The Restraint Measure Against Sayat Shirinyan Has Been Lifted

Today, a court session was held in the Yerevan Court of General Jurisdiction, presided over by Judge Tatevik Grigoryan, regarding the case of Sayat Shirinyan, a reserve police colonel of the RA Police.

Recall that on December 23, 2020, Sayat Shirinyan was taken to the Arabkir division of the RA Police and subsequently arrested on suspicion of making public calls for violence under Article 226.2, Part 1 of the RA Criminal Code. The basis for criminal proceedings was a comment made on the Facebook social network, in which Shirinyan stated: “Susanna Avsharyan, if I were the leader of the movement, rest assured we would take concrete steps, although I do not criticize the organizers, as they avoid bloodshed: But it is already clear that without bloodshed it is impossible.”

Within the framework of the criminal case, Sayat Shirinyan was charged under the specifications of Article 226.2, Part 1 of the RA Criminal Code, with a signed undertaking not to leave selected as a restraint measure against him. The pre-trial investigation of the criminal case has been completed, and the case has been sent to the court for substantive examination.

According to a reporter from “Factinfo,” during today’s court session, Shirinyan's lawyer Benik Galstyan requested the lifting of the restraint measure against his client, noting that his client had shown proper behavior during the pre-trial investigation. Furthermore, the defense deemed it unrealistic for Shirinyan to have any potential influence over the individual giving testimony against him, considering that the witness is a high-ranking police officer. Additionally, the act attributed to Shirinyan is not a serious crime.

The prosecutor objected, stating that the case is not yet in the trial phase; therefore, he believes that the restraint measure should still apply to Sayat Shirinyan.

After hearing from both sides, the court retired to the deliberation room to make a decision, after which it accepted the request and decided to lift the restraint measure imposed on Shirinyan. Following this, prosecutor Khachatryan announced the indictment conclusion. Sayat Shirinyan expressed that the charge was clear but he does not accept the charge brought against him. After the announcement of the indictment conclusion, the court set the procedure for examining evidence, according to which written evidence available in the criminal case will be studied first, followed by questioning the summoned witnesses, and finally the defendant.