A Guilty Verdict Issued Against Edgar Ghazaryan

Lawyer Ruben Melikyan informs that a guilty verdict has been issued against opposition MP Edgar Ghazaryan. “Edgar Ghazaryan had presented a motion that was subject to discussion; therefore, the session scheduled to issue a verdict based on that motion was postponed until today. We know that we should discuss the motion, we came to the discussion, but we never understood what happened to that motion. The court immediately announced that it was leaving to issue a verdict, and it rendered a verdict with which we, to put it mildly, do not agree,” Melikyan said in a conversation with reporters.

According to him, the verdict will be appealed. When asked whether he considers this a coincidence given Edgar Ghazaryan’s active political engagement, Melikyan responded: “We live in Armenia, where tomorrow, on August 7, a defendant will be seated on the seat of the Catholicos. We, at least as human rights defenders, have seen so many injustices that this fact alone does not seem such. In our view, this verdict is evidently unlawful. I am confident that the fact that Edgar Ghazaryan is a member of the National Assembly has significant importance, and the first days in the National Assembly show that Edgar Ghazaryan, to put it mildly, is causing discomfort to certain individuals with his activity. I consider this aspect to be extremely important.”

Melikyan stated that this is viewed as a continuation of political persecution against Edgar Ghazaryan.