Lawyer Yerem Sargsyan's Statement on Mikael Arzumanyan's Case

Lawyer Yerem Sargsyan's statement regarding the case of former commander of the Artsakh Defense Army Mikael Arzumanyan.

"Since rumors have already spread that the preliminary investigation concerning Artsakh hero, General Lieutenant Mikael Arzumanyan, has been completed, I confirm this information. However, I want to emphasize that the preliminary investigation has not ended because all necessary evidentiary and investigative actions to ensure a complete and objective examination of the criminal case have been completed, but also because the prosecution found it convenient this way.

In fact, as the investigation into this criminal case deepened, it became increasingly evident that the allegations against Mikael Arzumanyan are baseless. This was more than apparent during the confrontations involving Mikael Arzumanyan, where responses to our questions were such that, in their presence, it was impossible to form a prosecutorial conclusion against Mikael Arzumanyan and send the case to court.

I should also mention that the last time, on February 27, 2023, the court extended Mikael Arzumanyan's detention for two months, because the prosecution was convincing the court that dozens of witnesses needed to be interrogated, and that they needed to continue the confrontations started with Mikael Arzumanyan, which had not yet been completed, and to conduct numerous new confrontations between witnesses and Mikael Arzumanyan. On this basis, the court extended the detention period. However, shortly after obtaining the extension decision, the prosecution suddenly decided that not only should there be no further confrontations, but that even the ongoing confrontations should be left unfinished, and the preliminary investigation of the criminal case should be concluded quickly.

As is known, Mikael Arzumanyan is accused of negligence as the commander of the defense army during the organization of the defense of Shushi, during the 44-day war, which allowed the enemy to capture it. We declare and assert that this does not correspond to reality, and according to the materials of the criminal proceedings, in the current situation, Mikael Arzumanyan did his utmost to confront the enemy, who was quantitatively and qualitatively superior in terms of armed forces.

Mikael Arzumanyan took office as the commander of the defense army on October 27, 2020, in an extremely critical situation where the enemy had already crossed several defensive lines and approached the outskirts of Shushi. Chaos prevailed in the army, and the enemy had absolute dominance both in the air and on the ground. However, there are undeniable facts that shortly after Mikael Arzumanyan assumed the office of commander, the situation changed to such an extent that the enemy did not achieve any significant success or progress for several days and suffered tremendous losses (remember Arzruni Hovhannisyan's statements, including the 'Györba Györ' operation, during which the enemy also suffered massive losses). Moreover, as a result of Mikael Arzumanyan's skilled actions, human losses on the Armenian side were reduced by 2-3 times.

However, the enemy concentrated even greater forces and means to which the Armenian side had neither human nor adequate military resources to counter. We should not forget the statements of the top political leadership of Armenia and Artsakh at that time, including that of the Prime Minister, stating that the Artsakh Defense Army fought heroically until the last moment, but the Armenian side lost Shushi, because the enemy's diversionary groups succeeded in infiltrating the city. The capture of Shushi was deemed unavoidable, and that was the condition for stopping the war. Additionally, there were calls from that same high-level authority urging citizens to form groups and take any means they had at home to go defend Shushi, as there was a serious risk of losing it.

Regarding the accusation that the 'Arega' mountain was liberated by our units, but on the orders of Mikael Arzumanyan, our forces retreated, allowing the enemy to occupy it again, this is also a baseless allegation. Specifically, I firmly assert that the 'Arega' mountain was not liberated by our units, for which there is a multitude of undeniable evidence available in the criminal proceedings; therefore, Mikael Arzumanyan could not have given such an order. Moreover, he did not have the authority to give such an order.

For the sake of not disclosing the defense strategy regarding the charges, we do not present more detailed justifications; however, we assure that in the case of an objective judicial examination, these charges can in no way be substantiated," the lawyer wrote on Facebook.