Defendants in the Sasna Dzrer trial in Yerevan have told their attorneys not to participate in court proceedings if they themselves aren’t present in the courtroom.

Over the course of the trial, many of the eighteen defendants now on trial for seizing a police station in July 2016, have been banned from the courtroom for improper behavior.

Several of the defendants are currently banned from appearing in the court for a ten-hour period.

State Prosecutor Petros Petrosyan argued that such a directive from the defendants was illegal.

The defendants who issued the directive - Gevork Iritsyan, Hovhannes Harutyunyan, Aram Manukyan, Toros Torosyan, Artur Melkonyan and Artur Soghomonyan – were escorted into the courtroom and told that public defenders would be brought in if their lawyers didn’t participate in the trial.

After the defendants were led away, their lawyers left the courtroom.

The trial will resume on August 31.