Defendant in Alcohol Poisoning Case Denies Charges

The defendant in the mass alcohol poisoning case, Avetik Vardanyan, denies the charges against him. He asserts that he has never been involved in the sale of alcohol and has had no connection to the production of vodka, claiming that he acquired the alcohol solely for use as a disinfectant.

This was stated by his lawyer Vardges Gevorgyan in an interview with Lurer.com, emphasizing that his client has no relation to the incident of assisting in the production of counterfeit vodka.

According to the lawyer, Vardanyan obtained the alcohol from one person and handed it over to another, unaware of what type of alcohol it was: 'He did not know that it was methyl alcohol; he only knew that it was pure. He has not been involved in the sale of alcohol in general. The alcohol that Avetik Vardanyan transferred to Arshak Arshakyan was given in exchange for a debt. The remaining 700 liters out of the 1 ton of alcohol and the additional 340 liters were also alcohol acquired from another source, which he returned together. We are confident that the alcohol transferred by Arshak Arshakyan to Ashot Hovhannisyan is not the same alcohol that my client transferred to Arshak Arshakyan because the latter has also purchased alcohol from various places,' the lawyer stated, noting that all of this will be clarified during the investigation.

He mentioned that there had been a confrontation between Avetik Vardanyan and Arshak Arshakyan, during which his client reiterated his statements. Additionally, during a supplementary interrogation, he provided testimony regarding from whom he obtained the alcohol that he had also used, and investigations in that direction are also ongoing, with those individuals expected to be summoned for questioning.

'We hope that during the pre-trial investigation, it will be established that my client is not connected to the charges at all and that the restrictive measure against him will be changed,' Gevorgyan told the news outlet.