YEREVAN. – Zhoghovurd newspaper of the Republic of Armenia (RA) writes: According to the Zhoghovurd daily’s information, the NSS [(National Security Service)] has questioned Judge Davit Harutyunyan of Yerevan city. He was questioned in the case of Judge Davit Grigoryan's decision of May 18, 2019 to commute the pretrial detention of RA second President Robert Kocharyan and apply personal bond.

The thing is that Facebook user Artak Galstyan (…) had made a post that this decision was [actually] written by Judges Mkhitar Papoyan, Vazgen Rshtuni and Arshak Vardanyan instead of Davit Grigoryan.

Mkhitar Papoyan had submitted a report on his being defamed, on the basis of which a criminal case was initiated in the NSS under Article 344, Section 2 of the RA Criminal Code; that is, defamation of a judge. As a result, this case has become the basis for wiretapping Davit Harutyunyan.

However, it should be noted that the court has recorded that Judge Davit Harutyunyan was wiretapped illegally, and the information received as a result of the transcript of the judge's telephone conversations as a result of the wiretapping was declared inadmissible and deleted. And here, Judge Davit Harutyunyan has been questioned twice by the NSS in the framework of this case.

In a conversation with Zhoghovurd daily, Judge Davit Harutyunyan said: "They did not call [me] for questioning directly, but according to the requirements of the Judicial Code, as in all cases the SJC [(Supreme Judicial Council)] was informed as a formality, and we agreed on the place and time of the questioning with the investigator. I was questioned—first as a witness—and finally, weeks ago—as an injured party."