Saturday, January 10, 2009

January 9th, the trial was postponed again...

The Trial of the Seven continued on the 9th. The Seven refused to stand, at which the judge continued to take offense. He adjourned the court for 30 minutes, but came back 70 minutes later. Somewhere in that time, Sasun Mikaelyan and Hakob Hakobyan began singing revolutionary songs, which they continued to do even when the judge came back. He then postponed the trial, yet again, until the 13th of January.

The reporters have to be in a separate room, on the second floor, where they watch the proceedings on a large screen, with very poor sound quality. Some are allowed in to the courtroom itself, but they are not allowed to record anything. Arzumanyan said, “The judge has not made such a decision during the session. In that case, who is there above the judge that has made such a decision between the 2 sessions? The answer to this question is very essential for our further collaboration.” Many journalists have made a statement regarding this issue (see below).

Arzumanyan also questioned the fact that the judge has not asked the 7 why they don't stand: “The other time you postponed the session without even asking why we did not stand up. Maybe we suffer from rheumatism; maybe we are ill and present a note from a doctor.”

There is continued concern that there will be provocations within the courtroom, by characters who have been brought in for that purpose, who would then provoke family members and supporters of the 7. For this reason, family members heeded the request of the 7 and did not go into the few spaces offered to them in the courtroom.
The video below is similar whether you watch in from e-channel or a1plus. At some point in the beginning of both you can hear the Revolutionary song being sung - I think its Hakob Hakobyan in the back singing. For those interested - the song you hear starting at 0:44 is Fedayi, the lyrics of which are available transliterated, online, thanks to the ARF.


Sources:
e-channel article
a1plus article (Armenian)
tert article (Armenian) (source of photo)
RFE/RL
Journalists' Statement (English, Lragir) (Armenian, a1plus)

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

i hope they charge these hakob hakobians and the others who leeched off the people for years. good to see them squirm.