Hearing on Arush Arushanyan's Detention Under Review, Protest Rally in Support of Mayor

At the Court of Appeals, under the presidency of Judge Rubik Mkrtchyan, the examination of the lawyers' appeal against the decision to deny the motion to replace the detention of Goris Mayor Arush Arushanyan with bail has commenced. A protest rally has started outside the court, with citizens arriving to express their support for Arushanyan.

In a conversation with journalists near the Court of Appeals, Arush Arushanyan's lawyer Erik Aleksanyan mentioned that the recent activities surrounding Judge Bakhshiyan raise serious doubts that from now on, any judge in the Republic of Armenia, before making a decision on a criminal case that interests the political authorities, will think carefully to avoid subsequent political persecution and imprisonment.

According to the lawyer, there have been judges in Armenia who harbored such fears before this incident. “Imagine how much Judge B. Bakhshiian's case has amplified those fears. I have no confidence in what today's judge can do in Arushanyan's case, especially since this judge imprisoned the Mayor of Kapan just yesterday. He is the same judge who also imprisoned Armen Charchyan, and life has shown that Charchyan's detention was unlawful. Moreover, this is the same judge who, two years ago, detained the second President of Armenia, Robert Kocharian, under unconstitutional articles,” he stated.

Aleksanyan is convinced that all of this raises serious doubts that the judge is loyal not to justice but to the current political powers. Nevertheless, Aleksanyan believes that nothing is eternal, especially the current political regime.