The trial in the case of opposition activist Avetik Chalabyan, a member of the Unification Movement, is to start soon, his defense team told a news conference in Yerevan on Monday, presenting the illegalities recorded during the preliminary investigation of the case.
Avetik Chalabyan has been illegally held in pre-trial custody for two and a half months now in a fabricated criminal case, and the defense team is preparing to mediate open court hearings, through which they will have the opportunity to present the absurdity of the case. The defense team is preparing to challenge the constitutionality of the article submitted to the charge.
"First, despite the fact that the new criminal code entered into force on July 1, 2022, on the same day we submitted a corresponding motion to the pre-trial body to qualify the possible act under the relevant article of the new criminal code, but the said motion was actually left without examination, because that no response has been received so far. Then the court included obviously false information in its decision and extended Avetik Chalabyan's detention period on the basis of said false information. Incidentally, the investigator did not carry out a procedural action to introduce the case materials. The temptation was so great to keep Chalabyan in detention that they went the way of a rough law violation, if you like, a criminal violation," Varazdat Harutyunyan, Chalabyan's attorney, said, pointing to the numerous violations committed during the preliminary probe.
"It's been 2.5 months that I have been held hostage by the authoritarian regime ruling the country. If at the beginning of all these processes there was a tinny suspicion on the essence of the case, now the facts make it obvious that this is an organized reprisal that is happening to me and already to my family. However, my case is just one link in the long chain of repressions that have been taking place against patriotic and decent citizens, starting from the ordinary soldier to the former president of the country, during the last four years, but especially after the war ingloriously lost by the regime. All this is taking place under the silent gaze of many We...
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