Epress.am News from Armenia
An appeals court yesterday upheld a lower court ruling of two months’ imprisonment for MP Zaruhi Postanjyan’s brother Tigran Postanjyan. This news was conveyed to Epress.am by Postanjyan’s attorney Hayk Alumyan.
“We’re going to take the case to the Court of Cassation, after which we’re going to appeal to the European Court. By appealing to the cassation court, we’re providing an opportunity for our judicial system to correct its mistake, but when we appeal to the European Court, both Armenia’s rating will suffer and they will suffer economically,” he said.
Recall, according to Armenia’s Prosecutor General’s office, Tigran Postanjyan, who works for the local government of Yerevan’s Arabkir district, was paid 100,000 drams (about $275 US) last September to turn a blind eye to illegal construction carried out by an unnamed local resident. A criminal case was instituted under Article 311 Section 1 (taking bribes by a state official) of the RA Criminal Code.
A demonstration in defense of Postanjyan took place outside the court yesterday with the participation of Heritage Party members, who say that the criminal case against Tigran Postanjyan is political persecution and a reckoning for his sister Zaruhi Postanjyan’s political and civic activities.