Sari Tagh district protestor Hrachya Boyajyan’s preventive measure will remain unchanged: the Court rejected the defense counsel’s motion
11:34, March 28, 2017 | News, Own news
Today, on March 27, 2017, the General Jurisdiction Court of Erebuni and Nubarashen administrative districts, held a court hearing on the case of Sari Tagh district protest participants Hrachya Boyajyan, Arman Adamyan and Zhora Avetisyan. Note that the court hearings on this case were constantly postponed due to the absence of the parties to trial.
At today’s hearing, the Court discussed the motion of Hrachya Boyajyan’s defense counsel Arayik Zalyan, lawyer at HCA Vanadzor, to replace the preventive measure of detention selected against Hr. Boyajyan and apply the alternative preventive measure of bail.
Note that by the said motion, the defense counsel provided grounds that Hr. Boyajyan right to liberty of person was restricted and his actions received an inaccurate and baseless legal assessment.
It is noteworthy that neither the testimonies of the police officers, nor the evidence submitted to the court prove relevance of Hr. Boyajyan’s actions to the crime attributed to him under Article 316(2) of the RA Criminal Code, namely using violence against a representative of the authorities performing his/her official duties. Given this, his detention may not be considered lawful and justified.
The motion also provided grounds that the protestors, including Hrachya Boyajyan, held a protest to voice their discontent against the termination of gas, water and electricity supply and public transport in their district. At the protest, the police officers tried to use their arms to create an atmosphere of fear among the protestors and uttered sexually offensive swear words which made the protestors angry and insulted they started throwing stones at the police officers; at the same time, Hr. Boyajyan had the opportunity to enter the controlled area through the check-point, but did not do so and walked away. It follows that his actions by no means interfered with the performance by the representatives of the authorities of their official duties and therefore contain no elements of crime under Article 316(2) (violence dangerous for life or health of a representative of the authorities in terms of performance of their duties) of the RA Criminal Code.
Despite the grounds provided in the motion, the Court rejected it.
By motion of Arman Adamyan’s and Zhora Avetisyan’s defense counsels, the Court postponed the hearing till April 12, 2017.