YEREVAN (A.W.)—On June 27, a Yerevan court found Ararat Khandoyan guilty of assaulting police officers during clashes between riot police and supporters of the ‘Sasna Tsrer’ armed group occupying a Yerevan police station last summer.
Khandoyan’s lawyer condemned the three and a half year prison sentence as unfair and politically motivated.
According to police, 46 officers were injured in the fighting that broke out after armed members of the armed group seized the police station demanding President Serge Sarkisian’s resignation and the release of their jailed leader, Jirair Sefilian. Among the gunmen was Khandoyan’s brother Arayik.
Amid the clashes, authorities detained several people, including Ararat Khandoyan, some of who were prosecuted on charges of participating in “mass disturbances” and assaulting riot police. Two of the arrested were sentenced to three years imprisonment in Dec. 2016.
Before sentencing, Khandoyan said the presiding judge, Mnatsakan Martirosian, is “unable to administer justice,” and that “Armenia is governed by a criminal-oligarchic system and there will be no justice in Armenia,” according to a report by RFERL’s Armenian service.
Khandoyan’s lawyer, Ara Gharagyozian, criticized the ruling, saying that the judge was biased against his client and that he would appeal the sentence.
He is telling the truth!
Shame on the government of Armenia