YEREVAN. – During Friday’s Criminal Court of Appeal trial into the case of opposition Armenian National Congress (ANC) activist Tigran Arakelyan, the latter again motioned that his restraint order be commuted.

Arakelyan said there is no reason that he remain in custody. 

His legal defender, Mushegh Shushanyan, added that all reasonable deadlines for keeping Arakelyan in custody have expired.   

The court, however, denied the motion yet again. 

But the court did grant Shushanyan’s motion to submit injured party Shahen Harutyunyan’s testimony for examination, to check its veracity. 

As Armenian News-NEWS.am informed earlier, a general jurisdiction court had sentenced ANC activists Tigran Arakelyan, Artak Karapetyan, Sargis Gevorgyan, and Davit Kiramijyan to six, three, and two years, respectively, as a result of an incident that had occurred on August 9, 2011, in capital city Yerevan. The Criminal Court of Appeals had upheld this ruling, and therefore the activists’ attorneys had submitted to the Court of Cassation their objections to this verdict. As a result, six of the young activists were released on signature bond, whereas Arakelyan had remained under arrest.

Photo by Arsen Sargsyan/NEWS.am