The court session in the case of former Chairman of the Investigative Committee, former MP of the Supreme Council, and former Prosecutor General Aghvan Hovsepyan continued on January 20 at the Anti-Corruption Criminal Court. The presiding judge is Tigran Davtyan.
According to Iravaban.net, during this session, witness Manvel Gharibyan, who was one of the owners of “Yerevan” TV company, was questioned in court. The other owner was his brother, Varsham Gharibyan.
Prosecutor Koryun Serobyan said there were contradictions in the witness’s testimony.
“The first contradiction: you said that you acquired the private house, later gave it to Aghvan Hovsepyan at his demand, and you had a monetary claim. In the second interrogation, you say we did it together for the compatriots’ union. Now explain, why is it different?” noted the prosecutor.
The witness said it was their personal matter and asked what it had to do with the criminal case: “It’s our personal matter, I said we’re friends. What we did, how we did it…”
To the judge’s question whether he acquired the private house, the witness answered positively and added – with Aghvan Hovsepyan.
The presiding judge inquired why he hadn’t mentioned this circumstance initially.
“Well, they didn’t ask, I didn’t mention it, didn’t think reality needed that. Karen Aramyan can also come here and say that we went to Aghvan Hovsepyan’s house together and discussed that issue, decided, solved that problem. We bought it for various purposes,” said the witness.
The prosecution continued to present contradictions between the witness’s interrogation and court testimony, emphasizing that during the first interrogation, the witness stated that the land was initially his, said to register it under Varsham Gharibyan’s name, and later didn’t inquire what happened; his employees came and said that Varsham Gharibyan (the witness’s brother) had sold the land, then he learned to whom.
“Moreover, you noted ‘well, it’s his land now, he knows.’ During the second interrogation, you said the land was acquired for the ‘Aparan’ Compatriots Union, we had discussed it with Aghvan Hovsepyan before, Vrezh was also a union member, since there was a dispute, they decided to register the land under Vrezh’s name. Did you understand what the contradiction is? Now can you clarify what has changed?” the prosecutor inquired.
The witness noted that the land has nothing to do with his brother, Varsham Gharibyan: “It’s my land, that’s how it is, Varsham doesn’t know, doesn’t even know what we did, how we did it. It was my land, I bought it. Vrezh Markosyan was the president, I was also a union member, council member, we solved these issues among ourselves. We were taking 12-13 hectares of land to build a house for the union. But later circumstances changed, my brother refused to be a brother, to solve problems. What can I say, he refused.”
The prosecutor inquired about the witness’s relationship with his brother.
“Hostile, bad relationships, by his wish, however he wants it, that’s how it is. He’s the criminal, he’s made everyone look like criminals,” he noted.
To the prosecutor’s observation whether the testimonies are connected to these hostile relationships to harm his brother, the witness said they aren’t. Aghvan Hovsepyan asked the witness if the TV company didn’t bring income, then how could they bribe him?
“I have no information and don’t understand what it means that the TV company is sold, the person takes his money, that becomes a bribe, what bribe are we talking about? If you beat Varsham with a stick, he won’t give $100 to anyone, how is that a bribe-giver?” noted Manvel Gharibyan.
Defense lawyer Erik Aleksanyan asked the witness whether Aghvan Hovsepyan exploited his position as Prosecutor General in their friendship.
“Let me say something, but please don’t exploit it. There was a case, I was taking a bath, Mr. Hovsepyan would come home so we could take a break, he would knock on the door, I would ask ‘who is it,’ he would say ‘the neighborhood officer.’ Even then he didn’t say ‘it’s the Prosecutor General.’ There hasn’t been such a case where he would tell anyone ‘I’m the Prosecutor General,'” said the witness.
The public prosecutor said he motions to publish the witness’s preliminary investigation testimony, as contradictory testimonies were given by the witness during both the preliminary investigation and the trial.
Details in the video.
Hasmik Sargsyan
