Epress.am News from Armenia
The Armenian National Congress (HAK) vs. Yerevan City Hall court session began at 11 am today in the RA Administrative Court. As previously reported, HAK was appealing a decision by the municipality and requesting to hold a rally on Sept. 17 at Freedom (Liberty) Square.
In court, HAK representatives a few times requested to see the documents with which Yerevan City Hall permitted the bouncy castle and other large inflatable toys to be placed in Freedom Square, as well as organizing other types of events, particularly on Sept. 17.
They also noted that on that day when a claim to hold a HAK rally was made to the municipality, there were no other events scheduled to take place on Sept. 17, which HAK made public at the time, adding that thus, there were no grounds to prohibit the rally.
HAK’s attorney in this case, Vahe Hovsepyan, speaking with journalists, said that the Armenian National Congress’ aim is to clarify whether there were any other events recorded to take place on that day or not.
In Yerevan, when one wants to organize a rally, a claim is made to Yerevan City Hall, which is then recorded in a registry book. In this case, city hall claimed that there were other events registered on that day, and city hall representatives had brought a copy of the document to court to prove it; however, HAK was asking to see the original book, which they claim they saw on the day they made their request and in which no other events were recorded. According to Hovsepyan, only the original can prove that indeed there were other events scheduled to be held on Sept. 17.
The HAK lawyer requested the original registry book during today’s hearing, after which recess was called.