Read the law with a fresh head! Levon Zurabyan's advice to Ombudsman

Armenia's Human Rights Defender Armen Harutyunyan has better read the laws "with a fresh head" and read them carefully, coordinator of opposition movement Armenian National Congress (HAK) Levon Zurabyan said at a press conference today.

Zurabyan's statement comes days after Armen Harutyunyan said in a recent statement that there are no legal and political violations in the rulings by Yerevan Municipality, banning the HAK to hold rallies on Azatutyun (Liberty) Square.

Mr Harutyunyan had particularly said that if the alternative venue proposed by the relevant body is not very far from the originally-requested one, then the ruling does not violate the applicant's rights.

"I am sorry, but I thought that he is at least a good jurist; it turns he is not that either or he has not read the law well, because it is clearly written in the law, and I have to really advise him to read the law carefully, as it is clearly written in the law that any appeal can be refused only if that venue is included in the list of prohibited venues, and Azatutyun Square is not one of them; or only if there is another event on the same venue at the same hour," explained Mr Zurabyan.

"The [Yerevan] Municipality is holding some events; we all know that they are artificial events," he added.