Public defender: Hayk Kyureghyan's right to counsel was violated (video)
Hayk Kyureghyan, who is charged with hooliganism and using force against a representative of the state (RA Criminal Code Articles 258 and 316), hasn’t been attending his court cases. Armen Bektashyan, the judge in the case, has banned his presence ever since Kyureghyan refused to stand when the bailiff announced “All rise!” Kyureghyan was detained following an incident that occurred on July 12, 2014before a trial of opposition Tsekhakron Party leader Shant Haroutyunyan and his friends. The young man climbed atop a car in a court yard and shot an air pistol off several times in the direction of the police to protest the way political trials are handled in Armenia. The judge decided that Hayk shoed disrespect for the court and had him removed from the hall. Kyureghyan’s public defender Anjela Hobosyan says his right to counsel has been violated. “I find that all actions against Hayk were illegal,” she said. Today the court studied the pistol and bullets as evidence. The next court sitting is scheduled for July 21.
