Your trusted source

Judge David Harutyunyan rejected today the challenge of judge by defendants’ lawyers during the trial of Harsnakar case at the Court of General Jurisdiction of Yerevan’s Avan and Nor Nork administrative districts.

Earlier today, Marine Tovmasyan, lawyer for defendant Garik Margaryan, announced that the court was not unbiased, they do not trust the judge, and therefore she challenged the judge. The lawyers for the other defendants joined her in the challenge.

Garik Margaryan, Norayr Hayrapetyan, Arman Khachatryan, Arman Baghdasaryan, Arthur Babloyan and David Adamyan are charged with beating up Vahe Avetyan at the Harsnakar restaurant on June 17.

The men, most of them security guards working at the Harsnakar restaurant, were initially charged under one article of the Criminal Code dealing with deliberate physical injuries. They risked between five and ten years’ imprisonment.

Now investigators formally accuse them of three counts of assault that could result in lengthier prison sentences. One of the accusations relates to violent attacks resulting in deaths.