Activist on Trial: Judge Asks to Fast Forward Video Where Activist Talks About Serzh Sargsyan

The Court of General Jurisdiction of Kentron and Nork-Marash Administrative Districts, presided over by Judge Mnatsakan Martirosyan, today began to examine the evidence in the case of political activist Shant Harutyunyan (pictured) and his friends. 

The court session began an hour late, though the court informed the journalists and defendants' relatives present in the courtroom about neither this fact nor the reason for the delay. At the beginning of the session, the judge declared the reason for the delay was because Shant Harutyunyan's attorney, Inessa Petrosyan, was late; meanwhile, the attorney had been in the courtroom. Petrosyan, in turn, responding to journalists' questions, said the reason for the delay was that the defendants hadn't yet been brought to court from the detention center.

As in all previous court sessions, the individuals named as victims in the case — the 16 police officers — were not present in court this time as well. Recall, one of the defendant's attorneys, Ara Zakaryan, previously petitioned to ensure the victims' presence in court, especially when good reasons for their absence are not presented. 

The parties today in court viewed videos from the march organized by Shant Harutyunyan on November 5, 2013, in central Yerevan. Currently, the court is examining only the video footage shot by the police; media reports have yet to be examined. 

Presented in the video was the conversation between Shant Harutyunyan and Deputy Yerevan Police Chief Valery Osipyan, Harutyunyan's speech, and then what happened on Mashtots Avenue. 

Police officers several times before the camera show one of their mud-stained trousers, but the existence of bodily injuries was not seen in the video.

After the first video, the court began to examine the second video, and the moment in Harutyunyan's speech when he is about to say that Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan should "get out of Armenia" [the words used are much cruder in Armenian], the judge asked the bailiffs to fast forward the video.

Shant Harutyunyan wasn't against this: He said it's pointless to view the same incident filmed by different cameras.