February, 2016

• 29 February

  

  Gaspari Removed from Court for ‘Disruptive Behavior’

  After several fruitless attempts at making Gaspari “behave properly,” judge Baghdasaryan had court bailiffs take the activist by his limbs and take him out of the courtroom. The hearing was soon adjourned...
• 29 February

  

  Vanadzor Man Sentenced to 3,4 Years in Jail for Attempted Chicken Heist

  The court, presided over by judge Narine Hovhanisyan, ruled that Petrosyan's publicly dangerous act had to be punished by incarceration, seeing that there were no basis for a suspended sentence...
• 29 February

  

  Father of Five Found Dead of Apparent Suicide in Gyumri

  The man, who was found hanged in a barn in a nearby village, had just returned home from Russia after a fruitless attempt to find a job abroad, the organization reported...
• 26 February

  

  ‘Reduced to Prison Dust’; Gaspari Quotes Leyla Yunus Upon Release (Updated)

  The court issued the ruling to change the measure of restraint for Gaspari behind closed doors, and his lawyers have yet to receive the official release decision. However, Yegoryan said, Gaspari is...
• 25 February

  

  Gaspari’s Wife Requests Interim Measure from ECHR

  In a statement issued Thursday, February 25, Europe in Law Association says that Gaspari has been subjected to beatings, torture and other forms of ill-treatment by cellmates in Yerevan’s Nubarashen prison...
• 25 February

  

  Armenian Lawmakers Petition for Jailed Civic Activist’s Release

  Heritage faction member Aleksandr Arzumanyan said he, along with Elinar Vardanyan, has already discussed the issue with the US Ambassador in Armenia, as well as sent an appeal to the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights...
• 25 February

  

  ‘I Crawled Out of the Cell and Refused to Go Back’; Gaspari Recounts Brutal Torture in Prison

  I told the management about the issue, but after a few reprimands they decided to punish me and take me to an isolation cell … we went down to the basement, and there was one self-harmed man...
• 24 February

  

  Citizens Hold Solidarity Action, Condemn Violence Against Armenian Political Prisoner (Video)

  A number of Armenian citizens gathered Wednesday evening outside the presidential palace in Yerevan to express their solidarity with civic activist, political prisoner Vardges Gaspari....
• 24 February

  

  Gaspari Subjected to Torture, Inhuman Treatment in Prison, Lawyer Says

  The lawyer added that the activist went on a dry hunger strike on February 22, but was not taken under immediate medical supervision by Nubarashen officials. “He is being subjected to beatings...
• 24 February

  

  Armenian Reporter Worried Anti-Discrimination Law Would Let LGBT People ‘Move Freely’

  Gabrielyan stressed that Armenia's domestic law does not protect LGBT persons from discrimination, and the situation, the speaker said, would not change until the country adopts anti-discrimination legislation...