YEREVAN. – The next hearing into Armenia’s former Road Police Chief Margar Ohanyan’s case was scheduled for Thursday, at capital Yerevan’s Kentron and Nork Marash General Jurisdiction Court. But defendant Stepan Karakhanyan’s attorney had not appeared to Court.  

The attorney had sent a letter, addressed to the presiding judge, informing that she was very ill and could not come to the Court, and therefore she asked that the hearing be adjourned.

The Court deemed the attorney’s absence inexcusable, as no document was submitted attesting to her illness, but since it was impossible to continue the hearing in her absence, the Court adjourned until March 13.    

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 twelve 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). Along with Margar Ohanyan, Police Force personnel Stepan Karakhanyan, Ara Levonyan, and Samvel Makhmuryan are also defendants in this case.

Photo by Sona Barseghyan