Activist-artist Paylak Tevanyan was found guilty of using violence against a government representative.
Judge Davit Harutyunyan of the Court of General Jurisdiction of Yerevan sentenced Paylak Tevanyan to a fine of 500,000 drams but applied amnesty. This means that the activist will not pay that amount.
“After the revolution, it was clear that nothing would happen, I would not be arrested. But what kind of scenario would work, I did not know,” said Paylak Tevanyan.
Let us remind that he was accused of slapping Arakel Arzumanyan, the government representative, in front of the gates of the Avan and Nor-Nork administrative districts court building during the court session of Sasna Tsrer‘s case on June 28, 2017. Paylak Tevanyan does not accept the accusation.
The defense asked the court to justify the artist. “Paylak did not state whether he hit or did not hit anybody. He did not admit his guilt, he was mentioning that the employee cursed him, and the incident was related to the fact that the [government] employee cursed him,” said Robert Revazyan.
According to him, the testimonies of the witnesses, as well as the video material, are disputed by them.
Meanwhile, the prosecution considered Paylak Tevanian’s guilt entirely justified, reminding the video of the scene, as well as the testimonies of witnesses, bailiffs and police, according to which Paylak struck the bailiff.
Prosecutor Mushegh Aramyan petitioned the court to sentence Paylak Tevanyan to 1,6 years of imprisonment and to apply amnesty.
In the near future it will become clear whether the verdict will be appealed or not.