DOXA co-founder Armen Aramyan sentenced in absentia to 10 years in prison

PanARMENIAN.Net - DOXA co-founder Armen Aramyan has been sentenced in absentia to 10 years and 1 month in prison on charges of justifying terrorism and spreading "fake" information about military events. A correspondent for Mediazona reported this from the courtroom of the 2nd Western District Military Court.

The charges stem from materials published by DOXA. Specifically, they refer to an August 3, 2022 tweet containing a map of civilian killings in Bucha, as well as a column published on DOXA's website on January 13, 2023, titled "The time for protest is over, the time for resistance has begun."

Prosecutors argued that Aramyan is the founder and editor-in-chief of DOXA, citing as evidence an ironic tweet by a user with the nickname "I haven't come up with a nickname yet," which claimed that Aramyan had "completely seized power at DOXA."

The prosecution had requested a 12-year and 1-month prison sentence but did not present any aggravating circumstances. The court recognized Aramyan’s positive personal characteristics as mitigating factors.

During the trial, defense attorney Leonid Solovyov insisted on Aramyan’s acquittal, arguing that he had not justified terrorism and that the tweet about Bucha contained references to information sources rather than fabricated facts.

Aramyan left Russia shortly after the start of the war in Ukraine. In January 2024, Russia’s Prosecutor General’s Office designated DOXA as an "undesirable" organization.