Opposition activist Andreas Ghukasyan walks out of detention on Monday escorted by police officers (Photolure)
YEREVAN (Azatutyun.am)—An Armenian opposition activist was released from custody on Monday pending a verdict in his trial on charges of aiding gunmen that seized a police station in Yerevan in 2016 to demand then President Serzh Sarkisian’s resignation.
The activist, Andrias Ghukasyan, was one of the organizers of demonstrations held in support of the armed members of a fringe opposition group. The charges levelled against him stem from one of those rallies organized on July 29, 2016 in Yerevan’s Sari Tagh neighborhood close to the besieged police base.
Riot police used tear gas and stun grenades to disperse the protesters after they refused to march back to the city center. Several organizers of the protest were arrested and charged with provoking “mass disturbances.â€
