On July 19 the commission on early release and release on parole refused the
petition about the early release of the Chief Editor of “Zhamanak-Yerevan” newspaper
Arman Babajanian. As it has been reported, on September 8, 2006 the court of
primary jurisdiction of Center and Nork-Marash communities of Yerevan sentenced
Arman Babajanian to 4 years’ imprisonment for document fraud to evade military
service. On January 12, 2007 the RA Court of Appeals reduced the punishment
to 3.5 years’ imprisonment, and the cassation challenge of the journalist’s
attorneys was later refused (see YPC Weekly Newsletter, March
9-15, 2007).