An Armenian opposition activist was sentenced to three and a half years in prison on Tuesday for his alleged role in last year’s clashes between riot police and supporters of gunmen occupying a police station in Yerevan.
A district court in the Armenian capital found Ararat Khandoyan guilty of assaulting police officers, ignoring his protestations of innocence. Khandoyan’s lawyer condemned the ruling as unfair and politically motivated.
Hundreds of radical opposition supporters fought pitched battles with the police near the besieged police compound in Yerevan’s southern Erebuni district in July 2016. The angry crowd tried to break through a police cordon, hitting security forces and throwing stones at them. The police officers clad in riot gear pushed back and dispersed it, using shields, truncheons and stun grenades.
The police said that 46 officers were injured in the clashes that broke out three days after armed members of the Founding Parliament opposition movement seized the compound. The gunmen among them Khandoyan’s brother Arayik, demanded President Serzh Sarkisian’s resignation and the release of their jailed leader, Zhirayr Sefilian.
The police detained dozens of people, including Ararat Khandoyan, following the street violence. Some of them were subsequently prosecuted on charges of participating in “mass disturbances” and assaulting policemen. Two of them were sentenced to three years in prison in December.
In his final speech at the trial delivered shortly before the announcement of the guilty verdict, Khandoyan insisted that he did not hit any law-enforcement officers or call for violence and must therefore be acquitted. He also dismissed a police video of his participation in the July 2016 protest, saying that it does not prove the accusations levelled against him.
Khandoyan said at the same time that the presiding judge, Mnatsakan Martirosian, is “unable to administer justice.” “Armenia is governed by a criminal-oligarchic system and there will be no justice in Armenia,” he charged.
Khandoyan’s lawyer, Ara Gharagyozian, slammed the ensuing ruling, saying that the judge has been biased against his client throughout the trial. He said they will therefore appeal to a higher court.
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