YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 24, NOYAN TAPAN. Everybody understands that the general amnesty applies to the unserved term of the punishment imposed on the editor-in-chief of Haykakan Zhamanak daily Nikol Pashinian, and it will be indicated in the final court decision which has not come into force yet. Prosecutor General of Armenia Aghvan Hovsepian made this statement during the February 24 briefing with reporters. He explained that there is still no final court decision on Nikol Pashinian's case which has been examined by two courts - the Court of Appeal and the Cassation Court, while amnesty can be granted only in case of meting out a punishment. "Amnesty is a law and everybody must obey it," A. Hovsepian said, adding that if Pashinian is not granted amnesty, the prosecutor's office will appeal this decision. With respect to the issue that the murders of 10 people during the mass disorder in Yerevan on 1 March 2008 were not disclosed, A. Hovsepian said that the investigation body has done considerable work, but the case has not been disclosed: the public failed to give efficient assistance for the case disclosure, while foreign partners, to whom Armenian law enforcement bodies had applied in anticipation of help, considered it impossible to reveal those guilty through expert examinations.

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