Epress.am News from Armenia
By crashing his homemade cardboard tank into the wall of Armenia's National Security Service building, Artak Gevorgyan expressed his protest against the political and socio-economic situation in the country, witness Gohar Khachatryan said Monday as Yerevan's Kentron and Nork Marash district court, presided over by Judge Gagik Poghosyan, began hearing the case against the Yerevan-based artist.
Prior to his detention by the NSS building, Gevorgyan, who faces charges of hooliganism, “rode” his green cardboard tank through the streets of Yerevan and received “mostly warm reactions” from passers-by, Khachatryan insisted.
“We passed by the office of the Central Election Commission, by the Constitutional Court, etc. Throughout the journey, law enforcement officers remained very calm and only told us to keep a little away from the buildings; no one told us we were violating the law. As for passers-by, they’d greet us and smile at us: their reactions were quite warm and friendly. Finally, we went to the NSS building; there was no one there, and Artak crashed the tank into the wall, concluding his action. We did not go to this specific building purposefully; it's just that no one kept us away from approaching it,” the witness told the court.
Judge Poghosyan inquired of Khachatryan whether the “military equipment” was loaded, and whether it did not cause a feeling of fear among passers-by, especially small children. The witness had to explain that the tank was made out of cardboard and hence unable to pose a threat. After the judge's question, Tigran Safaryan, a lawyer for the artist, showed Khachatryan a paper plane and wondered if, by any chance, Gevorgyan did not own such “bombers,” too.
Speaking to reporters following the hearing, Safaryan called the accusations against his client “ridiculous” and expressed the hope that Gevorgyan would be acquitted: “No matter how bad our judicial system, I did not believe that such a case would reach the court. However, not only a criminal case has been initiated, but the prosecutor's office is seriously determined [to subject Gevorgyan to criminal liability,” the lawyer said.
According to the indictment, at about 1:30am on December 10, 2015, Hakaharvats (Counter Strike) street art group member Artak Gevorgyan “deliberately crashed” his homemade cardboard tank into the iron gates of the administrative building of the National Security Service, grossly violating public order and hindering the work of officers on duty. Gevorgyan's action, prosecutors claim, has also “caused a sense of fear among the officers about property safety.”