‘They cannot discourage him with that’ – Defense attorney on Grigori Khachaturov’s detention

The aim of keeping former commander of the Third Army Corps, Major General Grigori Khachaturov, in custody is to isolate him from certain processes. This statement was made by Khachaturov's attorney, Mihran Poghosyan, during a conversation with journalists. He, like his colleague Hakob Yenokyan, left the courtroom, announcing he did not want to participate in the court's illegal actions.

“I stated in court that Khachaturov informed me that this detention and such are childish illegalities and mischief, and they cannot discourage him with that,” Poghosyan emphasized.

According to him, their goal is to hold accountable all individuals who allowed illegalities during this process, from the investigator to the chief prosecutor. Poghosyan added that from a criminal procedure perspective, there is no process here; this is a different story, personal persecution against Khachaturov.

The attorney noted that the judge does not pay attention to anyone's objections in the courtroom. “It has been clearly stated that the judge has been instructed to make a decision regarding Grigori Khachaturov's detention, and there is no response to that. I also mentioned in my speech that this is a real circumstance; if it were not real, he would at least respond in some way,” Poghosyan stated.

The next court session in the Grigori Khachaturov case is scheduled for May 15 at 16:00.

It should be noted that the proceedings against Khachaturov were initiated after the Prosecutor General of the Republic of Armenia, Anna Vardapetyan, received the National Assembly's approval to start criminal prosecution against former Defense Minister Seyran Ohanyan. The former senior military officers are accused of fraud related to the sale of the territories of two military units.

Recall that on February 21, criminal prosecution was initiated against Grigori Khachaturov for legalizing property acquired through criminal means in particularly large amounts (money laundering). He was arrested. The prosecutor's office submitted a request for his detention. However, the judge of the Anti-Corruption Court, Tigran Davtyan, rejected the request. Khachaturov was released from the courtroom on the same day.

On February 24, the Prosecutor General of Armenia submitted a special review complaint to the Court of Appeals against the decision to deny the prosecutor's request for detention of Grigori Khachaturov. On March 16, after examining the prosecutor's appeal, the Court of Appeals decided to detain Grigori Khachaturov.