“Armen Ashotyan will come out of the criminal-executive institution with a clear conscience, the rest will have a problem looking into his eyes…” Vahe Dolmazyan extended Armen Ashotyan’s detention for 3 more months

Today in the Anti-Corruption Court, under the chairmanship of judge Vahe Dolmazyan, preliminary hearings in the spurious criminal proceedings against Armen Ashotyan continue.

In the beginning of the previous court session held on October 9, judge Vahe Dolmazyan said that one of Armen Ashotyan’s defense attorneys, Habet Martirosyan, worked at the General Prosecutor’s Office together with his father, and although there were no superior-inferior statements, he nevertheless informed that if the parties have a motion, submit it. No motion was filed because, as Armen Ashotyan’s defense attorney Tigran Atanesyan said, it is obvious to them that Armen Ashotyan is being politically persecuted, therefore it is not important who will be the judge in this case.

Instead, the defense side objected to the prosecutors, but they noted that it is not against individuals, but that the accusation has nothing to do with the crime against the state authority, therefore, the presence of the prosecutors of that department at the session is not justified.

At the previous session, among other motions, Professor Narimanyan’s defense attorney also presented a motion: the motion referred to the subjects of Article 308, that is, officials. The latter claimed that his client did not have the status of a special state subject, an official, while the article is about that. According to him, during the entire preliminary investigation, it was not substantiated that Mikayel Narimanyan is a state subject, therefore, he is motioning to terminate the proceedings regarding his client.

This motion, like the other motions of counsel for the defendants, was denied.

Apart from that, Tigran Atanesyan made a remarkable statement, referring to the judicial act in force in the entire territory of the RA.

“We are talking about the decision of the Anti-Corruption Court regarding my client on September 28, by which Armen Ashotyan was left in custody, but the court expressed a clear position about the lack of reasonable suspicion regarding money laundering,” he said.

Today, before the court session, however, Atanesyan informed that they do not have the decision yet.

Armen Ashotyan, his legal team consisting of Ruben Melikyan, Habet Martirosyan, Tigran Atanesyan, Margar Soghomonyan, former rector of YSMU Mikael Narimanyan, Marta Simonyan, Armen Ashotyan’s family members, prosecutors Dolinyan and Nshanyan, media representatives were present at today’s court session, political-social figures. Tigran Khachikyan, the legal representative of the sufferer, YSMU, was also present. The latter, let’s remind, was appointed to the personnel bank popularized by these authorities after the change of authorities in 2018 and served for a short time as the deputy minister of justice.

At the beginning of the court session, judge Vahe Dolmazyan said that since Armen Ashotyan has the most severe preventive measure, they will first consider his motion to change preventive detention.

Presenting the motion, defense attorney Tigran Atanesyan referred to the presence of legal anomalies in this case, then asked to remove the preventive detention, to be satisfied with the ban on absence or not to impose a preventive measure at all.

Another member of the defense team, Margar Soghomonyan, thoroughly addressed the issue of obstructing the investigation based on the request for detention by the preliminary investigation body, and again requested to cancel the detention applied to Armen Ashotyan.

Habet Martirosyan also noticed that Armen Ashotyan’s appointments are already open for his family members, and if the latter wanted to obstruct the examination, he could do it through them. But, of course, he did not have and does not have such an intention.

Ruben Melikyan emphasized that the court recorded that the risk of escape and the commission of a new crime is excluded. Then he presented the petitions for bail and the proofs for satisfying the house arrest measure.

Armen Ashotyan was supposed to speak next, but before he presented his speech, the judge warned him not to make political statements. The defenders and RPA vice-president Armen Ashotyan objected. The judge still doesn’t know what he is going to say, but he is already imposing restrictions.

At the beginning of his speech, Armen Ashotyan mentioned that he feels bad for many things. “I feel bad, that I am kept in an Armenian prison, and dozens of my compatriots are in Baku, that I have been deprived of my home, but hundreds and thousands of my compatriots no longer have a home at all, that now in the hall next door they are judging the former commander of the Armed Forces Mikael Arzumanyan, that Grigori Khachaturov, Garik Galeyan, Albert Bazeyan, Levon Kocharyan are imprisoned.

“Next, judge Dolmazyan addressed questions to the defense side. Armen Ashotyan also took advantage of his opportunity to respond.

At the next procedural stage, the judge referred to the explanation of the guarantors’ rights and obligations, asking questions to the persons who provided guarantees.

Former RA Prime Minister Hrant Bagratyan said he has known Armen Ashotyan for more than 20 years, he insists on his guarantee because the latter is an honorable politician.

The other defendants and their defense attorneys also expressed a position regarding changing Armen Ashotyan’s restraining order.

In particular, the defense attorney of the accused Marta Simonyan remarked: who does not know that Marta Simonyan was kept in custody for 4 months to testify against Armen Ashotyan?

The defense attorneys of the other defendants also joined the motion of Armen Ashotyan’s defense attorneys.

Naturally, the prosecutors objected, claiming that there is a risk that Armen Ashotyan will influence the participants of the examination. Prosecutor Nshanyan noted that there are witnesses whose testimony is important to confirm or deny Armen Ashotyan’s complicity in this case.

Responding, Armen Ashotyan’s defense attorney Ruben Melikyan noted that the prosecutors talk about the good faith of his client, but why don’t they mention the bad faith of the body conducting the proceedings when they announce during the detention session that Ashotyan should be in custody because there are still many investigative actions to be done. , but after 5 days they finish the preliminary investigation and send the case to the court.

According to Tigran Atanesyan, Armen Ashotyan will leave the prison with a clear conscience, the rest will have a problem looking at him into his eyes.

Armen Ashotyan also responded to prosecutor Nshanyan’s speech, specifically referring to the content of the wiretapping and its selective interpretation.

“The name of Kyaramyan’s wife’s brother is in the whole wiretapping: they don’t interrogate him, they detain me… only two pages were scribbled from 19 hours of wiretapping. Who is idle to sit and listen to so much? Isn’t it clear that they will read the scribbles?” said Armen Ashotyan.

Judge Vahe Dolmazyan decided to extend Armen Ashotyan’s detention for 3 more months, after which Ruben Melikyan announced that they have a motion to withdraw. They need two days to submit it.

The next court session will be held on October 30 at 12:00.

Details in the video