Highlights of today’s trial of eighteen members of the Sasna Dzrer armed group who seized a Yerevan police building in July 2016 and held it for two weeks.

• Only three of the eighteen defendants were in court. The others had been banned from the courtroom for six hours at the previous session.
• Defense attorney Lousineh Sahakyan filed a motion that Judge Artoush Gabrielyan recuse himself, accusing him on violating court procedure and attorneys’ rights.
• Defense attorney Grisha Balasanyan accused the judge of partiality, noting that state prosecutors were freely entering the judge’s chambers.
• Hovhannes Haroutyunyan, one of the three defendants in the courtroom, accused the judge of following orders from his higher-ups and of treating the defendants as criminals.
• The three defendants were removed from the courtroom for ‘improper conduct’.

The next trial date is scheduled for July 13.