ArmInfo. The general jurisdiction court of Kentron and Nork- Marash administrative districts of Yerevan has sentenced those charged with using violence against the police during the July protests in Yerevan - Arsen Mkrtumyan, Gagik Mikaelyan and Soso Margaryan - to three years in jail.
The defendants' lawyers think that the case is politically charged and that the verdict is unfair. In particular, Soso Margaryan's lawyer Ara Zakaryan noted that the verdict is ungrounded because the specified people were trying to prevent any violence against those who seized the police compound in Erebuni. He stressed that if the society had been passive and had failed to come out against use of force, the authorities would have used violence.
Margaryan himself confessed that he started throwing stones, which was a protective response to the police's use of special devices. His lawyer emphasized the fact that the police used the special devices against the demonstrators without giving them time to leave.
For her part, Gagik Mikaelyan's lawyer Ani Chatinyan presented positive characteristics of her defendant, saying that Mikaelyan is a teacher of history at School No.142 and a father of two children and that he was an employee of the National Academy of Sciences. However, the court did not take this circumstance into account.
Arsen Mkrtumyan, in turn, said that he pleads guilty. He asked for an opportunity to prove that the incident was not a result of malicious intent.
To recall, on 17 July 2016 the Sasna Tsrer (Daredevils of Sassoon) group seized a police compound in Erebuni district of Yerevan, demanding the release of the Founding Parliament leader Zhirayr Sefilyan and a power shift in the country. Large-scale demonstrations were held in Yerevan to support the members of the Sasna Tsrer group. The police dispersed the demonstration, detaining dozens of people. The Sasna Tsrer group left the police compound on July 31.