“If the Supreme Court had made a just decision, it would have acquitted the youths and released Tigran Arakelyan. A thing happened, which was a result of international pressure caused by the struggle. The Supreme Court wasn’t able to uphold the decision of the Appellate Court; it was compelled to admit some shortcomings, calling them ‘incomplete examination.’ And that clearly showed all the illegal actions that the Appellate Court had taken; it was failure to maintain equality between the parties, insufficient questioning of witnesses and insufficient examination of evidence. All this can be a result of an illegal agreement with the government. The Supreme Court admitted that; what there will be as a result of reexamination depends on the international human rights organizations and street pressure,” Areg Gevorgyan, an Armenian National Congress (ANC) activist, said during a conversation with www.aravot.am at the rally demanding to acquit the ANC youths and to release Tigran Arakelyan outside the Attorney General’s Office today. Aram Manukyan, a deputy leader of the ANC, assured that most probably, there would have been no prisoner of conscience in Armenia by August. “No one can prevent us from adhering to that principle of ours; there is no such man in Armenia. There is no such government that can convince us that there should be a prisoner of conscience, and we will yield.” He considered the decision of the Supreme Court on the youths’ case to be a half step forward. “Although the government prolonged the period, during which Tigran will be in prison, sending back the case to the Appellate Court means that something hasn’t been done correctly in the court of appeals. If the government asserts this, I consider it progress.”
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Arpine SIMONYAN
