On June 10, 2004, the court of first instance of the Center and Nork-Marash districts of Yerevan heard the criminal case connected with the April 5 th attacks on journalists covering a rally organized by Artashes Geghamyan's National Unity Party. During the rally, a group of shaven-headed men beat journalists and smashed their video and still cameras. At least two of these men had worked as bodyguards of oligarch Gagik Tsarukyan prior to April 5 th. 

The defendants, Hrair Harutiunyan (Hro from Artashat) and Ashot Avetisyan (Hamo from Bangladesh), refused to testify in the courtroom, so the court published the testimony they had given during the preliminary investigation. According to these accounts, they had found themselves at the rally by chance. Hrair Harutiunyan testified that he had come from Artashat to buy pastry from a shop near Cinema Nairi (where the rally took place), and he was "forced" to break the cameras of the Kenton and Public Television stations. Ashot Avetisyan had had a date with a girl at the nearby Aragast Café. When he saw that his photograph was being taken, he was afraid it would be published, getting him into trouble with his wife. That's why he decided to break Aravot reporter Anna Israelyan's camera.

According to case records, during a confrontation organized in the course of the preliminary investigation, defendant Hrair Harutiunyan recognized Haikakan Zhamanak reporter Haik Gevorgyan, but the victim didn't recognize his alleged attacker. At the journalist's request, a statement made by Haykakan Zhamanak editor-in-chief Nikol Pashinyan following the preliminary investigation ended was made public. According to the statement, "The guilty were identified not during the preliminary investigation, but through some process outside the investigation, the preliminary investigation was incomplete, and not all the perpetrators were found."

The victims asked the presiding judge, Ruben Nersisyan, to admit into evidence the videotape showing all the perpetrators of the violence, but the judge turned down the request, explaining that it overstepped the limits of the case. He informed those present that on May 31, 2004, a decision had been made to separate the part of the case related to the unknown perpetrators from the rest of the case.

While the defendants declared in closing statements that they repented of the incident, their supporters outside the courtroom were pointedly aggressive and cynical toward the journalists there. They picketed the courtroom entrance, prevented journalists from entering the room, and insulted them in front of policemen. When reporter Sona Mashuryan from the Noyan Tapan News Agency asked to be allowed to do her work, a policeman brusquely told her that there was no room in the courtroom, and one of the heavyset "doormen" threatened to crack her head open.

The court accepted the testimony taken during the preliminary investigation, without even trying to verify it. Prosecutor Arthur Yeritsyan, taking into consideration the fact that the defendants had repented, and had presented references characterizing them as model citizens, asked the judge to fine the accused 100,000 drams (about $180) each. Judge Ruben Nersisyan complied with the request, and assigned the 200,000 drams to the state budget. Damages to be paid to the journalists were also assessed - 290,000 drams to Public Television, 247,000 to Kentron TV, and 200,000 to Haikakan Zhamanak. Aravot had withdrawn its action, and was not compensated for damages of 10,000 drams.

"This was a judicial farce. The trial was a worse attack on journalists than the beating," said Edik Baghdasaryan, the chairman of the Association of Investigative Journalists, "The proceedings revealed that the beating of the journalists was organized, that there were clear orders given. Orders were issued to the court as well. Soon, we'll write about who it was who gave the orders."