Chief of the Nubarashen penitentiary institution declined a petition by Vardan Avetisyan, Head of the Department for Lawfulness of Punishments, RA Prosecutor General’s Office. Specifically, Avetisyan’s petition concerned the term of punishment set for Editor-in-Chief of the Haykakan Zhamanak (Armenian Times) newspaper Nikol Pashinyan, the lawyer Lusine Sahakyan informed NEWS.am.

On May 25, Avetisyan signed a decision imprisoning Pashinyan for three years, ten months and 29 days, from July 1, 2009, on.

Avetisyan, however, qualified the decision as unconstitutional and petitioned for Pashinyan’s term to be three years and six months. On June 15, Navasardyan declined the petition as “unconstitutional.”