Armenia: journalist Pashinyan's case to go to ECtHR

Advocates of Nikol Pashinyan, imprisoned activist of the opposition, a well-known journalist and editor-in-chief of the newspaper "Aikakan Zhamanak" (Armenian Time), who was sentenced to seven years of imprisonment, plan to appeal against the verdict to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). This was reported by Lusine Saakyan, one of the advocates.

"We are going to fight to the end, that is, up to the ECtHR; although we also plan to apply to the Appeal Court and then still higher - to the Cassation Court, but, nevertheless, we think that we'll fail in finding justice in Armenia. The only way out is the ECtHR," she said.

Ms Saakyan expressed her bewilderment with such a severe verdict passed to her client: "Nikol Pashinyan was sentenced to seven years, in spite of the fact that he was acquitted under part 1, Article 316, of the Criminal Code - 'use of violence against a power official' and was accused only under part one of Article 225 - 'organization of mass disorders'. My surprise was that the prosecution demanded 6 years of imprisonment under Article 225. In practice, courts always reduce the term demanded by the prosecution by one year. However, this time the court did the opposite - and added a year."

According to Lusine Saakyan, the verdict is illegal and evidences an obvious political order.

The World Commission for Freedom of Press (WCFP) has also condemned the verdict passed to Nikol Pashinyan. The Commission's statement runs, as quoted by the "Tert.am" Agency, that Mr Pashinyan was incriminated in serious crimes; however the truth is that he had just taken advantage of his right to the freedom of speech during rallies on March 1-2, 2008, which were violently suppressed by the police.