The prosecution in the case of oppositionist Nikol Pashinyan who was sentenced to seven years of imprisonment related to his involvement in March 1-2, 2008 clashes, turned to the Court of Appeals of Armenia demanding to appeal the verdict by Kentron and Nork-Marash Court of General Jurisdiction.

As Sona Truzyan, press secretary of the Prosecutor General's office told ArmeniaNow, Harutyun Harutyunyan, the prosecutor in Pashinyan’s case, is demanding to bring in a verdict on charges of violence against a representative of authorities (Article 316, Point 1, RA Criminal Code) in addition to the existing one.

On January 19, Kentron and Nork-Marash Court of General Jurisdiction found 34 year-old radical oppositionist, editor-in-chief of ‘Haykakan Zhamanak’ (Armenian Times) daily Pashinyan guilty of “organizing mass disorder” on March 1-2, 2008, however, the charges of “violence against a police representative” were dropped “for lack of evidence.”

Lusine Sahakyan, Pashinyan’s attorney, told ArmeniaNow that not only there isn’t any evidence proving that her defendant used violence against police officers, moreover, there is evidence that police officers resorted to violence.

“The prosecutor’s petition to the Court of Appeals is groundless,” Sahakyan says.

The attorney also said that by February 19 they, in their turn, will be appealing to the Court of Appeals demanding to release Pashinyan and suspend his case.