Today, on 12 July, the court hearing in the case of the National Nero of Armenia, former Minister of Emergency Situations Andranik Piloyan and 12 other defendants continued in the Anti-Corruption Criminal Court. Judge Tigran Davtyan presided over the session.
It should be noted that in addition to Andranik Piloyan, Ashot Hakobyan, Vigen Mkrtchyan, Hrachya Yeremyan, Mihrdat Matevosyan, Artur Ohanyan, Ara Yaghjyan, Gor Hambardzumyan, Artak Beibutyan, Tatul Gevorgyan, Tigran Gasparyan, Gagik Poghosyan and Vigen Grigoryan were also charged.
According to Iravaban.net, the Public Prosecutor Koryun Serobyan made the concluding speech at today’s court session.
In his speech, the Public Prosecutor emphasized the fact that during the preliminary investigation, the rules of investigation of the criminal legislation were taken into account when initiating criminal prosecution against the accused.
The factual grounds and actions of the accusation were not presented again, taking into account that there was no need to publish them and the participants of the trial were already aware of them.
“It is not a secret for anyone that for both to our state and its citizens, any manifestation of corruption is a real threat to the development of the economy of the state, the normal functioning of every state apparatus, the establishment of the rule of law, the maintenance of the principle of equality of all before the law, and ultimately, for the establishment of justice, for its restoration,” he said.
In his speech, the Prosecutor also emphasized the importance of providing video recording in this case, which was not implemented initially due to the objection of the accused.
“If you notice, at the request of the defendants, no video or audio recording of this trial was aired, which, however, I believe would be appropriate so that the public at large would be informed about the trial, which would also be of great importance to those officials who thought they could allow acts of corruption and not been punished.
I was also pursuing this very goal and that is why I did not object to the publication of the process of this trial by means of a video recording by mass media representatives. However, for the sake of justice, I must mention that there are court hearings when they were covered by the same media representatives, and I myself noticed that after the court hearing, the events that took place during the main court hearings were spread on the Internet,” he said.
The Public Prosecutor emphasized that the actions attributed to the accusers are divided into 2 groups, one group refers to giving, receiving, mediation of bribes, assisting in receiving bribes and abusing official powers, and the other group refers to receiving, giving and complicity in illegal remuneration using real influence.
Speaking about the crimes included in the first group, the Public Prosecutor presented his analysis about the episode of the heating system purchased by the accused Andranik Piloyan in the form of a mortgage loan. The operation was performed by Hrachya Yeremyan, the latter stated that the total price of the boiler and equipment will be up to 750-800 thousand AMD.
Andranik Piloyan’s testimony in court here.
” Hrachya Yeremyan partially insisted In the court, on the pre-trial testimony and stated that during the pre-trial investigation he was in an emotional state, he said that he allegedly gave Andranik Piloyan all the money, but he did not say that Andranik Piloyan gave him the 400,000 AMD through his driver, Vahan. He claimed that he sold the low-quality parts for 270 thousand AMD, added 30 thousand AMD and gave 300 thousand AMD to Ashot Hakobyan. The pictures of the pot and other details were sent to Andranik Piloyan.
While testifying in court, the accused Ashot Hakobyan said that he reached an agreement with Hrachya Yeremyan, as a result of which the latter bought high-quality parts for 490 thousand AMD, and Yeremyan returned that money to him in parts.
“There are significant contradictions in the testimonies of the accused. Andranik Piloyan mentions about returning 200 thousand AMD of parts to the store, Hrachya Yeremyan claims that he personally sold the parts for 300 thousand AMD and gave them to Ashot Hakobyan in parts, and Hakobyan states that Hrachya Yeremyan gave him 490 thousand AMD, with which bought quality parts,” the Public Prosecutor said.
He also presented the phone conversations between the defendants regarding the mentioned episodes, which created the opposite picture.
According to Koryun Serobyan, no matter how much the defense side provided different reasons that Piloyan did not receive a bribe, and Hrachya Yeremyan bought the heating boiler and parts with Andranik Piloyan’s money, still, according to him, these arguments were not valid, because there was evidence to the contrary. a number of factual data in the criminal case, and no matter how much they would try to present the conversations in a clear light, the new evidence was “more credible”.
Referring to one of the precedent decisions of the Court of Cassation, the Prosecutor also referred to the episodes related to giving bribes by “SOS Systems” company, receiving bribes by Andranik Piloyan and helping to receive bribes by Ashot Hakobyan.
One of the reasons for presenting it was this statement: “I remember very well that during the court session held on 5 May, 2023, Ara Yaghjian’s defense attorney stated that there was no factual data in the case that Ara Yaghjian said: “I gave the money, now you take your actions.
I think that these factual data are available, that is, there is a specific demand for the actions in which Ara Yaghjian expected the officials to perform actions in his favor, to eliminate the obstacles expected for the building being built by various officials. There is also the fact that Ara Yagjyan was dependent on the Ministry of Emergency Situations.”
Presenting relevant analyzes on other aspects of the accusation, the Prosecutor noted that Vigen Grigoryan and Andranik Piloyan had certain relationships, Vigen Grigoryan also insisted on this during the interrogation, he had meetings with Piloyan, issues of hiring different people were discussed in the office, there were cases when Grigoryan’s behavior caused the anger of the Minister of MES, Vigen Grigoryan expressed his willingness to perform certain works for Piloyan.
He also requested that the statement of the accused Artak Beibutyun that the actions he was accused of were mischaracterized, it should be stated that it was obvious from the conversations that took place with Vigen Grigoryan that Grigoryan asked the latter to find various people who would like to be employed in the MES for money. He published a part of the telephone conversation between the two accused.
Vigen Grigoryan’s defense attorney stated in his speech that Vigen Grigoryan was not an official; he had no influence on Andranik Piloyan. Vigen Grigoryan also stated that he did not hire anyone in the Ministry of Emergency Situations and the Ministry of Defense for the alleged remuneration.
Drawing parallels between the accusations attributed to Vigen Grigoryan and Artak Beybytyun, Beybytyun’s defense attorney stated that he did not agree with the statement that his client should be charged with the same article as Vigen Grigoryan. He asked that his client be declared innocent.
In this case, the other defense attorneys will make final speeches at the next court session. The date of the previously appointed session was changed due to the health problems of the accused Hrachya Yeremyan. It should also be noted that his defense attorney requested the return of 2 million AMD from the bail for Yeremyan’s treatment.
There were no objections, the court approved the petition.
The next court hearing is on 9 August.
Mariam Shahnazaryan
