On October 6 in Vanadzor the court of primary jurisdiction of Lori region completed the trial on the case of employee of the press center of the Armenian Writers Union, member of the Journalists Union of Armenia Theresa Asatrian. The court convicted Theresa Asatrian to 3 years’ imprisonment and a fine of 400,000 AMD (about $ 900) for attempted cheating (cl. 2 p. 2 Art. 34-178 of RA Criminal Code) and involvement in bribery (cl. 1 p. 3 Art. 38-312 of RA Criminal Code). As it has been reported, the hearings on the case started on August 31 (see YPC Weekly Newsletter, August 25 – September 1, 2005). As reported in the June 2 press release of the General Prosecutor’s Office, on May 17, 2005 Theresa Asatrian provoked the notary of Vanadzor notary region Arusiak Azarian to give a bribe of $ 3,500 to prevent the submission to the court of the materials against the notary gathered by the RA National Security Service, and the publication of a revelatory article written by the journalist herself.
