At 11 am on June 12, the Coalition to Stop Violence Against Women will be holding a demonstration outside the Office of the President of the Republic of Armenia regarding the case of domestic violence survivor Mariam Gevorgyan.

At that time, two letters will be delivered to the president: one, a complaint of the activities of the judge presiding over the case; and two, the demand to have open trials in such court cases.

Recall, Mariam was subjected to physical and emotional abuse by her mother-in-law Haykanush Mikaelyan, as well as by her husband, David Ziroyan after the couple married in 2009, then left for St. Petersburg, where the husband’s family live. For 10 months, Mariam was subject to repeated abuse by David and members of his family.

After returning to Yerevan, Mariam contacted police, who subsequently charged David with “inflicting willful medium-gravity damage to health” and “battery” to which he pleaded guilty.

The general amnesty granted by Armenian President Serzh Sargsyan in 2011, however, was applied to David and he was released.

David's mother continues to face charges of infliction of willful medium-gravity damage to health, as well as torture (RA Criminal Code Article 119).

The next court date is set for June 14 in Artashat (the court has been moved to Artashat because there is no audio recorder in the court in Vedi).