Lawyer: Archbishop Mikael case mustn’t have reached court

PanARMENIAN.Net - Defense attorney Marine Farmanyan, representing Archbishop Mikael Ajapahyan, head of the Shirak Diocese, said the criminal case "should never have been before a court" from the standpoint of criminal procedure.

Commenting on the Criminal Court of Appeal's announcement that it had retired to deliberate and would publish its decision once it is ready, Farmanyan said that, in practice, courts may withdraw to deliberate without specifying when a ruling will be issued, Panorama.am reported.

According to the lawyer, the court's approach is lawful and the parties must now wait for the decision. She added that the defense team will be informed in advance of the time when the ruling will be announced.

"If we look at this from the perspective of criminal procedure, this case should never have been before a court. The defense team has repeatedly stated that this is political persecution accompanied by numerous procedural violations. We cannot predict what decision the court will make, but it may overturn the first-instance judgment and issue an acquittal, identify substantive or procedural violations and, for example, overturn the ruling and send the case back for retrial, or amend the judicial act. There are many possible outcomes. What can be stated with certainty is that this is a case of overt political persecution with numerous violations," Farmanyan said.

She also argued that, in her assessment, the current authorities are aligning the work of the judiciary and law enforcement agencies with their political objectives, and said the Court of Appeal would need considerable courage to issue what she described as a just decision.

The Criminal Court of Appeal, with judges E. Manasyan, N. Hovakimyan, and V. Margaryan, announced that it had retired to deliberate on the case of Archbishop Mikael Ajapahyan, head of the Shirak Diocese. The defense has requested that the first-instance judgment issued by Judge Armine Meliksetyan be overturned in full and that a new ruling be issued declaring Ajapahyan not guilty.