ArmInfo. Hearings on the case of the second President of Armenia Robert Kocharian and others have resumed in Yerevan after a month's break. An ArmInfo correspondent reports this from the scene.
Representatives of the victims' legal successors did not appear at the meeting. The court decided to find out the reasons for the absence of the injured party.
It should be noted that yesterday the lawyer Tigran Yegoryan said that the injured party will no longer take part in the hearings on the March 1, 2008 case, as they believe that the trial has turned into a farce. Moreover, they believe that some structures are sabotaging the case and hindering attempts to find the true culprits.
Hayk Alumyan, the lawyer of the second President of Armenia Robert Kocharian, stated that it is necessary to establish the status of the victims in this particular case. "228 victims and their successors are being investigated in the case in the Special Investigation Service, however, only 102 people have been invited to this process, so the criteria for their selection are not clear," Alumyan stressed.
In turn, another lawyer of Kocharian, Hovhannes Khudoyan, stressed that none of the victims was recognized as a victim in connection with the overthrow of the constitutional order, which is what Kocharian is accused of.
Prosecutor Petros Petrosyan objected to such a statement by the defense, noting that the arguments of the defense were unfounded. Another prosecutor Gevorg Baghdasaryan noted that confirmation of the status of defendants is not provided for by law. He stated that the desire of the lawyers to remove the victims from this process is related to the part of the charge that provides for violence. "If there are no victims, then one gets the impression that there is no violence either," the prosecutor stressed.
Yuri Khachaturov's lawyer Mihran Poghosyan said that it is necessary to understand what actions caused material and moral damage during the alleged overthrow of the constitutional order, and therefore the most appropriate status in this case is the status of witnesses.
Judge Anna Danibekyan stated that the victims and their successors will continue to participate in this trial.
The session will continue behind closed doors, as the judge satisfied the motion of the lawyer Aram Vardevanyan to hold the session behind closed doors. During the session, the court will consider the issue of canceling the arrest of Kocharian's property. The lawyer promised to present an appraisal of the property carried out by an expert examination.