Pashinyan Chronicles: Imprisoned Journalist Spent 2.5 Hours Waiting in Prison Reception (Updated)

After leaving the courtroom, Nikol Pashinyan found himself in Artik prison’s reception area for 2.5 hours. Returning to the courtroom, the imprisoned journalist announced that during the entire time, the penal institution’s directors were in consultations, for “the authorities of this bandit state to decide which letters to bring out, which not.”

2:10 pm: The recess in the Pashinyan hearing continues. At this time, Judge Eva Darbinyan and Pashinyan’s attorney Yervand Varosyan have been invited to the head of Artik penitentiary’s office.

1:40 pm: Nikol Pashinyan has not yet returned to the room where his hearing is to take place: he is not being allowed to bring all his necessary documents from his cell. The court session is currently in recess.

1:10 pm: Haykakan Jamanak (“Armenian Times”) chief editor, imprisoned opposition journalist Nikol Pashinyan’s appeal resumed in Artik correctional institution earlier today.

As previously reported, Pashinyan was appealing to overturn a Nov. 19, 2010 ruling in the Aragatsotn Court of First Instance by Judge Suren Mnoyan, who had refused to annul Nubarashen penitentiary chief Tigran Navasardyan’s May 25, 2010 decision, in which he, calculating Nikol Pashinyan’s prison term, added about 5 months, setting it at 3 years, 10 months and 29 days.

At the start of today’s session, Pashinyan put forth a motion to Judge Eva Darbinyan, noting that he was not allowed to come to court with the necessary documents, which have remained inside his prison cell.

“The parties in the hearing have equal rights. Why didn’t they take the papers of the prosecutor’s representation before coming inside?” he asked.

“I’m neither your nor the correctional institution’s prisoner, nor especially Serzh Sargsyan’s,” he said, presenting his plea.

The judge sustained his motion, after which Pashinyan was permitted to return to his cell to retrieve his documents.

Note, participating in today’s session were former political prisoners Petros Makeyan and Davit Matevosyan, Asparez Journalists’ Club President Levon Barseghyan and human rights activist Artur Sakunts.

Recall, the previous session assigned on Feb. 1 in the RA Court of Criminal Appeals presided over by Judge Eva Darbinyan did not take place because, due to bad weather, the judge and the parties could not make it to Artik penitentiary.

Note, Pashinyan, 35, was among several prominent opposition figures who went into hiding in March 2008 following a government crackdown on supporters of former president Levon Ter-Petrossian demanding a re-run of a disputed presidential election. He surrendered to the authorities in July 2009 and was subsequently sentenced to seven years in prison on charges of stirring up “mass disturbances” in Yerevan that left ten people dead.

The oppositionist will have to serve only half of the prison sentence because of a general amnesty declared by the authorities in June 2009. Both he and Ter-Petrossian’s Armenian National Congress consider the case politically motivated.