Arshak Svazyan says he is ready to serve his sentence (video)
Arshak Svazyan, the 42-year-old man who attacked Armenian lawmaker Aram Manukyan in December, 2014, is ready to serve his sentence. “Today the prosecutor requested 2 months’ detention [for me] and if the judge upholds the motion I am ready to serve it. A man does not regret his own actions,” Arshak Svazyan announced in court today. Svazyan’s lawyer Liana Balayan said the prosecutor demanded severe punishment for the defendant and asked for mitigation. “Generally, I do not accept an affront. Nor do I accept violence against somebody. Arshak Svazyan has pleaded guilty to charges. He does not deny that he did not attack Aram Manukyan. I do not justify it either. But the lawmaker had no right to blaspheme. Both of them are guilty,” the lawyer said. The judge adjourned the hearing until June 18. Neither Aram Manukyan nor his representative participated in the court hearing. Aram Manukyan, a senior member of the opposition Armenian National Congress (HAK), was confronted by an unknown assailant as he was returning home on December 11, 2014. The attacker did not say anything to Manukyan, but at once started hitting him in the face and then took to flight. HAK representatives connected the attack with the lawmaker’s political activities and said it was politically motivated. Arshak Svazyan, a local resident, was detained on suspicion of the attack on Aram Manukyan. On December 20, Svazyan was charged with intentional infliction of bodily harm. The relevant article sets forth that the crime is punished with a fine in the amount of 50 to 80 times the minimal salary or with arrest for up to 2 months.
