YEREVAN. – The Investigative Committee of Armenia has rejected the petition by Hovhannes Khudoyan, the attorney of Armenia’s second President Robert Kocharyan, and with respect to granting Kocharyan the status of a victim along the lines of the case which the committee is investigating, and regarding the publicizing of the audio recording of the telephonic conversation between National Security Service Director Artur Vanetsyan and Special Investigation Service Head Sasun Khachatryan.

Khudoyan told about the aforesaid to Armenian News-NEWS.am.

As per the petition, the latter was submitted taking into account the fact that the aforementioned audio recording contains information which confirms the taking of actions aimed at unlawfully restricting the freedom of the second President. 

Kocharyan’s legal representative informed that the Investigative Committee, however, had rejected the petition arguing that no information was obtained regarding interference with court proceedings.

The attorney added that they will appeal this decision by the Investigative Committee to the Prosecutor General.

In their wiretapped telephonic conversation which was posted on the internet on September 11, Vanetsyan and Khachatryan were discussing some particulars of the criminal cases which have been launched into the events that had occurred in capital city Yerevan in March 2008. Also, they had mentioned the name of the judge who later granted the petition to remand second President Robert Kocharyan in custody along the lines of a criminal case into those events.

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