Criminal prosecution launched against 4 former corps commanders of Armenian armed forces

Criminal prosecution has been launched against four former commanders of army corps of the Armenian Armed Forces.

The individuals in question are P.P. (Poghos Poghosyan - ed.), V.G. (Valery Grigoryan - ed.), A.B. (Haykaz Baghmanyan - ed.) and L.E. (Levon Yeranosyan - ed.). They are charged with abuse of official powers that resulted in grave consequences, the General Prosecutor’s Office of Armenia reports.

According to the investigation, the accused carried out knowingly unlawful orders, thereby assisting former Defense Minister Mikael Harutyunyan and other senior officials in actions qualified as abuse of official powers. Among these individuals, the agency mentions defendants in the March 1, 2008 events case — Armenia’s second president Robert Kocharyan, former Defense Minister Seyran Ohanyan and former CSTO Secretary General Yuri Khachaturov.

It should be recalled that Kocharyan, Ohanyan, Khachaturov and former Deputy Prime Minister Armen Gevorgyan were initially charged under the article on overthrowing the constitutional order. However, in March 2021 the Constitutional Court of Armenia ruled that Article 300.1 of the Criminal Code did not comply with the Constitution, after which criminal prosecution under that article was terminated.

In September 2024 the case took a new turn. The prosecutor’s office reclassified the acts attributed to Kocharyan and Khachaturov and charged them with abuse of official powers that negligently resulted in grave consequences. The charges were brought under point 5 of part 2 of Article 441 of the Criminal Code of Armenia.

The case is linked to the events of March 1, 2008, when, following the presidential election, supporters of Armenia’s first president Levon Ter-Petrosyan launched mass protest actions disputing the official election results. Clashes between demonstrators and security forces resulted in the deaths of ten people.

Source: Sputnik Armenia