Aslanyan's Statement in Court: "We Know Why I Am Here"

This trial involves a large number of legal professionals. In response to the prosecutor's remarks, I would like to express that we should become a part of the justice system. This was stated today, June 10, by the defendant Mamikon Aslanyan, former mayor of Vanadzor, during his speech at the general jurisdiction court in Spitak, Lori region.

"I would like to pose a rhetorical question. Is the prosecutor aware of other non-judicial processes related to the origin of the criminal case and my detention, or is he only acting here as part of the trial? How did this criminal case arise? Generally, how are criminal cases born – based on a report, an incident, or as a result of an inspection? This criminal case was based on some principle of selectivity that I don’t understand, and from our 650 expropriated plots, 4-5 cases and 16-18 episodes were selected based on some selectivity. This was done to add color to the case. Because we had a trade involving 650 plots, if we consider both parties as auction participants, there could have been a case with 1300 episodes! We do not want to give any political color to this situation, at least for now, because we know why I am here, and what my alleged crime is, which has nothing to do with criminal justice,” he said.

Aslanyan noted that among the 40 witnesses, there is not a single testimony that could indicate that he could have obstructed the investigation. “Especially since I was the community leader until October 10, and during that time I could have obstructed and not provided any material related to the case, justifying it by saying that it is a city affected by an earthquake, and the documents were not preserved. But we are confident that there is no criminal offense in our actions,” he stated.

It is worth mentioning that on December 5, elections took place in Vanadzor, with nine political forces participating, five of which entered the composition of the Vanadzor City Council: the “Mamikon Aslanyan” alliance (15 mandates), “Civil Contract” (9 mandates), “Armenian Workers' Socialist” party (5 mandates), “Living Land” (2 mandates), and “Homeland” (2 mandates). The maximum votes received was 38.70%, gathered by the “Mamikon Aslanyan” coalition led by the former mayor of Vanadzor. Following the elections, on December 17, when the first session of the newly elected council was supposed to take place, Mammikian Aslanyan was summoned to the Investigative Committee and subsequently arrested.