YEREVAN, DECEMBER 7, NOYAN TAPAN. The act, with which the editor-in-chief of the newspaper "Zhamanak Yerevan" Arman Babajanian is charged - evasion of compulsory military service by fraud and forgery, is no longer considered as a criminal offence since the adoption of the RA Law on Citizens Who Did not Perform Compulsory Military Service By Violation of Prescribed Order. Lawyers Hayk Alumian and Zaruhi Postanjian made this statement at the December 7 press conference. According to them, before bringing this charge, the RA Prosecutor General's Office was obliged to inform A. Babajanian about this law and take measures to ensure its use with respect to him. Besides, according to the defence, later the 1st instance court of Yerevan's Kentron and Nork-Marash communities and the Appeal Court of Criminal and Military Cases should have been done this. Thus, in their words, "since November 30, the Armenian aujtorities have been carrying out illegal criminal prosecution of A. Babajanian." To recap, on October 16 when the case was already being examined by the RA Appeal Court of Criminal and Military Cases, A. Babajanian applied to the military commissar of Yerevan's Shengavit community with a request to apply this law to him. According to the explanation that NT correspondent received from the RA Prosecutor General's Office, the above mentioned law says that a citizen above the age of 27 who was not drafted for military service may apply to the respective interdepartmental commission, make the payment envisaged by law and receive within a month the decision of the investigative body on ending his criminal prosecution. A. Babajanian has never applied with a request to use this law with respect to him. So the Prosecutor's Office did not show biased attitude towards him. According to the Prosecutor General's Office, A. Babajanian remembered about his right only in the appeal court. Article 35 of the RA Criminal Proceedings Code stipulates the circumstances excluding examination of criminal case and criminal prosecution, as well as the grounds for suspending a criminal case, which do not include the one indicted by the lawyers.

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