YEREVAN (Noyan Tapan)–At the April 3 hearing of the Vano Siradeghian case–Presiding Judge of the lower court of Yerevan’s Malatia-Sebastia district Razmik Tovmassian satisfied the request of the victim Mais Rafaelian and the motion of the Public Prosecutor Aghvan Hovsepian for arrest to be selected as a measure of restriction in relation to ANM Board Chairman–Parliament member Siradeghian.
The motion was submitted to the court at the previous court sitting–and was seconded by all the lawyers except for Vano Siradeghian’s counsel–Vanya Sukiassian. However that court sitting was adjourned–and the motion left incomplete since Siradeghian was feeling bad. At the April 3 court sitting the motion was seconded by all the defendants except for Norair Tadevossian.
Under the decision of the court–Siradeghian will be arrested if the Parliament satisfies the Prosecutor General’s petition for Siradeghian to be deprived of parliamentary immunity.
Siradeghian was absent from the court for reasons unknown even to his lawyer.
Sukiassian called the decision of Judge Razmik Tovmassian illegal–which forces his client to act accordingly and abscond. He also expressed dissatisfaction with the press which–according to him–"portrays Vano Siradeghian as a monster of national scale." In protest–Sukiassian challenged the judge and without waiting for his challenge to be considered–he left the court-room–which was regarded by the public prosecutor as "an impudent step and contempt of court."
The victim Mais Rafaelian regarded the decision of the court as "an actual beginning of the trial." He stated that "this is not only a trial for the murder of two persons–but a trial aimed at disclosing numerous crimes–and a trial aimed at identifying the causes of the emigration of 1.5 million people from Armenia."
The next session is to be held on April 6.