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On November 22, 2016, the General Jurisdiction Court of Arabkir and Kanaker-Zeytun administrative districts of Yerevan city, RA, ruled to extend ‘Founding Parliament’ supporter Hovhannes Ghazaryan’s detention for the 3rd time by rejecting the permission to apply bail as an alternative to detention.

Note that he is charged with actions under Article 225(2) of the RA Criminal Code, i.e. “committing violence, pogroms or arson, destruction or damage of property, using fire-arms, explosives or explosive devices or armed resistance to the representative of the authorities during mass riots by their participants.” Whereas, he merely exercised his right to assembly, committed no crime and no one was hurt by his actions.

Furthermore, he was charged only based of the testimonies of police officers, without relevant evidence.

The Court based its ruling on extending Hovhannes Ghazaryan’s detention period on the fact that some cell phones were found in the cell where he was kept. It is necessary to decode the phone conversations to find out whether Hovhannes Ghazaryan made any calls form the detected phones, which however has nothing to do with the volume of the charges brought against him (according to the report of the Group of Public Monitors Implementing Supervision over Criminal-Executive Institutions of RA MoJ, in 2015 2458 cell phones were found at the RA MoJ penitentiary facilities, with 1001 cell phones found at the very Nubarashen penitentiary facilities, where Hovhannes Ghazaryan was detained).

According to Hovhannes Ghazaryan’s attorney, Ani Chatinyan, lawyer at HCA Vanadzor, the court ruling is illegal; the fact that some cell phones were found and calls were made from them or performance of relevant investigative actions may not serve as a basis to deprive Hovhannes Ghazaryan of liberty for another 2 months. In terms of detecting prohibited items, the penitentiary facilities may carry out a command investigation to find out how they were passed to the convicts rather than extend detention for finding a prohibited item, which is not considered grounds for detention.

Moreover, once Hovhannes Ghazaryan was detained, the investigating body banned without any grounds any visits and phone conversations, which might have severe psychological consequences for a detained person.

In protest, Hovhannes Ghazaryan went on an indefinite hunger strike today demanding acquittal and release.

Note that Hovhannes Ghazaryan’s attorney Ani Chatinyan appealed the Court’s ruling on extending the detention period to the RA Court of Criminal Appeals. She also submitted a motion to the RA Prosecutor General’s Office on discontinuing due to insufficient grounds the criminal proceedings on the charges brought against Hovhannes Ghazaryan.

It is noteworthy that before his arrest and charges Hovhannes Ghazaryan suffered illegal persecution by police officers; twice he was deprived of liberty and suffered torture and inhuman treatment based on which he was declared victim under the criminal proceedings initiated by the RA Special Investigation Service.