YEREVAN. – “I am the only one from the four defendants who had no connection with gasoline. I have many things to say,” Armenia’s former Road Police Chief Margar Ohanyan stated during his trial on Tuesday, at capital Yerevan’s Kentron and Nork Marash General Jurisdiction Court.   

As Armenian News-NEWS.am informed, earlier in the hearing the defendant, Police Force personnel Samvel Makhmuryan, refused a public defender, and he also refused to testify. He asked that his pre-trial testimony be accepted as basis. The next defendant, Police Force personnel Ara Levonyan, likewise refused to give testimony, and the prosecution was compelled to publically read his pre-trial testimony. The two defendants also refused to answer the questions. The other defendant, Police Force personnel Stepan Karakhanyan, also refused to give testimony.

In contrast to the aforesaid defendants, however, Armenia’s former Road Police Chief Margar Ohanyan expressed a readiness to give testimony. “I am the only one from the four defendants who had no connection with gasoline. I have many things to say,” Ohanyan noted, and he asked for several days to prepare.

So, the Court adjourned until February 20.

 To note, Margar Ohanyan is charged with abuse of official position and large-scale embezzlement of property, and he is under custody since August 30. If found guilty, he could face up to 12 years in prison. In his capacity as Armenia’s Road Police Chief, Margar Ohanyan is charged with appropriating 574,420 liters of gasoline, which was allocated to the Road Police, and thus with causing the state damages worth 160 million drams (approx. US$ 420,000).