Yerevan court rejects motion to arrest ex-law enforcement officer linked to March 1 case

A Yerevan court of general jurisdiction has denied a motion to impose arrest as a measure of restraint against Vahagn Harutyunyan, the former head of an investigative group probing the circumstances behind the March 1-2, 2008 post-election events in Yerevan.

“After the prime minister’s call, a community of individual independent judges is being formed in Armenia, which will result in the formation of a mostly independent judicial system,” Harutyunyan’s attorney Mihran Poghosyan said on Facebook.

He reminded that back in December 2018 another judge Artush Gabrielyan approved the same motion seeking the ex-law enforcement officer’s arrest on the same grounds without the presence of an attorney.

Harutyunyan has been charged with abuse of power and falsification of evidences pertaining to the March 1 criminal case.