Three Jailed In Armenia On Charges Of Inciting Mass Disorders

A court in Armenia has sentenced three men to three years in prison each in connection with the 2016 seizure of a Yerevan police station.

The Court of Yerevan's Kentron and Nork-Marash districts on February 2 found Arsen Mkrtumian, Hagik Mikaelian, and Soso Markarian guilty of inciting mass disorder and resisting law-enforcement officers and sentenced them the same day.

More than 30 members of the Sasna Tsrer armed group seized a police station in Yerevan's Erebuni district on July 17, 2016, and held it for more than two weeks.

They demanded the resignation of President Serzh Sarkisian and the release of Zhirayr Sefilian, the leader of the radical opposition movement Founding Parliament.

Sefilian was arrested on June 20, 2016, after authorities said he and his supporters were preparing a plot to seize several government buildings and telecommunications facilities in Yerevan.

One police officer was killed and another fatally wounded in the July 17 assault, which led to violent mass protests by the armed group's supporters. Another police officer was killed during rioting in the following days.

Several dozen Founding Parliament members and their supporters were arrested during the events and are currently facing trial.