A preliminary court hearing in the case of former Deputy Chief of General Staff Tiran Khachatryan was held today, February 18, at the “Goris” courthouse of the First Instance Court of General Jurisdiction of Syunik region, presided over by Judge Arthur Voskanyan.
According to the indictment, Tiran Khachatryan’s negligent attitude towards his official duties and their improper performance led to the failure of the defense of the army line section entrusted to the military unit, which negligently caused serious consequences – namely, the troop control system was undermined, the combat mission assigned to the military unit was disrupted, and the defense of the army line section entrusted to the military unit collapsed.
According to Iravaban.net, at the beginning of the session, addressing the matter of his recusal, presiding Judge Arthur Voskanyan said he had attended an event with the defendant about 5 years ago.
“The presiding judge attended an event, particularly a dinner, with the defendant 1-2 times about 4-5 years ago. This participation was not conditioned by the defendant and the presiding judge, but by another person. The court informs the parties that besides this, the aforementioned judge has never met with the defendant, please express your position in this context as well,” said the judge.
The parties saw no grounds for the judge’s recusal on this basis, and Tiran Khachatryan noted that he doesn’t remember meeting with the judge.
At the beginning of the session, defendant Tiran Khachatryan’s defense raised the following question: where was the alleged crime committed, in the Republic of Armenia or outside it?
“Where it was committed, I don’t have the answer to that question. According to the indictment, it was committed in Nagorno-Karabakh. Please clarify – is this an action committed within Armenia’s territory or outside Armenia’s territory? This question should be asked to the prosecution, we need to understand – is this Armenia’s territory, do you have jurisdiction to examine this case, should it be examined by place of residence, or should it be recorded that it’s outside Armenia’s territory,” said the defense attorney.
Referring to European Court decisions, the public prosecutor stated that crimes of this nature have been examined by Armenian competent authorities, and the alleged crime took place in territory under Armenia and the Artsakh Republic: “This court is competent to conduct an investigation on this criminal case, and I don’t think this issue should be discussed in this context.”
Varazdat Harutyunyan told the public prosecutor: “I demand that you don’t give us morality lessons because we learned our morality lessons long ago. My colleague made a very specific legal inquiry, we still expect to hear the legal grounds by which this proceeding is being conducted in the First Instance Court of General Jurisdiction of Syunik region and in this courthouse.”
The presiding judge informed the parties that the RA court is authorized to examine the specified proceeding, particularly the case regarding military crimes committed in the NK territory, therefore there is no violation on that basis.
The matter of changing the defendant’s preventive measure was also discussed at this session.
Due to health issues, [it was referred to] the Penitentiary Medical Center, to ensure the defendant’s medical examination under those conditions.
His defenders motioned for house arrest and 10 million dram bail. Before that, the defense was asked whether Khachatryan is able to pay the 10 million dram bail amount. The lawyer said that it’s not Khachatryan who will pay, but his friends.
Returning from the deliberation room, the court decided to change Khachatryan’s detention measure by applying bail in the form of 10 million drams, and additionally imposed a ban on absence.
Recall that Tiran Khachatryan was arrested on January 4 this year, and then detained.
Details in the videos.
