‘Sari Tagh’ protest participant Hr. Boyajyan’s actions received an incorrect and baseless legal assessment; they did not target performance by police officers of their official duties
18:49, October 28, 2016 | News, Own news | Sasna Tsrer
On October 25, 2016, the General Jurisdiction Court of Arabkir and Kanaker-Zeytun administrative districts, RA, examined the motion of G. Madoyan, Senior Investigator at Yerevan city Investigation Department of the RA Investigative Agency on extending by 2 more months the detention of Hrachya Boyajyan detained for 2 months on September 2, 2016 on the charges of using violence against RA Police officers under Article 316(2) of the RA Criminal Code at the intersection of Glinka and Vormnadirneri Street adjacent to M. Khorenatsi Street in Yerevan city on July 19, 2016 namely for throwing on them stones and other objects.
The motion was justified by the necessity to receive the expert opinions on the comprehensive in-patient forensic psychiatric and forensic psychological examination assigned as well as to carry out other investigative and procedural actions to find out the circumstances of the crime.
At the court hearing, Hrachya Boyajyan’s defense counsel Arayik Zalyan, lawyer at HCA Vanadzor, submitted a verbal objection to the motion above by bringing arguments that the legal assessment on his client’s actions was incorrect and baseless.
In particular, he said that the protesters, including Hrachya Boyajyan, held a protest to express their discontent with the terminated supply of gas, water and electricity and operation of public transport in their district. In the meantime, the police officers were trying to use the weapons assigned to them to create an atmosphere of fear among the protesters and uttered sexual swear words, which made the protesters angry and insulted, they started to throw stones at the police officers. At the same time, despite the opportunity to enter the area controlled by a check-point, Hr. Boyajyan did not enter there and left. It follows that his actions did not target the performance by the representatives of the authorities of their official duties and therefore had no elements of crime as prescribed under Article 316(2) (Violence against representatives of authorities dangerous for their life or health, concerning performance of their official duties) of the RA Criminal Code.
Furthermore, a compulsory condition for considering a person’s detention legal and well-grounded is a reasonable suspicion of committal of the crime, which can be substantiated only by relevant data, facts or evidence on the suspect’s actions, and no such data, facts or evidence were submitted to the court.
By this, A. Zalyan motioned first of all to reject the motion above and in case of granting it apply an alternative preventive measure, a bail in the amount of 1.000.000 AMD.
However, by its ruling, the Court granted the investigator’s motion above and extended Hr. Boyajyan’s detention by another 2 months.
Hr. Boyajyan’s attorney A. Zalyan will appeal the ruling.