A regular court session in the case of Professor Armen Charchyan, deputy of the “Armenia” Faction of the National Assembly, Director of the “Izmirlian Medical Center” was held on 31 May, at the Avan seat of the Yerevan Court of General Jurisdiction. Presiding Judge Vahe Misakyan.
Charchyan is accused of forcing to participate in the 20 June, 2021 elections. A few days before the voting (18 June), a part of the recording of Charchyan’s meeting with the hospital employees was distributed, which the law enforcement officials describe as obstructing the exercise of the voter’s free will. The article incriminated to Charchyan also refers to forcing to vote against someone.
According to Iravaban.net, Armen Charchyan testified during today’s court session. After the speech, he refused to answer the accuser’s questions, stating that the answers to all questions were in the speech.
He stated in court that the situation created in the last two years is like a theater of the absurd. “One of the co-founders of the genre was the great William Shakespeare back in the 16th century. Let’s remember the comedy “A Midsummer Night’s Dream, or Much Ado about Nothing”. By the way, Benjamin Britten wrote an opera of the same name based on the libretto of the above-mentioned comedy, the double premiere of which I and my family attended in 2019 in the Vienna Opera House in October and we were seated in the Imperial Lodge.”
The defendant stated that he would have done about 200 operations and about 4,000 consultations and treatments within 10 months, but he had not done.
“When reading the transcript in the criminal case, it is worth paying attention that in episode 4 it is written “the words are not understood”, in episode 3 it is written “the thought is not over”. I don’t understand how you can judge me, dear prosecutor, for words you didn’t understand. And maybe these are words that would fundamentally and significantly change the wholeness and perception of the speech,” Armen Chachian said.
The defendant drew the attention of the presiding judge Vahe Misakyan to the fact that the prosecution focuses on some phrases in the general speech, takes them out of context and presents them as a crime. “The irony is that the prosecution is not guilty of this practice, because an anonymous source edited the tape, stripped it of the most important thing, the conclusion, and presented the tape to the prosecution in that shape. Well, whatever he saw, he accepted it as a basis. Although I must say that even in that case, I do not see any crime or illegal act in my actions.”
Addressing prosecutor Hayk Hovhannisyan, Armen Charchyan stated: “Dear Prosecutor, I should also note that at the very end of my speech I included a passage from Raffi’s novel “Samvel”, “The Bright Morning of the Ararat Valley”, where it is said that a bright morning will open over the Ararat Valley. I’m sorry, but that morning hasn’t dawned yet and we’re still groping in the dark.” Summarizing my speech, we can come to the following conclusion; this is a political persecution, a political order to retaliate against opponents.”
According to Armen Charchyan, there is no crime, there is not even a illegal or criminal action, and the last and irrefutable word of course belongs to the honorable court. “However, there is a criminal case, it has been ongoing for 2 years, there are 5 months of decently overcome detention, mutilated and impaired health, there are many unrecovered patients whom I could have treated, but the most cruel thing for me was the look of my 12-year-old daughter: the dignified and melancholic, silent tears that do not understand the situation, do not put up with it. Be sure I will not bend. There is a Latin word: Fractum non flecti. And I will not forgive.
The strength, power and pride of every man are his sons, and the tenderness and delicate strings of the soul are his daughters.
It should be noted that one witness, one of the former employees of the MC has not yet been questioned in the case.
The next court hearing will be held on 20 June.
