Mother of Fallen Albert Hovhannisyan Summoned by Investigative Committee in Armen Charcian Case

The mother of Albert Hovhannisyan, who was killed in the Artsakh war, Manik Ajemyan, was summoned today by the Investigative Committee as a witness. Ajemyan's lawyer, Arthur Nahapetyan, told Factinfo that his client was invited in connection with a criminal case against Armen Charcian, a parliamentary candidate from the "Hayastan" alliance and director of the Izmirlian Medical Center, as Ajemyan works at the same facility.

The interrogation did not take place today, as, according to the lawyer, Ajemyan is not in a mental state to participate in the investigative actions. "Due to the tragic events that occurred last year, Ms. Ajemyan is in an emotionally charged state, and there are several other relevant circumstances that I personally presented to the investigating body today, under which she cannot participate in the witness interrogation at this time," Nahapetyan said, adding that these were presented to the Investigative Committee investigator for evaluation.

It should be noted that there have been no previous investigative actions involving Manik Ajemyan, and she was supposed to be interrogated for the first time today; therefore, no confrontation involving her and Armen Charcian could take place at this moment. Regarding whether other employees of the Izmirlian Medical Center have already been interrogated, Nahapetyan stated that he does not have accurate information but does not rule it out since the accused's lawyer mentioned in one of the interviews that there are already interviewed witnesses who spoke positively about Mr. Charcian.

As for the published recording, the lawyer noted that Ms. Ajemyan has not expressed any position since she did not participate in the witness interrogation. It is recalled that on June 18, an audio recording was published online in which Charcian told his employees that the management would take a very tough stance against those who would not participate in the elections. On the same day, it became known that Charcian had been arrested in connection with a criminal case being investigated by the Investigative Committee regarding the alleged coercion of his center's employees to participate in extraordinary parliamentary elections.

On June 21, the Central Electoral Commission allowed criminal prosecution against Armen Charcian. The investigator submitted a motion to select detention as a preventive measure against Charcian. On June 23, the court decided to detain him. On the same day, it became known that Charcian had been transported to the hospital by ambulance. By the way, Charcian is a member of the "Hayastan" alliance led by former President Robert Kocharyan and a candidate for parliament.