"The statement that my client Artak Budaghyan refused from face-to-face confrontation with Nikolay Abrahamyan, Karine Haroutiunyan, Larisa Barsegyan and Angelina Kayan is absolute lie disseminated as part of the big attack of the recent days in favor of the Khachatryans," Hayk Alumyan, representative of the cessionary of the victim, Emil Budaghyan, the lawyer of the defendant Artak Budaghyan, told ArmInfo.
"Artak Budaghyan did not refuse to give testimonies. He gave testimonies before watching the video record, which makes his testimonies even more trustful. The video record of the incident in Goris that was submitted to the Investigation Service of the Defense Ministry of Armenia has just confirmed his testimonies.
The examination revealed that the record was not subjected to editing. At the given stage of the preliminary investigation, they do everything to distract attention from the fact of Avetik Budaghyan's murder. The investigation set the fact of the murder aside and has focused on Artak Budaghyan," the lawyer said.
He believes that the investigation tries to distract the public attention from those really responsible for the tragedy in Goris, from the really important facts to help Surik Khachatryan's party by all methods and at any cost. However, the Budaghyans use all the legal methods to counteract the illegal methods of the Khachatryans, the lawyer said. A tragic incident involving the notorious governor of Syunik region Surik Khachatryan, more known as Litska, happened in Syunik region in early June.
To recall, shootouts in front of Syunik Governor Suren Khachatryan's house at 00:10am on June 2 killed former candidate for Goris mayor Avo Budaghyan and wounded his brother Artak Budaghyan, a commander at a military unit in the NKR. There was another wounded, Nikolay Abrahamyan, a relative and bodyguard of Governor Suren Khachartyan. A criminal case has been initiated on the basis of Article 103.1 (murder) and Article 235 (illegal use, storage and bearing weapons) of the Criminal Code of Armenia. Syunik Governor Suren Khachatryan's son, Tigran Khachatryan, has been arrested over latest shootouts in Syunik.
Earlier, the governor's bodyguard Zarzand Nikoghosyan was arrested over the case. On June 3 Suren Khachatryan sent in his resignation declaring that everyone must answer for their mistakes. He regretted for failing to prevent the tragic incident near his house.
On July 9, the brother of Avetik Budaghyan was charged with Article 137.1 of the Criminal Code. Recently the lawyer of the Khachatryans family Ruben Sahakyan said he was going to make a petition for release and termination of proceedings against Khachatran's son. Sahakyan claims Tigran Khachatryan fired at Avetik and Artak Budaghyans for self-defense. The lawyer is sure that Budaghyan brothers committed an armed attack on Khachatryan's house.