Protest Against the Sentence of the Azerbaijani Who Killed the ZPMC Guard Held Behind Closed Doors

Huseyn Akhundov, convicted to 20 years in prison for the murder of a ZPMC guard after illegally entering the sovereign territory of Armenia, was brought from the "Yerevan-Center" penitentiary to the Court of Appeals today, where the issue of tightening his sentence is being examined. However, it turns out that the judicial authority has decided to conduct the trial in closed sessions.

According to a report by a Factinfo correspondent, the hearing of the appeal against Akhundov's sentence was held today behind closed doors under the chairmanship of Judge Grigor Hovhannisyan in the Court of Appeals. The injured party demands the partial annulment of the judicial act and the imposition of a life sentence on Akhundov.

Moreover, as noted, the court decided to examine the case in a closed regime, even though the injured party only disputes the final part of the verdict regarding the punishment, and the grounds, so to speak, have nothing to do with factual data or evidence. Consequently, these will not become the subject of examination in the appellate court, raising the question of why the examination of the case is being concealed from the public. This comes at a time when, for instance, Azerbaijan has turned the fabricated trial against Armenian captives, including 68-year-old Vagif Khachatryan, into a "show".

The representative of the successor of the victim Hayrapet Meliksetyan, lawyer Karen Alaverdyan, told Factinfo that the case was also examined behind closed doors in the first instance. However, this was justified by the fact that certain circumstances containing state secrets needed to be discussed, such as the method of crossing the border and so on. This cannot be said in this case, as there is no substantial examination of factual circumstances.

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