YEREVAN. – The Yerevan court hearing of the motion to remand Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) Secretary General Yuri Khachaturov in custody has adjourned, and it will reconvene after 6pm. 

Mihran Poghosyan, the legal defender of Khachaturov—who is an accused in the criminal case into what had occurred in Armenia’s capital city of Yerevan on March 1 and 2, 2008—on Friday told about the aforementioned to reporters.

“The court session was recessed to ensure the right of the defense and to provide [it] sufficient time to get familiarized with the charge that has been brought [against] Khachaturov,” Poghosyan noted, in particular. “[But] the nature and grounds of the charge were not made clear to the latter [Khachaturov]; it’s unclear to him what he is being charged with.”

As reported earlier, based on sufficient evidence that was gathered during the ongoing investigation along the lines of the aforesaid case, a criminal charge was brought against Khachaturov—who was serving as head of Yerevan Garrison during the events that transpired in Yerevan on March 1 and 2, 2008—on Thursday, for breaching—and with prior agreement with other persons—the constitutional order of Armenia, informed the Special Investigation Service (SIS). Subsequently, the investigator filed a motion with the court to remand him in custody. 

A similar charge had been filed also against second President Robert Kocharyan, and former Defense Minister Mikayel Harutyunyan, along the lines of this criminal case. Harutyunyan, however, is not in Armenia, and a search for him was declared.

Ex-President Kocharyan gave an interview on Thursday evening, and during which he said the criminal case against him was trumped-up and a political vendetta.

On March 1 and 2, 2008, the then authorities used force against the opposition members who were rallying in downtown Yerevan, and against the results of the recent presidential election. Eight demonstrators as well as two servicemen of the internal troops were killed in the clashes. But no one has yet been brought to account for these deaths.