Chakhalyan remains prisoner for other people’s education
2009-11-03 10:02 According to a correspondent of radio Voice of Armenia, "the judges and the Georgian barristers deliver several-minute speeches, while the interpreter just listens and interprets one sentence and a half". When asked to translate something by the Armenian-language participants of the session, the interpreter either said that it was "insignificant" or paid with one or two words. "Besides, the judges discussed the matters loudly with each other, so one could hardly make anything out in such noise".Moreover, the authorities never admitted Patrick Arapyan, Chakhalyan's French barrister, to the hearing. However, the whims of the Georgian justice were carefully watched by lawyer of the French Coordination Council of Armenian Organizations, expert for the Office of Legal Affairs, Council of Europe Philippe Kalfayan.
It was after his criticism that the expertise was held upon the weapon, though he did not manage to influence the rest of the breaches in the course of the process. Kalfayan supposed that such attitude to the Armenians could be attributed to the latest Russian-Georgian war when the Javakh Armenians refused to take part in military actions as part of the Georgian army.
Even the attention paid by the European Union representatives to the process did not save Chakhalyan. Recently, the EU Commissioner for External Relations Benita Ferrero-Waldner expressed the interest in the affair in her response to the letter of the European Parliament deputy Sylvie Guillaume.
As Guillame wrote in September, the interests of the Armenian national minority were suppressed in Georgia; she was asking to cut short such actions on the part of the government. "We have no right to put up with Georgia's violation of the international standards and the right of fair trial. According to the European Neighborhood Program, Georgia received sponsorship to the amount of 15 million euros to carry out reforms in the field of legal proceedings", - stated the European parliamentarian.
Coordination Council of Armenian Organizations of France also called to cease the unjust trial and resume all the rights of Vahagn Chakhalyan, but in vain.
The Georgian authorities would never initiate such a high-profile political case to surrender to the Armenians. The actual reason of Vahagn Chakhalyan's arrest and a severe punishment like that was the government's fear of turning Javakhetia, which adjoins Armenia, into a second Abkhazia or South Ossetia.
The United Javakh organization headed by Chakhalyan was against the unfair election of ethnic Georgians to the local government authorities in 2006. Protests started; there were even mass disorders. When things got as far as explosions, there started round-ups of the Armenian activists.
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