A court in Armenia has rejected more appeals filed by some of the three dozen members of an armed group that seized and held a police station in Yerevan last month.
The rejected appeals include one submitted by the lawyer of Varuzhan Avetisian, one of the leaders of the Sasna Tsrer group who also acted as its spokesperson and conducted negotiations with the authorities during the two-week crisis that began with the attack on Yerevan’s Erebuni district on July 17.
Mushegh Shushanian, the lawyer of Avetisian and another Sasna Tsrer member, Areg Kyureghian, said his clients did not admit the charges. He complained that the text of the indictments for all members was “identical” and that their actions were not treated on an individual basis.
“This is a political decision,” the lawyer said. “We did not expect anything else.”
Three police officers were killed in the tense standoff that ensued after they seized the police station and took hostages.