Epress.am News from Armenia
Ara Zakaryan, representing the accused Tigran Petrosyan and Armen Hovhannisyan in the case of Shant Harutyunyan and the other 13 men arrested with him on November 5, 2013, believes that by providing legal assistance he doesn't deny that their actions should be considered on political grounds.
"Every person has the right to defense in the way that he wants and considers right. I've consulted with my clients, and they've given [their] approval to all my actions. They’re doing a political campaign, and they’re not pinning great hopes on Armenia’s courts. It’s just that [we] have to exhaust [all of] Armenia’s courts, in order to apply to the European Court [of Human Rights]," he told Epress.am.
During yesterday's trial, Zakaryan submitted a motion to release his clients on bail; reading that motion lasted about half an hour. Shant Harutyunyan resented the motion and, addressing the attorney, said: "You definitely want to make this political process fail?"
He said that there's no need to cite the Justice Council's decisions, since the Council is subject to Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan.
Addressing Tigran Petrosyan, Shant Harutyunyan said that the attorney should say that they're organizing a protest, since demonstrators were killed on March 1 (2008) and those responsible got off scot-free.
"Let him get up and say that these guys grabbed sticks because they saw they were killing people and they remain unpunished — not talk about the Justice Council. Isn't Serzh [Sargsyan] the Justice Council? I won’t allow this to become a criminal trial […] If you believe those bodies, then you believe the justice of Serzh Sargsyan," said Harutyunyan.