons under different circumstances and in different places did not comply with the lawful requirements of the police and used non-life-threatening violence against government officials in the performance of their duties.
According to the sentences, Hovhannes Ghazaryan was sentenced to one year of imprisonment, David Arakelyan to one year and 6 months of imprisonment, but the sentence imposed on them was commuted to a two-year probationary period. And Aram Shahinyan was sentenced to one year and 6 months of real imprisonment.
In all three cases, the sentences were appealed by the defense in the RA Criminal Appeal Court, however, the court decided to suspend the trial due to the failure of Ghazaryan and Arakelyan to appear at the hearing. The complaint in the Shahinyan case was dismissed.
As a result of the audit, the Prosecutor General's Office revealed significant violations of procedural law. In particular, the requirements of Articles 3 (Grounds for criminal liability) and 18th (Concept of crime) of the RA Criminal Code were violated, and there was no motive for the crime stipulated by Article 316 (Use of violence against a government official) of the RA Criminal Code.
During the checks, it turned out that the courts violated the constitutional and conventional rights of the accused to a fair trial. "The basis of the guilty verdict is based solely on police testimonies of employees, which were not verified properly during the proceedings, or the basis of the charge was inconsistent testimony of witnesses, which were recognized as unreliable by the court," the press service of the Prosecutor General's Office said, stressing that the department also considers the decision on the termination of the consideration of the complaint in the Court of Appeal due to the failure to appear of citizens.