HAK Activist Cleared of Charges, Gives Copy of March 1 Film to Judge

The charges against Armenian National Congress youth activist Areg Gevorgyan were cleared by the Court of Appeals earlier today due to a lack of corpus delicti. Recall, Gevorgyan was arrested on Apr. 20, 2010, and held in pretrial detention for two months, on charges of avoiding compulsory military service.

“After being arrested, it accidentally became known that I am wanted for draft evasion, but this is ridiculous to say the least since I am actively engaged in public activities and I don’t think it would’ve been hard to find me. Anyhow, the trial began after the arrest. As a result of an examination that lasted about a year, they sentenced me to a suspended sentence of a year and six months, after which prosecutor Sahakyan appealed the first court’s ruling, asking for my imprisonment; that is, I had served two months in prison and I would serve another year and 4 months.The case was moved to the appeals court, the result of which became clear today — that I can’t serve in the army for health reasons,” he said.

According to Gevorgyan, this entire court process had one purpose: to hinder his civic and political activities.

“They wanted to keep me in [a state of] constant tension, but, naturally, they didn’t succeed,” he said.

Gevorgyan, upon leaving the courtroom, handed over a copy of Tigran Paskevichyan’s film on March 1 (“Armenia’s Lost Spring”) to Judge Hambartsumyan.

“I said, this is a film describing [the events of] Mar. 1, 2008, and he should definitely watch it,” concluded Gevorgyan.