28 July 2018, 13:59
Armenian court allows CSTO Secretary General get back at large on bail
Yuri Khachaturov, the Secretary General of the CSTO (Collective Security Treaty Organization, also known as the ODKB), who was accused within the case of dispersal of protest actions in Yerevan on March 1-2, 2008, was arrested until depositing a bail of over 10,000 US dollars.
After the advent to power of the oppositional leader Nikol Pashinyan, a criminal case was initiated on the fact of the violent overthrow of the constitutional order in connection with the events in Yerevan on March 1-2, 2008. On July 27, investigators demanded to arrest Yuri Khachaturov, the CSTO Secretary General.
On March 1-2, 2008, mass riots in Yerevan began after the dispersal of the opposition rally, which did not agree with the outcomes of the presidential election won by Serzh Sargsyan. Ten people were killed in skirmishes with the police.
Khachaturov will remain at large after depositing a bail of 5 million drams (10,400 US dollars), said his advocate Migran Pogosyan. According to his story, the relatives of the CSTO Secretary General are now busy raising money.
At the trial, Yuri Khachaturov refused to plead guilty of dispersing protesters in early March 2008, and overthrowing the constitutional order of Armenia.
The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on July 27, within the case of dispersing demonstrators, the court arrested Robert Kocharyan, the second president of Armenia, for two months. The Colonel-General Mikael Arutyunyan, who then headed the Armenian Ministry of Defence (MoD), was put on the wanted list.
This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on July 28, 2018 at 03:38 am MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.
Author: Armine Martirosyan Source: CK correspondent
