YEREVAN. – The Court of Appeals hearing on the case against Tigran Arakelyan and the other activists of the opposition Armenian National Congress (ANC) reconvened on Friday.

The defendants made statements, announced that they are not guilty, and demanded that they be found not guilty (PHOTOS).

“I do not need liberty, but rather justice,” Arakelyan said in his statement.      

The defense submitted a motion to the court and demanded that the criminal prosecution against all defendants be stopped, the case be dismissed, and they be acquitted.     

To note, 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 with a group of police officers 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.

Photos by Arsen Sargsyan/NEWS.am