Second President of Armenia Robert Kocharyan’s attorney Hayk Alumyan continues to cite excerpts from the testimonies of major witnesses in the case of the events of March 1, 2008. One of those testimonies is the testimony of current Advisor to the Prime Minister of Armenia Arshak Karapetyan in which Karapetyan tells about the talks held during the famous consultation convened on February 23, 2008.
According to Karapetyan’s testimony, Robert Kocharyan’s decision to declare a state of emergency was followed by Serzh Sargsyan’s proposal to create a separate military administration under Yuri Khachaturov since the latter was the head of the garrison in Yerevan.
“After the consultation, some officers complained and asked why they had to be involved in the events taking place in Yerevan,” this is what Karapetyan stated in his testimony.
According to Karapetyan, on the evening of March 1, 2008, Robert Kocharyan promulgated the decree on declaring a state of emergency, even though Kocharyan had declared a state of emergency on February 23, 2008.
According to attorney Hayk Alumyan, the prosecutors refer to this exact testimony and declare that Kocharyan had given the order to engage the army in the interior political processes on February 23, 2008.
Alumyan added that the preliminary investigation body had the testimonies of other persons having participated in the consultation at its disposal, but those testimonies weren’t submitted during the trials over the case of Kocharyan’s remand. He stated that the attorneys found out about the other testimonies only when the case materials were provided to them.
In particular, according to the attorney, Arshak Karapetyan’s statements are denied based on the testimonies given by then Prime Minister Serzh Sargsyan, and Alumyan cited an excerpt from the testimony that third President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan has given in regard to the case of the events of March 1, 2008.
“I personally don’t remember such circumstances since quite a long time has passed. Robert Kocharyan convened the consultation with high-ranking officers of the armed forces, and the common goal was to warn the administration of the armed forces that the heads of the demonstrations are engaging officers of the armed forces in those processes and that a deputy minister has joined them,” Alumyan cited. Later, in his testimony, Serzh Sargsyan said that putting the armed forces in the status of barracks had nothing to do with martial law.
Listening to Alumyan, the judge urged him once again to simply cite the testimonies, not publish all the testimonies, stating that he and the participants of the procedure are aware of the content of those testimonies.
