Rights of Ethnic Minorities Defended in Mock Trial in Armenia

The mock trial Hranush Kharatyan vs. violation of the rights of ethnic minorities in the South Caucasus (defended by Armenian Revolutionary Federation-Dashnaktsutyun member Artak Zargaryan) took place yesterday at Yerevan’s Mkhitar Sebastatsy educational complex with the support of the Caucasus Center for Peace-Making Initiatives NGO and the Mkhitar Sebastatsy school.

The committee was presided over by Georgy Vanyan; committee members were Irakli Chikhladze (Georgia), Yulia Adelkhanova (Georgia), Nana Plieva (Georgia), Vladimir Unanyants (Georgia), Armine Babayan (Armenia) and Grigor Manasyan (Armenia).

In his opening remarks, Vanyan called this the most just trial because here, unlike in other trials, the audience will administer the verdict.

In speaking with Epress.am, Vanyan said that the event would be reported also by Georgian and Azerbaijani media.

“We, all the post-Soviet countries, except the Near Baltics [the Russian term referred to all the lands bordering the Baltic Sea’s eastern shore], are societies that grumble and complain,” said the committee president.

According to him, the mock trials pursue the aim of introducing to the public the culture of appealing to and resolving issues in court.

“Nothing will happen right away, but just from the fact that 70Р100 people participate in every trial, [and] the media reports [on the trials] through separate articles, our audience grows. Naturally, it’ll have an effect. Not right away, but I can see the gradual effect,” said Vanyan.

Note that the South Caucasian Court of Human Rights operates in Yerevan, Tbilisi and Baku, and has two formats: discussion of local issues and discussion of South Caucasian issues. Guests from Georgia and Azerbaijan participate in the South Caucasus discussions in Armenia.

“There are Georgians present today who are mainly representatives of ethnic minorities in Georgia. But also our Azerbaijani colleague-expert will get acquainted with our trial, who will cover this issue in parallel in Azerbaijan,” he said.

Note that the final verdict in this mock trial ruled in favor of the plaintiff, Hranush Kharatyan, who gathered more than 11 votes.