Stepan Grigoryan's appeal rejected (video)
Stepan Grigoryan, who has been sentenced to life imprisonment, cannot be released even 23 years later. The Appellate Criminal Court dismissed the appeal. "It is a non-existent institution, which exists only on paper, if we look at the justification, I do not know how the court will justify it. They can say that he had 2 penalties during 20 years, that is not a reason.The existence of the penalties is formal," said advocate Robert Revazyan. The independent committee rejected the defender as there is a basis set-back. The Court of First Instance left the committee's decision unchanged. At the previous court hearing, Judge Manushak Petrosyan, the judge of the Criminal Court of Appeals, postponed the session to find out whether there was a case of set-back or not. The police also received an answer that according to Stepan Grigoryan there was no recurrence. "A great foundation was removed from the decision of the independent committee, nevertheless, it remained the same. Set-up existent was underlined with red; the executor always referred to it. This is not normal, this is not a typical thing for a legal country," he added. According to the defense lawyer, the refusal of conditional release of 30 prisoners, sentenced to life imprisonment, proved that the institute did not function. This was a serious problem in the establishment of an independent court in Armenia. "According to many reports, that human rights organizations have addressed, courts have not yet had the level of independence so that they can make an independent judgment by their own conviction," said Robert Revazyan. The court's decision will be appealed not only to the Court of Appeals but also to the European Court of Human Rights.
