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Armenian activist sentenced to prison

21 October 2014 [09:45] - TODAY.AZ

/AzerNews/

By Mushvig Mehdiyev

A political activist in Armenia was sentenced to 4 years in prison after a year of court hearings.

The court found guilty the leader of the Tsegakron party, Shant Harutunyan and his political fellows of hooliganism during an anti-government rally on November 5, 2013.

Harutunyan and his supporters were also accused of using life-threatening violence against the government.

Human rights activists in Armenia claim that the authorities have deliberately altered the verdict to blame Shant Harutunyan for criminal action. Harutunyan was arrested on November 5, 2013, with his followers in Yerevan's Liberty Square during an anti-governmental rally. They are accused of attempting to start a "revolution" in the country. Police claimed that the protesters used homemade firecrackers and truncheons during the massive rally.

A number of local and international human rights activists view Harutunyan and his followers as political prisoners since their arrest.

Member of the Prosperous Armenia party, Naira Zohrabyan commented on Harutunyan's sentence saying the court system in Armenia proved itself as the most dependent in the world after it confirmed the case against Tsegakron party leader.

"If one citizen decides to believe in court system and claim that it is independent, his or her name should immediately be registered at the Guinness Records Book," Zohrabyan noted.

Judicial system in Armenia is losing its influence day by day to become an untrusted institution in the country. Courts in Armenia have turned to a source of injustice as judges act under the instructions of authorities rather than the constitution.

"Armenia lacks a fair judicial system as all decisions are adopted at the presidential administration," Head of the Helsinki Citizen's Assembly's Vanadzor office, Artur Sakunts has earlier said.

The Deputy Head of the Heritage Party Armen Martirosyan said Armenia would roll back to the feudal system by increasing political detentions.

"If the authorities continue to arrest the citizens like Shant Harutunyan and appoint criminals like Souren Khachatryan to mayoral post, the country will soon roll down to the ancient feudal system," Martirosyan added.

He went on saying that the Armenian society should be consolidated in a way to get rid of the ruling regime.

Harutunyan's verdict has once again showed the reality of the biased and puppet judicial system in Armenia. The authorities confirm the courts' illicit activities, instead of stopping them. Unsubstantiated sentence of Shant Harutunyan harbingers the decadence of courts and emergence of coward judges in the ex-Soviet country.

The Human Rights Report 2013 indicated that Armenian judicial system is tainted with corruption and political pressure. Global Corruption Barometer 2013 backed this fact by stating that almost three out of four surveyed citizens in Armenia accepted the judiciary to be an extremely corrupt institution. Judges themselves in Armenia are suspected to be engaged in corrupt activities. Nations in Transit 2013 data reports that there are a number of ongoing investigations into the records of some judges suspected of accepting bribes.

URL: http://www.today.az/news/regions/137121.html

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