On October 24 at the RA Court of Appeals hearings on the case of the Chief Editor of “Zhamanak-Yerevan” daily Arman Babajanian started. As it has been reported, on September 8 Arman Babajanian was sentenced by the court of primary jurisdiction of Center and Nork-Marash communities of Yerevan to 4 years’ imprisonment for document fraud to avoid military service. The sentence was challenged at the RA Court of Appeals on September 25 (see YPC Weekly Newsletter, September 22-28, 2006).
At the session of October 24 it became known that the RA General Prosecutor’s Office on its behalf challenged the ruling of the court of primary jurisdiction, demanding to make the sentence tougher. Arman Babajanian on his part announced he had refused his former attorney and asked for time to recruit a new lawyer on the case. The court secured the motion.
The next session is scheduled for November 7.
Meanwhile, “Zhamanak-Yerevan” is holding a peculiar action to support its Chief Editor. Each newspaper issue has the picture of Arman Babajanian on the front page, with a count of the days he has already spent in prison. During the past week the newspaper (that has actually diminished its format since October 21 from tabloid to A3) published a series of articles analyzing sentences of the Armenian courts on avoidance of military service.
