Till March 19, only one defendant will attend sessions on "Case of Seven"

The today's session on the "Case of Seven" lasted for a couple of minutes only and was postponed till March 11. The reason was the absence of advocate Stepan Voskanyan, who was busy in some other litigation. At the same time, only one defendant - Grigor Voskerchyan - was present at the session.

At the court session on March 9, Mr Voskanyan asked the court to take into account participation of advocates in other trials when appointing new sessions.

On that very day, Judge Mnatsakan Martirosyan who is chairing the trial reported that the proceeding in relation to accused Shant Arutyunyan was suspended because he was sent to psychiatric examination.

One of the defendants - Alexander Arzumanyan, ex-Minister of Foreign Affairs of Armenia, - accused the Judge of deliberate deprivation of Arutyunyan of a chance to participate in judicial hearing. A verbal skirmish burst out between the Judge and Arzumanyan.

The situation became still more heated, when one of accusers - Ovsep Sarkisyan - said, addressing Sarkis Kloyan, father of Gor Kloyan, who perished on March 1, that the latter's education prevents him from properly drawing up a judge challenge application. One of the defendants Imasnik Malkhasyan accused the public prosecutor of tactless behaviour. In response, the Judge forbade Malkhasyan to talk without his (Judge's) permission. Other defendants demanded the Judge's explanations in loud voices, and Sasun Mikaelyan even swore.

Consequently, the Judge ordered Mikaelyan to leave the courtroom for 10 days. Other defendants wanted to join him. The Judge stated to that: "It can be done only if you insult the court". Immediately, Akop Akopyan, Sasun Mikaelyan, Miasnik Malkhasyan and Suren Sirunyan cursed the Judge and the prosecution, and Alexander Arzumanyan named the Judge a provoker. Judge Martirosyan made a decision to remove all the five out of the courtroom; only Grigor Voskerchyan remained at the trial.

Let us note here that Judge Martirosyan has rejected Sarkis Kloyan's petition on self-challenge of the Judge, saying that it was ungrounded. Meanwhile, the petition was supported by all the victims and defendants.