Prosecutor General of Armenia presented a cassation appeal against  three persons involved in case of March 1, 2008

ArmInfo.Prosecutor General of Armenia Arthur Davtyan submitted a cassation appeal regarding the judicial decisions handed down against the persons involved in the  case of the March 1, 2008 events - Hovhannes Ghazaryan, David  Arakelyan and Arman Shahinyan. It should be noted that the court of  Yerevan Kentron and Nork-Marash communities in 2008 found the above-  mentioned persons guilty under the article "Use of violence against a  government official>.

According to the press service of the department, the court found it  reasonable that in the early morning of March 1, 2008, during the  events on Freedom Square, these persons under different circumstances  and in different places did not comply with the lawful requirements  of the police and used non-life-threatening violence against  government officials in the performance of their duties.

According to the sentences, Hovhannes Ghazaryan was sentenced to one  year of imprisonment, David Arakelyan to one year and 6 months of  imprisonment, but the sentence imposed on them was commuted to a  two-year probationary period. And Aram Shahinyan was sentenced to one  year and 6 months of real imprisonment.

In all three cases, the sentences were appealed by the defense in the  RA Criminal Appeal Court, however, the court decided to suspend the  trial due to the failure of Ghazaryan and Arakelyan to appear at the  hearing. The complaint in the Shahinyan case was dismissed.

As a result of the audit, the Prosecutor General's Office revealed  significant violations of procedural law. In particular, the  requirements of Articles 3 (Grounds for criminal liability) and 18th  (Concept of crime) of the RA Criminal Code were violated, and there  was no motive for the crime stipulated by Article 316 (Use of  violence against a government official) of the RA Criminal Code.

During the checks, it turned out that the courts violated the  constitutional and conventional rights of the accused to a fair  trial.  "The basis of the guilty verdict is based solely on police  testimonies of employees, which were not verified properly during the  proceedings, or the basis of the charge was inconsistent testimony of  witnesses, which were recognized as unreliable by the court," the  press service of the Prosecutor General's Office said, stressing that  the department also considers the decision on the termination of the  consideration of the complaint in the Court of Appeal due to the  failure to appear of citizens.