The third president of the Republic of Armenia must attend the next court hearings.

ArmInfo. An indictment is not simply a document recording the end of a preliminary investigation, but a key procedural act defining the factual and legal framework of the subsequent trial. It must allow the accused to clearly understand the specific offense they are accused of, the factual circumstances and evidence supporting it, and the legal assessment of the defense's arguments.

This was stated by Amram Makinyan, lawyer for third President of the Republic of Armenia Serzh Sargsyan, at a hearing of the Anti-Corruption Court on September 25.

As a reminder, the third President of the Republic of Armenia has been charged with another indictment, concerning the illegal sale of the Sev Berd Fortress in Gyumri.

Today, the defense presented its objections to the indictment. According to the lawyer, the indictment presented confuses the descriptive and explanatory parts, resulting in the document failing its procedural purpose. The descriptive part should contain exclusively factual data: what happened, when, where, and by whom, not the investigator's legal assessments. Instead of presenting the facts in the descriptive part, the investigator immediately resorted to legal conclusions (for example, "clearly exceeded his authority," "intentionally bypassed procedures," "deliberately committed the actions"). These are not facts, the lawyer believes, but final legal assessments that should have been included in the causal part, after analyzing the evidence.

The former president's defense filed a motion for Serzh Sargsyan not to attend future court hearings, but the court rejected this request. The third president of the Republic of Armenia's presence at court hearings will be mandatory. Furthermore, the lawyer insisted on dismissing the criminal case; a decision on this motion will be made at the next court hearing.

It should be noted that Serzh Sargsyan is accused of illegally expropriating the Black Fortress historical and cultural monument in Gyumri during his tenure as Armenia's Minister of Defense. The Investigative Committee of Armenia completed its investigation into this case in July 2026 and referred it to court. According to the investigation, Serzh Sargsyan alienated the fortress to an individual through direct sale and without a corresponding government decision. The property was sold for 22,951,000 drams (approximately $58,000 at the time of the transaction). In July 2026, the investigation was completed, and the case materials were transferred to court. Sargsyan's defense considers the charges unfounded and regards them as an arbitrary assessment of the activities of a state body.