On July 3 the RA Criminal Court of Appeal withdrew the judgment of court of
general jurisdiction of Kentron and Nork-Marash communities of Yerevan on correspondent
of “Chorrord Ishkhanutiun” newspaper Gohar Vezirian and applied to her the amnesty.
The amnesty was announced on June 19, 2009 by the ruling of RA National Assembly
on the RA President’s proposal. As it has been reported, on May 14, 2009 Gohar
Vezirian was sentenced to a fine in the amount of 350,000 AMD (about $ 950)
for disrespect to court (see YPC Weekly Newsletter, May
15-21, 2009).
As lawyer of Gohar Vezirian Hovik Arsenian told to YPC, this judgment was appealed
with the Criminal Court of Appeal. After the amnesty was granted a new application
was submitted to the second court jurisdiction in which Gohar Vezirian asked
to pardon her.
According to Hovik Arsenian, the amnesty should also expand on free lance journalist
Gagik Shamshian, accused to a similar penalty for the same crime on April 17,
2009 by court of general jurisdiction of Kentron and Nork-Marash communities
of Yerevan. It should be noted that the Criminal Court of Appeal has sustained
the judgment of June 15, 2009 of court of first jurisdiction on the case of
Gagik Shamshian (see YPC Weekly Newsletter, June 12-18, 2009).
