Kocharian Instructed Manvel Grigoryan to Gather His Belongings... Testimony of Movses Hakobyan

During today’s court session concerning the measure of restraint for Robert Kocharian, lawyer Hayk Alumyann continued to quote excerpts from the testimonies of several key witnesses in the March 1 case. Alumyann specifically published excerpts from the testimonies of Alik Mirzabekyan, who held the position of Deputy Minister of Defense in 2008, and Movses Hakobyan, who currently serves as the Chief Military Inspector.

Alik Mirzabekyan was also present at the infamous meeting on February 23, 2008.

According to Mirzabekyan’s testimony, during the meeting, Robert Kocharian asked Mikayel Harutyunyan where Manvel Grigoryan was, to which Harutyunyan replied that he did not know the whereabouts, leading Kocharian to reprimand him for being unaware of the situation.

“I then remember that during the meeting the President expressed concern that the Yerkrapah Volunteer Union, under Manvel Grigoryan’s leadership, was looking to side with the opposition, and set the condition that if anyone wanted to remain within the Yerkrapah structure, they had to resign from their positions, since many of those present were members of Yerkrapah. I don’t recall anything else from that meeting. Afterward, I remember that in the following days troops were being brought to Yerevan. I heard about the March 1 events from news reports, from television. I remember that I was not familiar with the command 0038, which is currently being discussed in the press, and I cannot state why, and I also recall that on March 1, President Kocharian signed a decree to declare a state of emergency. I have no other information as I was not involved in any matters and my subordinate units did not engage in any actions,” stated Mirzabekyan.

Subsequently, Hayk Alumyann published excerpts from the testimony of Movses Hakobyan, who was interrogated as a witness in the case.

“On February 23 at around 11:00, we attended a meeting at the Presidential Residence, which was conducted by the President of Armenia, Robert Kocharian, and the operational leadership of the Armed Forces led by Minister Mikayel Harutyunyan were present. During the meeting, the possible involvement of Deputy Ministers of Defense Manvel Grigoryan and Gagik Melkonyan in political processes was discussed. President Robert Kocharian got angry at Mikayel Harutyunyan and told him what kind of minister he was if he did not know the whereabouts of his deputies. Robert Kocharian instructed Levon Yeranosyan to go and tell Manvel Grigoryan to gather his belongings and... leave for his home. That’s all I remember from that meeting,” Hakobyan’s testimony states.

The overall essence of the meeting, according to Movses Hakobyan’s understanding, was that Robert Kocharian wanted the entire military personnel to hear from him directly how he would punish those military personnel who would attempt to get involved in political processes.

Alumyann, quoting the testimonies of two high-ranking military officials, stated that the courts examining the issue of Kocharian’s detention were not aware of the existence of these testimonies.

It should be noted that Alik Mirzabekyan was relieved of his position as Deputy Minister of Defense – Head of Material and Technical Supply Department on April 26, 2016.