On June 15, the appeals case of French-Armenian lawyer Patrick Arapian wound up in Tbilisi's Civil District Court. Mr. Arabian had been appealing a ruling by Georgia's Ministry of Justice denying him the right to register as the defense lawyer for Vahagn Chakhalyan, who heads the United Javakhk Democratic Alliance. The prosecution has been justifying the ministry's decision by arguing that the inclusion of a new lawyer at this time would only drag out the case. Nino Andriashvili, who is representing Patrick Arapian in the appeal, claims that the Chakhalyan case is already being unnecessarily dragged out without the French lawyer's presence and cannot be the basis for the denial. The Georgian lawyer stated that if Arapian were to be confirmed as Chakhalyan's dense attorney he could participate in the appeals process for the jailed activist. On April 6, 2009, a Georgian lower court found Vahagn Chakhalyan guilty on all counts (illegal weapons possession, organizing public disturbances, resisting arrest) and was sentenced to 10 years imprisonment. The court's decision will be announced on June 30.