Wednesday, September 13 2017 15:31

ArmInfo.Recently, lawyers in  Armenia have been subjected to an unreasonable and humiliating  search, this attitude to human rights defenders is unacceptable,  there has never been a similar precedent in any country in the world.  This was stated at the press conference by the lawyer Yervand  Varosyan, speaking about the upcoming strike of human rights  defenders on September 13, which was joined by over 180 people.

Speaking about the list of "forbidden things" adopted by the Council  of Court Chairmen on the eve of entering the courtroom, Varosyan  called it ridiculous. "This decision makes the law enforcement system  of the RA subject to ridicule, since no lawyer has ever come to court  with an aquarium or knitting needles," he said.

Meanwhile, the opposite viewpoint is held by Ara Zohrabyan,  chairperson of the Chamber of Advocates, elected recently, despite  the protests of the defenders. He said that he did not join the  strike, because he believes that lawyers are not searched, but  "inspected". In addition, he noted that in addition to the strike,  there are other ways of resolving this issue, in particular, one can  appeal to the Investigative Committee of Armenia.

In turn, lawyer Lusine Sahakyan told ArmInfo correspondent that the  strike is only the first step in protest against "illegal searches"  of lawyers. "Subsequently, lawyers will continue to defend their  rights by appealing to international organizations, since there is no  hope for our system of justice," she noted.  According to her,  already 40 international organizations sent their representatives and  were convinced that the rights of lawyers in Armenia were violated.

To note, today 180 lawyers of Armenia announced a strike in protest  against searches of defenders to court sessions and meetings with  defendants.