Lawyer Sergey Harutyunyan stated that following the arrest of members of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF) youth wing, the detainees were denied the full exercise of their right to legal defense. According to him, the authorities imposed psychological pressure by deliberately delaying lawyers' arrival for hours while the detainees were waiting for their legal representatives.
Harutyunyan further alleged that the authorities exhibited behavior that undermined the work of the defense attorneys, dictating arbitrary rules such as, “you'll be told how long to wait outside and when you're allowed to enter.”
“We were trying to both prevent and draw attention to the issue,” he said, noting that on that day, lawyers staged a boycott to protest the situation. “If our rights are violated, how can we effectively defend others?”
On the morning of July 10, searches were conducted at the homes of ARF members. Seven individuals were subsequently detained and taken to the Investigative Committee of Armenia.
