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On November 3, the General Jurisdiction Court of Erebuni and Nubarashen Administrative Districts, under the presiding judge Artush Gabrielyan, issued the verdict regarding the individuals accused of interfering with legitimate professional activities of Armenia TV cameraman Albert Galstyan during the Sary Tagh flare-up in June.

Notably charges were filed against four people:  Seyran Karapetyan, Vladimir Mkhitaryan, David Sargsyan and Karen Grigoryan. All of the defendants were sentenced to one year in prison and were fined by 200.000 AMD.

The Special Investigative Service, which had carried out the investigation, proved that citizens Seyran Karapetyan, Vladimir Mkhitaryan, David Sargsyan and Karen Grigoryan had carried out hooliganism combined with the application of violence by obstructing legitimate professional activities performed by cameraman Albert Galstyan.

According to the data of the preliminary investigation, on 29 June at 22:00 being in Sary Tagh district and intending to show their supremacy over the people around they stroke up a dispute with the people gathered in the same place by violating the public order and showing disrespect towards the society gathered on the street. They kept on cursing and inflicting violence towards then above mentioned people by hitting them.

Meanwhile the hooligans observed that Albert Galstyan, who was wearing a journalistic badge, was filming their activities.

They attacked the cameraman forcing him to turn off the camera, then V. Mkhitaryan seized the Panasonic brand camera from Galstyan’s hands, after which they threw him to the ground and began hitting him in the different parts of his body thus inflicting injuries. 

By seeing the heading police officers they fled the scene taking the camera of the victim with them. Later the camera was handed back to its owner.

Charges were filed towards Karapetyan, Mkhitaryan, Sargsyan and Grogoryan under the requirements of Part 3 (Point 1) of Article 258 of the RA Criminal Conde (hooliganism) and Part 1 of Article 164 (obstructing legitimate professional activities of a journalist). They had been arrested.
The trial that launched on 29 September was held in a rapid manner and the defendants had accepted all the charges.