YEREVAN. – The court session on the criminal case against third President of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan, Flash fuel company owner of Barsegh Beglaryan, former Minister of Agriculture Sergo Karapetyan, former Deputy Minister of Agriculture Samvel Galstyan, and Gevorg Harutyunyan, Head of the Plant Breeding Department of the same ministry, resumed Thursday.

To note, for a long time these court hearings were being postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The issue related to the resumption of court hearings will be discussed in court today.

Defendants in the case are not present at the hearing, and only their attorneys are in attendance.

According to the indictment of this criminal case, being organized by Sargsyan, pushed by Beglaryan, and assisted by Galstyan and Harutyunyan, Karapetyan had wasted—from January 25 to February 7, 2013—AMD 489,160,310 of subsidy allocated from the government's reserve fund for the 15,391,765 liters of diesel fuel that was used during the implementation of state assistance programs.

Serzh Sargsyan, however, does not accept the charge against him. His lawyer Amram Makinyan claims that the charge is concocted. According to media reports, Sergo Karapetyan's testimony is at the basis of the charge. He and Sargsyan have confronted each other along the lines of this criminal case.